Ron Miller (@ron_miller) of TechCrunch, wrote about how it used to be that you had to wait hours on end to have the cable guy come to your house. When you took a cab, they could refuse credit card payments. The issue being that there weren’t any viable alternatives, so you dealt with the inconvenience to get the service you needed.

Nowadays, companies can’t get away with this because there is always a company biting at your heals to take your spot if customers are on the brink of ditching your service. Major cable companies are a great example of this. Comcast was able to get away with poor customer service, but when services like netflix came out with low prices and maximum convenience, so  they had to rebrand by starting their “if you’re not happy, we’re not happy” campaign.

Unfortunately, it’s too little too late for a lot of these companies. There are too many alternatives that are far more convenient and more affordable. Although, this doesn’t mean that all the sharing economy companies like Uber and Airbnb are in the clear. Both have suffered through regulation issues, that have made some customers feel at risk with their contractors.  

You have to continually improve your service to keep customers happy. Disruptors can become the disrupted as soon as they get stagnant and ignore their weaknesses.