What does a company have to do to lose you as a customer? To win you back?

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Since I really don't care about the company, its hard to lose OR win me.

If a book is good, I'll buy it. I don't care who makes it.

 

[billd91]

Business practices, ethics, etc, usually get to me. When I hear of a company that used plagiarized work (and no, I'm actually not even speaking of Mongoose here), or a company that doesn't pay its writers or artists, or relies too much on its crusading fans to write reviews and withholds review copies from those they think will give a bad review, or has a spokesperson who is just consistently a dink on our forums ... stuff like that.

When it comes to not doing business with a company, I'm far more concerned with their ethics and practices than with the quality of their work. When it comes to individual products, I'm only going to buy the ones that interest me anyway and will only worry about the quality of those particular works. If the rest is not very good, I don't really care. Someone else might like even if it doesn't match my standards.
But if I hear reliable news about a company shafting its employees or engaging in a lot of questionable practices, I'll take my dollars elsewhere. And I won't come back until they do a better job.

 

[jaerdaph]

This applies to all businesses/corporations selling product, not just the RPG industry: If you sell consistantly bad products, you'll lose my business. If you wear your politics on your corporate sleeve and they are the opposite of mine, you'll lose my business. If you wear your politics on your corporate sleeve and they are the same as mine but you constantly inject them where they aren't wanted or called for, you'll lose my business.

As for the RPG industry specifically, there is one thing that really annoys me to the point of never buying your products again: Leaving negative reviews or comments about another publishers' product (regardless of whether the product competes with any of yours). It's very unprofessional, even if you are absolutely right about the product.

You can always win my business back by listening to your customer feedback and improving your product. If I hear good things, I will give your product another try. And one bad product certainly isn't going to change my opinion of you forever if I liked your other products - that's bound to happen to everyone.

 

[Arnwyn]

I think it's near impossible for me to swear off a company forever - as another poster noted, the internet helps me stay informed about many different products, and I'll always consider something if it appeals to me and my gaming needs.

The only way that I'll likely start to ignore a company is if they consistently, for a prolonged period, continue to release products that I have no use for.

(Oh, and the behavior of company representatives, which I seem to notice a lot more on messageboards these days, will also affect my purchasing decisions. I've seen a few from rinky-dink "companies" recently that I know I'll never purchase from.)

To get me back, I'd probably take notice if they ended up accidentally creating a product that seems perfectly and exactly suited to my personal gaming needs.

 

[cmanos]

What can a company do to lose my business?

1) Poor customer service. - Dell Computers are about to lose my business. They delivered my PC to the wrong address and are basically accusing me of trying to defraud them. What can they do to get me back? Treat me like a customer and investigate the situation before accusing me. Treat me with respect. And throw in incentives like a free flatscreen monitor.

2) Take an anti-gay stance. - as a white-collar, very aware, gay man, if a company decides to take an anti-gay stance, like denying domestic partner benefits, termination for sexual preference, etc., that will not only lose them my business, but I'll also be making sure everyone I know knows just how biggoted and unenlightened they are. If it is one thing that gays a regood for.....$58 billion a year in disposable income..... What can they do to get me back? If they lose me this way, there is no getting me back.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

Interesting topic. To chip in with my $.02...

Avalanche lost me with their constant cheesecake covers on supposedly "historical" supplements. I have no problem with cheesecake, believe you me, but when it turns into blatant pandering--and inappropriate for the product, to bood--I draw the line.

Word! As a gay man, I have no personal need for cheesecake, though I can understand it as a source of drawing people in. However, the Avalanche press books were overdone to the point of ridiculousness... My two favorites for that line (And I can't remember the names of the products, I just laughed at the covers) were the "Female Thor in bondage" cover, and the "Two Eygptain Women cat-fighting."

White Wolf lost me when they came out with "World of Darkness 2.0." From everything I've seen, it's just a rehashed version of WoD 1.0, and a poorly-rehashed one at that. Even so, if WW came out with a decent book tomorrow, I would still buy it. However, it would take a lot of convincing (and reading) before I would buy it, as opposed to the Good Old Days when I would buy a book simply because it was produced biy WW. That trust, that assumption of quality product is gone.

I'll agree with this, for the most part.
I still buy "Exalted" supplements, and some stuff from the imprint lines (eg "Ravenloft"), but I'm not touching their WoD2.0 after I bought nearly every supplement for most lines of the WoD1.0. (Which I still use and love; we actually even just started a "Hunter: THe Reckoning" chronicle!!)

And I have a love/hate relationship with WotC. I really like their "Eberron" line, but most everything else they put out, oddly enough, fails to appeal to me. Offhand, the only three supplements I've bought from WotC in the last few years (aside from Eberron stuff) was "The Draconomicon", and "Lords of Madness", and the "Expanded Psionics Handbook", all of which are superlative. However, I looked through "Weapons of Legacy", and was sorely disappointed. There was nothing there that inspired or compelled me to buy it.

That said, There are lines that I will buy just about anything they put stuff out for, though.. (Lone Wolf, Eberron, Midnight, Ravenloft.)

And companies I'm kindly disposed towards, such as Fantasy Flight Games, who have never disappointed me with any of their offerings, be it board, card or RPG game.

It takes alot to completely alienate me a customer, and I often find that it has more to do with the attitudes of their reresentatives/employees than the actual product.

Conversely, when you have people on staff who obviously care about what they do, then it makes it easier to spend money supoprting their company and their work. (As an example of this, take Erik Mona. I haven't picked up an issue of Dungeon or Dragon since late second edition. However, due to his presence here, and his comments, it's compelled me to start buying Dungeon regularly, and I'm throughly enjoying each issue, especially the "Age of Worms" adventure path... I've even pre-ordered both the "Shackled City" and "Dragon Compilation" books.)

Take an anti-gay stance. - as a white-collar, very aware, gay man, if a company decides to take an anti-gay stance, like denying domestic partner benefits, termination for sexual preference, etc., that will not only lose them my business, but I'll also be making sure everyone I know knows just how biggoted and unenlightened they are. If it is one thing that gays a regood for.....$58 billion a year in disposable income..... What can they do to get me back? If they lose me this way, there is no getting me back.

I normally keep RL/politics out of my gaming arena, but I'll agree with CManos on this.

 

[Odhanan]

So, what would a company have to do to lose you?

Impose "the best way" to play role-playing games while "others just don't understand what RPGs are about". I.e. White Wolf and "storytelling", for instance.

Take me for a moron. Explain that they publish this or that because the game needs it while the contents add nothing new and obviously are meant just to sell by the cover or title. That upsets me tremendously.

Treating a RPG as a book to be read and not a game to be played. This is more and more annoying.

what do that have to do to get you back?

Depends. Sometimes, no matter how sincere they appear, I won't trust the company anymore. And it's over.

Sometimes, the right product will be enough. Something more appealing proving there's a change in the creative department. It can happen.

 

[Crothian]

White Wolf lost me when they came out with "World of Darkness 2.0." From everything I've seen, it's just a rehashed version of WoD 1.0, and a poorly-rehashed one at that.

Wow, you must not be looking at the right things. The mechanics are better, the books are better written and better organized, the game is tighter and easier to get into...

 

[Voadam]

Every now and again, though for some reason nothing lately, someone comes along and posts a rant about a gaming company. In this rant they occasionally list their reasons for being upset, but they usually all end with the person saying they are never going to buy anything from that compnay ever again.

So, what would a company have to do to lose you? And then possible more importantly, what do that have to do to get you back?

Price and format matters. I only buy pdfs now and do not buy drm. If a company increased their pdf prices I could easily see them pricing themselves out of my buying habits. Switching to DRM would also be that way.

Also putting out something I thought sounded interesting but turned out to have nothing I was interested in does not lead me to try them again. (Had this happen with a recent cheap pdf).

They would have to make it explicit that a new product (in the right format and price range) was something I'd be interested in. It's a tough sell though because there is a ton of cheap stuff I know I'm interested in that I haven't gotten yet that I spend my regular monthly gaming budget acquiring.

 

[Aeson]

While not a game company, they did sell game stuff. Dragonscroll.com was a local company and I wanted to support the local folks. They had good prices and delivered quickly to local people by using courier service. I placed my first order with them and found out I had to pay to have it shipped UPS which confused me because the site said I got free delivery from the courier service. I contacted them and they said they had just ended their relationship with the courier and had not updated their site. They said they would ship for free. I went along with it. Sometime later I placed a second order. It took forever to arrive(more than a week). I even planned to drive over and get it myself. The order finally arrives and it is someone elses order. I contact them they apologize for the mixup. They send UPS out to pick it up. The next day UPS comes back with a different box. I'm so happy my order has arrived. I open the box. Its the same order just in a different box. I call them again and am told I must have be meant to have it. They let me keep it for free and two weeks later my order shows.

From this point on I went on a crusade to make sure no one else dealt with them. Dragonscroll.com is no longer in business. I'm not sure if I had anything to do with it.