Are the brands behind brand licensing branding their customers as suckers?

We expect a lot from our brands, plain and simple.  So when we spend hard-earned dollars for name-brand products, we expect them to be all that they promised, and the service behind those products to be even better.  Too often through licensing agreements, those brands are being manufactured and supported by someone else, somewhere else, leaving us wondering why we spent the money on name-brand products in the first place. 

I recently bought a cell phone and when it went on the fritz I called the store I purchased it from.  They told me to call the customer service number on the box, which routed me to a call center.  When I told the agent the make and model of my phone he gave me a new number to call for the company that actually makes my specific phone.  Here I was thinking I was buying a name-brand quality phone, and now I feel like I was misled.  Why do the company’s that license their products not consider the support strategy when they’re cashing their big checks?  It really got me thinking about how brand licensing when mismanaged, can drag a name brand through the mud.  I’m not alone either:

“I bought a piece of exercise equipment recently only to find out that when the motor went kaput, the name on the machine isn’t the one that services it.  They told me to call a handyman.  What is that?”

“We purchased a 4-in-1 convertible crib from you [a well-known baby store].  We thought we were getting a great piece of furniture but when it was delivered it didn’t come with the hardware needed to convert the crib.  When I called your customer service number I was told, ‘Sorry, you need to call the manufacturer.’  I thought you were the manufacturer because your name was on the box.  After countless phone calls and dead ends, I still don’t have the hardware I need.”

“No one keeps a manual for a toaster so I just called you.  So, I called the people who made it and they were terrible at helping me.  I cannot believe that you are okay with how they take care of your customers so I’m calling you back to let you know that you have a problem.“

Happy Monday!