Exit, voice and schools

You buy toothpaste you do not like, what do you do the next time you buy toothpaste? Most people would opt for different toothpaste: it could be from the same manufacturer, or a different one. You might have thrown away the first buy as well. But for most people writing to the manufacturer of the first toothpaste you bought, to complain about the poor quality of the product will not be an option. It is too small a thing, and there are a lot of options available in the market. And usually we do not care about the company or the product enough to really think about complaining about the quality of the product.

But think of a bigger product or a product with a more concentrated market (fewer options) now and the game starts to change. You are thinking of buying a car or a stereo and suppose this is an important and large purchase for your budget, you will do due diligence about the quality of the product, the reputation of the company, after sales service, warranties and their effectiveness and the general buzz about the company in the relevant markets.

Sony will charge you more for their product, but they sell you not only the product and the brand name, they sell you their reputation, their after sales service and customer care. In this case if you do buy a ‘lemon’ or a product that is not giving satisfactory performance, you will invoke warranties, you will write to the company about possible redress, you might even ask for refund or exchange and you might also write to the company complaining about the quality of the product and your disappointment at having received such a product from such a company.

But what will you do the next time when you go to buy the same product. If you received redress you might still buy from the same company, if you feel that the last incident was a fluke and a mistake from a company that is otherwise good and reputed, you might still buy from the same company and not switch.