Recently I needed some work done at my house. It was a pretty simple job; remove a stump in my back yard. I called several companies and finally I reached one that answered the phone. I explained that I would like someone to come out and remove a stump. She asked if I could send a picture so she could provide me with a quote. I sent the picture and she immediately responded with wanting more information (height, width, depth, etc.). I asked if she could just send someone out and look at it and remove it or provide me with a quote. At which time she responded with, diesel is expensive and we don't come out for little jobs like mine.
There is nothing like that feeling of a service company making you feel special. What's worse is this story stuck with me so much I am using this platform to make an example of them.
IT companies have made this mistake and I feel it is going to come back and haunt them. Clients are okay waiting for a call back, a next day response on issues, or no return email. Eventually they reach a breaking point and find a new provider.
Hardware manufacturers are worse, they make it difficult to exchange their broken product. Some even want a credit card from you to secure the return. Why do we just accept this as the norm? They made something, it stopped working, so they need to get a speeding ticket to get out their and fix the issue. Let's hold them accountable.
This will all change one day. But it starts with us selecting to not work with these types of companies. The free market will handle the rest. Capitalism has a way of selecting winners and losers naturally.