Small Brand Mistakes Loom Large

etting a cup of coffee right isn’t a big deal… Well, it shouldn’t be. But it can be, and when it does go wrong, the transaction can undermine a long-standing relationship with a client/consumer.

Yesterday, JD Milazzo and I headed off to an outlet mall so I could get basketball sneakers. After we finished shopping, I thought it would be great to top off the experience with a cup of coffee. We have always been fond of Dunkin Donuts coffee – especially when we are on the road. So, off we went. Aside from the fact that Google took us in the wrong direction – away from Greensboro instead of back towards Greensboro – we got to Dunkin Donuts – which happened to be in a gas station, of course. JD and I walked in just as the only other person in the smallest Dunkin Donuts I had ever seen was completing her transaction. She had cash in her hand, but, at the last minute, she offered her phone to the person behind the counter. That’s when the “fun” began.

“It’s going to take a few minutes.”

“How long is that? I just want to get my ice coffee.”

“I don’t know. Five minutes?”

This didn’t sit well with the woman, but she decided she would complete the transaction with her phone anyway. Awkwardly, the clerk processed the transaction. Yeah, it was going to take a lot of time. The woman with the ice coffee was becoming more and more restless. Finally, not more than two minutes later she said, “Can you cancel it? I’ll give you cash.” She offered the clerk the same $10 bill she had been carrying in her hand the entire time.

“I can’t cancel it.”

Now the woman was very upset. “This is ridiculous.” The clerk took to the machine she had used to initially process the transaction. I’m not sure what she did, but finally, paper moved out of the machine. “I cancelled it.” The woman wasn’t relieved. She was still upset. She took her change and left. The clerk’s face was red.

So, will the woman ever buy from Dunkin Donuts again? I have no way of knowing. But, her bond with the brand was severely tested, on many fronts. To begin with, she had the Dunkin Donuts app on her phone, and, I am guessing, cash in her DD account. It should have been easy. Point the phone at the card reader, scan her QR code, done. But it wasn’t. And the clerk, however well intentioned, didn’t help. She didn’t know how to cancel the transaction, and, the transaction took too long. I know she meant well when she told the woman that the transaction would take “5 minutes,” but it came off as though she didn’t want to complete the transaction using her phone. Intentional or not, that was not the right thing to do. Another case where adding technology doesn’t always solve a business problem – in fact it can make things worse and it can alienate your clients.

Post by Falcon