  Grounded ChipsSo bigwidesky is in a holding pattern. Things have changed and will change again. Such is the way of things. As an incredibly brilliant person just suggested to me today, "I know I will not get out of this life alive..." That obviously means what it means, but perhaps less obviously it suggests that the only constant is the lack of constancy. How's that for a self-referential paragraph, eh? But I'm not interesting in digging into all of that right now. I'll be saying more about bigwidesky shortly. Right now I'm employing my potato chip greased fingers to clack out this little experiment. It's an experiment that has been tried many times before. I'm not going to dig up specific links at the moment, but you can go to the consumerist and elsewhere and find other things like what I'm about to blog. But hey, I'm in a potato chip induced altered state of consciousness. To be brief, I had a hard time opening a bag of Terra Chips. In particular, Terra Kettles. This isn't the first time. So I should have known better, but I'm in my office and I don't have scissors, so I applied the requisite pressure to actually the open the bag; which is to say the same amount of force necessary to move the Earth to a new orbit. Needless to say, my hapless self got chips all over the place. I decided I should let the people who make these chips know that while the chips are good, they are packaged in an armored truck. I had a little trouble with the site. Not unlike the way I had trouble with the bag of chips. Perhaps this is a little like Charlie Brown in the Halloween special where he comes to the party in a sheet filled with holes and explains that he “had a little trouble with the scissors.” I admit it, I have brain damage. But putting that aside, the bag really is hard to open and the website really does leave something to be desired. I could explain further, but I’ll just let the bit that I wrote them do the explaining for me. To begin, your product tastes great. So consider my criticism in light of that. I have a small complaint, which is unfortunately exacerbated by your poor online mechanism for communicating it to you.So we'll see what happens. I'll let y'all know. I mean, given that no one has posted here in months, "y'all" in that last sentence may refer only to myself, but Google will index this post like a good little monkey and people will read it and the Terra Chip folks will either reap the benefit or the negativity. Or maybe they’ll hire me to consult on how to improve their relationship with their consumers. Or maybe I’ll get a clue and just use a tool to open the bag next time. Y’know, like a blowtorch. Update 1: Well, their autoresponder works. Yay. I got an email saying: This email is to confirm that we have received your email and will reply as soon as possible. Your questions and comments are very important to us.So far, so good I suppose. I find the tenor of the email pretty cold. But hey, it was sent by a computer. Also, "Terra Chips Consumer Relations"? I know, 99% of all CPG companies have a customer service or relations group that calls themselves something like this, but it's a damn terrible name. It's got a real Terry Gilliam's Brazil kind of thing going on. How about something like "The Chip Herding Team"? Oh, and I'll take you at face value that my questions and comments are important to you, but my experience with the site kind of belies that. In fact, maybe don't even tell me that. I should be the judge of whether you really think what I have to say is important. Show it, don't tell it.  
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Does this mean the band is getting back together?
Most businesses being what they are, comprised mainly of businesspeople whose ideas of "creativity and innovation" is in step with bastardizing the latest trends and following those up with hearty rounds of self-congratulatory pats on their backs, I'm perpetually ired by companies with great products that sell/maintain said products with inversely matched service. You've got a unique product, so why doesn't your service/site/message match?
To expand on your comment form grumblings, it should be noted that said form doesn't even require the message box to send your message! Seems a bit backwards, yeah?
Howdy Ben.
The band is always going through permutations I suppose. Right now it's a one-man thing with bigwidesky, but that could change. Possibility is ever present.
But yeah, great chips but the brand is lacking personality where it counts--when the rubber meets the road. The experience with a brand doesn't end with the product itself. Things break. Things fail. Then what? That's when a brand gets to demonstrate its respect for humanity. That may sound like high-minded BS, but it ain't.
Ben, you and I are friends. Which may not be evident since I missed you last time you were in town. Shame on me. But I'm owning up to that. Right here in a public space. If I injure you in some way, I can't expect you to hold up your end of the friendship if I don't accept responsibility for mine. That doesn't mean I have to be available every time you come to town. But it does mean that if you want to tell me how you feel, I'd better be accessible. I'd better listen. And I'd better have the humility to at least acknowledge your frustration. That's not so high-minded; it's just common sense.
The problem is the bureaucracy. All the middle managers are there to uphold the paradigm as delivered to them by the executives. The executives are isolated from reality. By which I mean that they don't actually get direct access to the bottom of the pyramid. How do the customer service reps feel on a day-to-day basis? What does it feel like as a consumer to get squeezed through the meat grinder of customer service? With few execptions, our intrepid executives don't know. Meanwhile the managers dare not do anything profound with any knowledge they gleen from their interactions with either the customer of the people they manage. They don't want their heads cut off because they stuck their necks out.
It's a fine kettle of fish (chips?). The exceptional company has the CEO that spends a day a month answering customer complaints. The jury is still out on Terra thus far. No response yet. Of course it hasn't been twelve hours since I contacted them. Still waiting.
Good to see you're posting again. I'm interested to follow the response thread (to the extent that one manifests). A suggestion: put updates in a new post rather than editing the initial post. That way, RSS readers will notify viewers there is something new to read here instead thinking "I parsed that post, nothing's new).
FWIW, Jill and I love those chips too. We have two bags at home and had difficulty opening both! When a woman asks "can you open these" Terra is the chip that makes you look like a weenie. I wonder if the added trouble of opening has affected sales among the weak and fragile?
Wow! Totally missed you guys. I haven't read the 3 part post yet but wanted to say shalom! And I think bigwidesky will always be alive in some form or another. I'm patiently waiting until the angel investors show up. It could be any day now, you know my connections to the cosmos. Skye, you are no weenie, don't even think it! Brent, if that's the name you've resumed using, I suck too. I bailed on your happy hour and I suck.
Keep it real and in focus people! Until our paths cross again or I run you over, xoxo.