Deception in Advertising Can Cause Low Trust and Lost Business

I just saw a television advertisement touting automaker Ford’s power train warranty as the best from a full-line automaker. It is now five years and 60,000 miles. Something bothered me. I remember seeing advertisements from Hyundai offering a ten year and 100,000 mile warranty.

Turns out I was right. Ford’s warranty isn’t better than Hyundai’s. Then I read an article in USA Today that had an explanation of Ford’s claim. Ford claims that their warranty is the best from a “full-line automaker.” Ford’s position is that Hyundai is not a full-line automaker because they don’t sell pickup trucks.

Is there some fine print that I need to read here? Ford’s claim is almost misleading.

This is simple. People like to do business with people and companies they know, like and trust. Mislead me with a false claim, or almost false claim, and you will start to lose my trust, which may cost you my business – forever.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken