Ever since both formats were released, I knew there could only be support for one player, and that would be Blu-ray.  I recommended Blu-ray to my friends and clients…I just had a feeling.

Not that Blu-ray picture was any better.  To be honest, both formats, when compared side by side, were amazing.  Even when comparing the same DVD in both formats, it’s hard to tell the difference between the two.

I think it was more of the marketing, as well as by looking at who was supporting which format.  Also, Blu-ray is the only true 1080p format on the market.  Even though that doesn’t mean its picture is better than HD-DVD, it’s great for marketing.

Even looking at the manufacturers that were supporting HD-DVD.  Toshiba was the only big name manufacturer, along with Microsoft with the X-box.  LG had a combo HD-DVD/Blu-ray player.  But there were many Blu-ray players on the market.  Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, Samsung and more.

Just before the January 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Warner Brothers studio announced that it would support Blu-ray.  The HD-DVD camp tried to downplay this, but soon after slashed the price of their HD-DVD players.  The Blu-ray booth at the CES show was buzzing…in contrast to the HD-DVD booth, which seemed pretty quiet when I visited, and when I passed by at other times.

It just seems to get worse for HD-DVD.  This week, Best Buy and Netflix (following Blockbuster) announced that they would only support Bly-ray.  Today, Wal-Mart joined the band-wagon and announced they also would only support Blu-ray, and would begin phasing out of HD-DVD next month.

And if that’s not bad enough, Blue Echo Audio Video has also decided to strictly support the Blu-ray format…a move that is certain to expedite the death of HD-DVD.

Rumor has it that both Microsoft and Toshiba, two of the biggest supporters of HD-DVD, will make the change to Blu-ray soon, which will officially (kinda) be the end of HD-DVD.

For those of you considering juming in to the world of High Definition DVDs, I really recommend making the jump to Blu-ray.   And for those of you that purchased HD-DVD players, maybe it’s time to put that in your kids room and make the jump into the Blu-ray waters…it’s safe to come in now.

Edit - Reuters announced that Toshiba has officially announced they will stop production of HD-DVD equipment, which means Blu-ray will be the High Definition DVD format winner.

Well, I find myself listening to so much music these days and thinking “this stuff is so unoriginal (sucks),” or “what happened to the talent,” or “they just don’t make music like they used to.” I guess that means I’m officially old now!

But today a friend emailed me a youtube clip of a girl named Charice Pempengco, a 14 year old girl with an absolutely incredible voice…I was blown away and couldn’t believe it. I thought there was no way that’s really her voice. But it is and it’s amazing. And not just a great voice, she’s a true performer. She knows how to work her audience. There’s no doubt about it to me, she’s a star and I can’t wait to see great things come from her. Here’s the clip my friend shared with me. If she gave this performance at the Apollo Theater, she’d bring the house down!

Wow! The show looks pretty funny too

Vicci Martinez is a friend of mine from Tacoma, Washington. I’ve known her since she was a little girl, and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her perform over the years. I’m not sure how well she’s known out there, but in Tacoma and Seattle, she’s very popular and has a huge following. She’s now in her early 20’s, but she’s been performing in public since her early teens. She performed on starsearch, and opened for BB King, Sting and Annie Lenox and many others, as well as performed with some great musicians.

Vicci writes all of her music, and she also has such an amazing voice and a HUGE stage presence. If you ever get the chance to see her live, you’ll see what I’m talking about. And it’s so nice to see her keep her artistic integrity and do things her way. Here’s a couple clips of her performing live.

Vicci’s a true talent, and hopefully you’ll get a chance to see her and pick up her CDs. I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot of her in the future.

While I don’t know Ms. Pempengco, I can say that her tremendous passion comes through in her voice and her stage presence. And I have seen the years of hard work Vicci’s put in and her passion for her music is unbelievable. These girls are not only incredibly talented, but they are true performers, and true inspirations.

So I guess it’s one of those things that you can go round and round about, trying to debate if the lack of customer service these days is blamed on a lack of Customer Loyalty, or just a change in culture, or pressures felt with price competition.  Maybe it’s all of these, and I’m sure there are other factors that influence this as well.

Regardless of the reason, there are still companies that believe in providing great customer service, and are able to balance that with competitive price.  I think it’s actually more of a mindset…providing poor service is easy to do, especially if you have the attitude that ‘they’re getting what they paid for.’

I was lucky enough (or unlucky enough, depending on your point of view) to be raised in a culture that placed a huge amount of emphasis on customer service, and that has stayed with me to this day.  I think there is still such a thing as customer loyalty, although definitely harder to find these days.  Because of customer service, I have been fortunate enough to have a large following of loyal customers over the years, and many of these customers have become my good friends.  And I know that my experience will dictate what I say to my friends.  If I have a positive experience shopping, I will definitely tell my friends and make a recommendation.  If I am treated poorly, I will make sure I tell my friends also…I truly believe that if I receive poor service from a company, I should do whatever I can to let my friends and acquaintances know about it so they don’t have to go through the same thing.

So as consumers, we can do something to make sure that customer service doesn’t leave the American culture.  We can buy from stores that provide excellent service, and we can recommend those shops to our friends and families.  We can also tell our friends and families when we are treated poorly by a company so that they don’t give their business to that same company.  It’s really a shame to see these companies prosper when they continue to treat people poorly.

And as a business, we can also strive to continue to provide excellent customer service, and if we’re not providing the best service available now, we should take steps to improve our service so that we can provide world class service. 

It’s something we have to work on as a nation, because the last thing we want is to have great customer service disappear.   

I left off by saying that maybe this is a self-induced problem, and maybe it’s also a question of Customer Loyalty, not just Customer Service. 

What I mean by a “self-induced” problem is that it seems like consumers in America are choosing to purchase their goods from whichever store has the lowest price, and that nothing else matters.  Many stores sell their goods at extremely low prices, especially online stores.  Well, there’s a cost involved with providing great service, and a great environment, whether it’s online or brick and mortar, and it can be difficult to balance great service with the lowest price.  Some can pull it off, but most can’t manage to do both and stay in business.  Many stores sell items at a very low cost because they have nothing else to offer, and they have no intentions of taking care of you when your item breaks, or when you have a question about how to make something work, or your item does not do what you thought it would and you’d like to exchange it for something else.  Speaking to someone that knows what he’s talking about and is happy to help walk you through something, or dealing with a company that wants to make sure you’re happy with your purchase, these things have a definite value, but consumers have devalued these items in favor of the lowest price.

This causes companies to have to scale back and they’re not able to provide the customer service you deserve.  Or the company has to have their products manuctured overseas and it’s not built to the standards we deserve and expect, but if they don’t do that, they can’t afford to stay in business.

It’s no doubt that consumers will tell you that they want great customer service, but their buying decisions tell you otherwise.  Then people don’t understand when they receive terrible service, or when the toy they purchased for their child makes them sick.  That’s what I mean about customer loyalty.  As consumers, we can support those companies that provide great service.  There’s still some companies that offer great service, although they are definitely fewer and fewer.  If we continue to shop based only on the lowest price, then this trend will continue and customer service will be gone.

I’m not suggesting that we owe it to a company to give them our hard earned dollars.  But I also think that if we become 100% focused on finding the absolute lowest cost, that we’re supporting the growth of companies that will continue to take advantage of people by offering terrible service, and that we will be left with no stores that can offer great service.

I spent the majority of my time in retail working for a retailer that was focused on customer service.  We had a very large base of loyal customers that would not shop anywhere else because they would rarely find the same level of service and knowledge that they found at our store.  We started getting people coming in with prices from Ebay and other unknown internet companies, wanting to get these items for the same price, and we just couldn’t match many of those prices, because after the purchase, they’d want us to go to their house and set things up, or they’d want to spend a lot of time showing them how to use their new equipment, etc.  You just can’t afford to do that as a business if you’re not making any money on something…but that’s the climate we’re in now, and slowly the company started closing stores.  The last store I worked at that we closed has been in the same location for over 20 years, and customers were coming in that were so sad to see us leave, and they were asking ‘where will I shop now?’  For many people service is still important, but many people just don’t want to pay for it, and that’s where the tough part comes in.

Is it possible to provide great service and low price, and still be in business?  Sounds like a good place to leave off, and we’ll talk about that next time.

Remember the days when someone would tell you their story of a bad customer service experience, and you’d be shocked that they were treated like that?  You’d think, “how can a company treat you so bad…there’s no way they’re gonna stay in business treating customers like that!”

Well, think about your recent experiences dealing with a company’s customer service department.  It seems that these days, you’re shocked when you’re treated with great customer service, and you’ve come to expect bad service as the norm.

Just to be sure I’m not the only one that feels this way, I asked many of my friends and they all felt the same way.  It’s a sad statement when we, as a nation, have come to expect bad or mediocre service as the norm, and we’re pleasantly surprised when we receive great, or even good service.

Over the last couple of years I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to Japan, and I have to say the service there is amazing.  It’s just in their culture, like it used to be in our culture.  I can honeslty say that I’ve never had a bad experience at a restaurant, shopping, or any other experience where I was dealing with a company as their customer.  People will really go out of their way to help you.  You’ll really be shocked to hear I even witnessed great service at their government offices (if you’ve ever been to the DMV, you can understand why I say that).  It used to be like that here, but it’s becoming harder and harder to find.

Is it too late for us to change our culture back to one of customer service?  Why has it gotten so bad?  I think it’s a self-induced problem. Maybe the issue is one of Customer Loyalty, not Customer Service. I’ll explain more in part 2, but until then, I’d love to hear your comments.