Determining real value

The A/C unit that controls the upstairs in my house died at the beginning of this month. All of the bedrooms are upstairs and my 70 something year old in-laws were coming to stay with us for the weekend. The thermostat crept up to 85 degrees. Not a great situation.

I was hoping that the home warranty I purchased the year prior would get us the part for free and in a timely manner. One of these things would turn out to be feasible.

After 12 days and dozens of calls, the part had been ordered and was only going to cost us an additional $180. Luckily, it has been a rainy 12 days and my in-laws were used to sleeping in 77 degrees. My son, however, was not. If you're a parent, you know how bad it feels to see your kid sleeping with sweaty hair.

Here's the breakdown. The home warranty cost $650 for the year and the part that broke in the A/C unit was quoted at $3000. So plus the $180, I had gotten a pretty sweet deal, right? The short answer is yes. $2000ish dollars would have been a substantial hit to our bank account. I was willing to put up with the lack of communication from the home warranty and HVAC companies. However, there were definitely a few intense moments over the course of the 2 weeks where I was tempted to order the part myself and be done with it.

Now, if I was a millionaire with gobs of cash lying around, this may not have been considered a good value. After all, time is the most valuable commodity. For someone who can afford an unexpected $3000 charge, not having A/C for two weeks would be out of the question.

So how does this situation relate to what I do professionally? Well, I speak with a lot of companies who are deciding on whether to engage with us or an agency with fewer employees and lower prices. These agencies have the ability to produce strong video, but they may have difficulty providing excellent service because they don't have Producers or Account Executives on staff. It can be easy to get excited about the video being produced and forget about the communication behind the scenes that allows the project reach the finish line.

As a customer — are you willing to put up with missed deadlines and less than optimal communication? For some, this is the only option. Others have larger budgets and, therefore, are able to receive a higher degree of customer service. It's a shame, but it's the reality we all live with. If an agency can reach certain creative standards and guarantees deadlines will be met, then they deserve to the opportunity to charge a premium rate. Agencies that fall into this category have made it a priority to hire great teams and develop systems that keep their customers happy (99% of the time).

Food for thought. Stay cool friends.