LG flatscreen TV and its replacement...

My roughly four year old flatscreen TV (37LC2D) seems to be dying.
On switching it on I was greeted by the sound of automatic gunfire. After a few seconds it would revert to normal. A few days later whilst watching a programme, a faint rustling sound could be heard, and then yesterday the screen would turn blank and all sound would disappear.

Now, if you have tried finding a TV repair man recently you will know that there are very few around. When you do get to talk to one, they will blame the TV manufacturers for wanting to build and design TV's that collapse minutes after the warranty has expired, and make finding spare parts very difficult. Clearly manufacturers want consumers to buy more TV's. No shock there.

I was however hoping for a better response from my TV manufacturer, LG.

Let me just explain that part of my work involves gauging how tech brands sell their products instore. If you watched the Secret Shopper programme on Channel 4, you will recall that she went into stores wearing a hidden body worn camera to record the customer experience. Thats what we do.

So, when my TV started playing up, I thought here is an ideal opportunity to see how LG reacts to a real life customer (me) having a product of theirs which is kaput. I got myself noticed by them on a social networking site, and even responded to. They said customer services would contact me. Wrong! Complete silence.

So, now I am giving the opportunity to other manufacturers to sell me a TV. I will visit a number of high street stores to gauge the level of customer service, staff availability and product knowledge and buy a nice new flatscreen television.

 I will consider the top Brands: Sony, Panasonic and Samsung.

Who will not only win my business, but also get to see what its actually like to be a customer and test their instore retail training?

info@astoncovert.com

Tech brands and the customer experience

Attention tech brands such as: LG, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Vodafone, Sharp, Philips, T-Mobile, Nikon, HTC and HP etc

How many marketing people out there have seen the Mary Portas Secret Shopper programme on Channel 4?

And how many millions of pounds do you spend getting your latest TV or mobile phone onto the market?

And who amongst you has considered how your product is actually sold to your customer?

You may well have put training schemes in place for your retailers, but are they actually following it, or as we have seen from the secret instore footage: giving terrible customer service and pushing the wrong product?

By using our expertise and technology, we can enter the stores and covertly film the whole buying experience.

You give us a brief and a scenario and we act it out for you...for real.
How is your Brand spoken of instore?
Is the salesman trying to upsell?
Does he demonstrate a clear knowledge of the product and its advantages?

This information can then be fed back to your company (rather than shown on TV) so you can adapt the training and marketing accordingly.

The end result is a happier and larger customer base, which has to lead to increased profits.

You all say that the 'Customer Experience is paramount', well lets see who is prepared to really do something to prove it.

http://www.astoncovert.com/
http://www.thecovertagency.eu/
http://www.happycustomers.info/