About a year ago I bought a new Saturn Vue. I really liked the way they looked, drove and I was intrigued by the brand. My purchasing experience was what I expected it to be; no pressure, a “real person” not a “sales person” helped me with my purchase. I quickly became a brand advocate and helped propagate the brand strategy that Saturn was carrying out. Until this morning that is!

I had an appointment to drop off my car for regular service and to finally switch my snow tires to summer tires. I requested a loaner car for the day, which I was told when I bought the car, would be available to me and that the Saturn Service Experience would be fantastic. Well, they had no car for me and because I work about 20 miles from the dealership the shuttle could not give me a ride. So I would be stuck waiting at the dealership for several hours. Now, I understand how they could end up in this situation, I’m a pretty rational guy. But instead of coming up with a solution they said, “there’s nothing I can do to help you”. As she said this, a rock sat in front of her computer, with the words “Saturn – Expect the Unexpected” etched into it. Her unwillingness (or inability) to help solve this problem infuriated me! So now, my experience was different than they promised it would be AND there was nothing they could do to help me! No solution. I left.

My point is, other than the fact that we are heading into Memorial Day Weekend and I still have snow tires on my car, one negative experience can ruin years of positive brand development. My brand advocacy was not strong enough to overcome one bad experience. The most important part of brand development is consistency at every point of contact.

Anyone want to by a Saturn?