Yes that is very nice, however, that then begs the question IMO, is the company making enough money to stay in business with non profit producing gestures, or are they overcharging and having other paying customers subsidize those that change their minds?
Nothing in business is ultimately free.
This is a good question. The one thing I try and do in my business is to increase the lifetime value of a customer. To do that you have to maximize annual volume, maximize margin, and maximize loyalty (length of the relationship). Those things are constantly at odds so you have to perform a balancing act. I've lost money taking care of a customer when the issue was 100% their fault. That will reduce margin, but will increase loyalty and maybe annual volume as well. You can't look at one transaction in a vacuum, you have to look at the relationship, or potential relationship with the client. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not. I did a near-cost repair job for the company who provides all the crazy light displays for the salesforce building in SF, with the understanding that they would give me an opportunity to work with them on future new projects. They took the money and ran. I bailed out a tech who ordered the wrong thing and re-worked it at my cost so he did not get into trouble. Now, even after moving to a different company, he only buys from me because he knows I have his back. That not only created loyalty, but allows me to get a little more margin from that customer because they are not shopping on price alone.
