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June 05, 2007
Anatomy of the new customer complaint meme
Delivering shoddy service or selling defective products happens, but there's nowhere to hide from unhappy customers who use social media to highlight a problem you've created and refuse to address.
If the story pings its way across enough blogs, the traditional media quickly notice and happily amplify the story.
The latest example is that of CompUSA customer and blogger Terry Heaton who bought a digital camera from a store's liquidation sale only to find out at home that it was empty box. Let's recount the series of events:
June 2: Terry posts on his blog the response he got from the CEO's office about his empty box problem. A CompUSA exec tells Terry that he should have inspected the box before taking it home and all sales are final. Never mind that Terry was a longtime CompUSA customer and had spent $3,500 that day at the liquidation sale.
June 3: The Lost Remote blog writes about Terry's story. 211 people comment.
June 4: The story is posted to Digg where it's digg'd 2,607 times with 210 comments and rises to the number 2 story in the Digg Business section.
June 4: The story hits the front page of BoingBoing.
June 4: CNET.com mentions the story in their video show "The Queue."
June 4: Over 50 blogs write about Terry's story.
June 5: Terry finally gets a call from CompUSA apologizing for the situation and promising a $300 gift certificate from the store.
June 5: Terry's story is on the front page of FoxNews.com, with the caption "Image problem."
Image problem on the outside and a marketing education problem on the inside. Other than the soft-headed explanation that Terry should have the checked the box before he left the store, this story illustrates why companies need to be word-of-mouth and social-media smart if they're going to avoid PR problems like this.
Hat tip to Steve Safran of Lost Remote for the heads up.
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Word of mouth has always been a powerful marketing tool. Blogging has merely given us a greater and more far-reaching venue to spread the word. Unfortunately, the message isn't always one we want spread.
This story should serve as a wake-up call to everyone -- CEO, marketer, sales rep, etc.-- who thinks that they can push their mistake under the rug and the customer won't notice -- or talk about it!
Sometimes all it takes is simply admitting an error and apologizing to fix the problem. It may not always be the most comfortable thing to do, but it's a lot less painful than spending the next who-knows-how-long doing damage control.
Be careful how you treat your customers. They just might be bloggers!
Great story. Truly, businesses can no longer afford to disregard the scope of social media and its ability to ceate an online "personality." I read the Southwest Airlines blog regularly, and as a result, I trust the company. CompUSA could learn a lesson here. Ironic that a company that enables the social media-saavy does not participate in that which it facilitates. Doing so may have preempted this bad publicity (and maybe even saved them $300).
This is just mind-blowing. But you have to wonder, is this the fault of some idiot CompUSA executive, or a much larger fault of the whole organization?
Or is it the whole organization's fault for hiring such an idiot?
Jim,
I think it's a bigger problem. I didn't mention that first, Terry took the box back to the store and they told him too bad. Then he wrote to the CEO and got back the same response.
The company seems to have some hard and fast policies in place that prohibit their employees from doing right by the customer.
Sounds like a company I don't want to deal with, ever. I don't get it.
I run small e-commerce sites, and you know what, when a customer has a problem we just fix it, even when we're not at fault.
You know what? We get return business like you would not believe.
This is a great post. It illustrates perfectly how quickly the web can amplify any customer service problem. I wrote a related post and attempted to trackback to this one but, as always seems to happen with typepad accounts, the attempt timed out. I'm not sure of the etiquette (please let me know if this is in error), but here is the link to that post, http://www.marketingneophyte.com/blog/default.aspx?id=40&t=Avoiding-a-Complaint-Wildfire
Hi,
I am Jarv from the Philippines. Sadly here in this area of the world. Customer complaints are thrown in some black sea. 3 months ago, I bought at a supermarket a Belvita biscuit from Kraft. It tasted like it was dipped in gas. I wrote to Kraft Philippines but never heard a reply from them.
This is a tiny voice shouting advocating word of mouth.
Cheers
Thanks for the shoutout, Jackie. What has really stunned me is how many people have blamed Terry for this. The vitriol he has had to put up with is amazing, even for the internet. At Lost Remote, people blamed Terry for not opening the box (which we're also told is against the rules). At Digg, people called him dirty names and accused him of trying to pull a fast one. (As though Terry would put his entire life's work and reputation on the line for $259.) The signal to noise ratio on this absolutely blew me away.
I figured if there was anything people would largely agree on, it would be that stores should stand behind their sales and that an empty box does not a sale make. So good for CompUSA for (ultimately) doing the right thing. But a case study is in here somewhere for people who blame victims of fraud. Has the culture really shifted so that corporate suspicion of customers is now a customer suspicion of other customers, too?
I had a similarly frustrating experience with McAfee, the software company, and their SecurityCenter (and affiliated products). I doubt anyone at McAfee will notice to fix the problems though ... not MY problems per se, I'm never using their products again, but rather THE problems that would lead a guy to publish his experience.
http://www.jamehealy.com/mcafee_using_near_fraudulent_practices
Jackie -- how many times does this have to happen before people learn that the cost of the blowup far exceeds the cost of solving the service problem? Boy, people learn slowly.
Thank god for such ignorance. It will allow you to sell a lot of books and us to sell a lot of advice.
Something that is often forgotten in discussioins on customer satisfaction is the positive impact that can be made when a complaint is well handled. If you treat customers honourably, fairly and above all with dignity when they complain you can turn a potentially disgruntled individual into an advocate for you and your business. Telling someone "you should have checked the box" is like telling them "You are SO stupid"
A funny thought occurs: Did anyone ever hear of someone being gruntled?
Its a shame that a company waits for a customer to complain before they do something. It makes the entire promise of customer service a tragic joke since the reality seems to be that if you can get what you have paid for...as long as you are willing to jump through hoops and maybe rip it from someones cold dead fingers
I am living a similar story with Volkswagen. I posted it to Meneame, the spanish Digg, and Zabaldu, the basque language Digg, and was first mencioned in their front-pages, with more than 600 "meneos"; it was posted also in many many blogs all over spain; it was also mencioned in Consumer.es, the main web about consume in Spain. It is really meaningful that a lot of people is supporting me trough personal messages and linking my blog in theirs, but Volkswagen is blind and def. Should I continue fighting or should I give up?
I love these examples. Mainly because the supplier really does have nowhere to go. They actually can't win these. Although Terry should have checked the box it stands to reason he was buying a camera, not a box. How stupid does CompUSA think the customer is? Well, I know the answer to that. They think he is as stupid as they are!
There are two rules for handling complaints which make life really easy:
1. who is at the root of the problem?
2. they pay
Works every time!
Wish I had the ability to forward a word.doc, I purchased a TAP warrenty from CompUSA. 2 months prior to it expiring I contacted them... they lost my claim, jerked me around. I have waisted hours on hold, trying to deal with their NON-customer service. No one would believe what thier C.S. staff have said to me, when I wasn't on hold. I am still attempting to get to someone with Comp that will correct thier error in judgement/actions.
PS. Why would anyone LOOK IN THE BOX? When I have made my purchases THE STAFF check the box if there is any questions (like is the remote & instructions there). Digitals are so light you can not tell if they are in the box or just packing materials.
WHEN a disgruntled consumer spreads a story it costs the store in lost return & future consumers.
Forwarned is forearmed!
We purchased a Shakesphere rod Model # MSC-60 MUSTANG 100 just under 2 years ago (warrenty stated 1 year), but my concern is the way it broke. It snapped right in the middle of the handle where the reel screws on. When the rod broke my wife was only casting, causing her reel (Synergy spincast) to sink to the botom of the lake at which time I was unable to retrieve the reel due to the line breaking when the rod snapped. I was only able to obtain the rest of the rod becuase it did not sink. I am a satisfied owner of older Shakespeare rods and reels and never experianced any problems such as this with their products.
I contacted Shaksphere and their repy was:
John,
Sorry to hear about your rod breakage. Unfortunately that rod only carried a 1 yr. warranty under normal fishing conditions. It is no longer under the manufacture warranty.
Have a great day
Consumer Service Rep.
Melissa Light
I guess when you are big company like "Shakesphere" you can afford to send out cold letteres like the above.
Spread this story it costs "Shaksphere" future consumers.
DO NOT BUY SHAKSPHERE FISHING PRODUCTS
1. Summary:
o CompUSA has in the past or continues to misrepresent its TAP printer express replacement warranties. Sales people encourage consumers to purchase such TAP plans, explicitly stating that the product can be returned to the store for a new replacement, or a gift card within the original purchase price limit. In reality:
o After a 21 day return period the store has no role. All TAP service requests (via phone or online) are communicated to a TAP subcontractor having nothing to do with stores or sales.
o Upon certifying a valid TAP claim, and making a decision to replace rather than repair, the TAP subcontractor has no further role. Actual replacement choices and delivery is delegated to yet another subcontractor, ANEW Business Solutions. That subcontractor has no customer contact, and no new printers – all are refurbished and shipped in flimsy brown boxes with no accessories. Paper trays, ink, etc. must be scavenged from the original printer to make the replacement fully functional. The replacement has a 90 day warranty, after which all TAP liabilities are considered to be fulfilled.
o In comparison, original manufacturers (HP, Epson, etc.) also sell refurbished printers. They refurbish them to their standards, ship in original retail cartons complete with all new ink, software and manuals. They also provide a manufacturer’s warranty of 12 months – the same as their new printers.
o Here is what I’ve been told by CompUSA people about such misrepresentation:
o “We are retraining our staff not to do that anymore.” – Store Ass’t. Manager
o “I’ve worked in HQ for five years and that is still going on.” Corporate Customer Service representative
o “We get lots of complaints about what sales people say about TAP versus how it actually works.” ANEW Business Solutions representative – subcontractor for TAP replacements.
o The above admissions have no impact on resolving customer issues. That is, misrepresentation is acknowledged to occur generally throughout the CompUSA system, but the actual wording of the TAP plan applies, no matter what the sales staff said. It’s like being told “Yeah, we lied to you, but we don’t care.”
o CompUSA also constructs a number of barriers to appealing any TAP plan replacements, by:
o Delegating downstream to the above subcontractors, none of whom have actual customer service resolution authority.
o Directing complaints to two highly constrained websites (“in store” or “online purchase”) for raising issues via fillable online forms each of which limits all complaints to a maximum of 1000 characters (inc. spaces and punctuation!) - totally inadequate to explain much of anything. Use of these sites to reference a TAP service number and request a return telephone call to discuss the details of a shoddy replacement issue trigger an automatic and anonymous email reply stating the matter to be closed as a replacement was shipped per TAP plan criteria. No one actually will talk to the customer.
o Failing to publish corporate customer service email addresses or telephone numbers.
o Hiding a difficult to discover option in the (800) CompUSA main number that does reach so-called “Corporate Customer Service” (a store manager spent some time figuring this out for us). At this contact point, the representative’s initial response focuses on redirecting customers back to stores and subcontractors (i. e. “this is a matter for you to take up with TAP staff, not us.” Persistent pressure by a customer, though, can establish a “formal case number and complaint notes, with a promise of a callback within 72 hours. We were persistent, but it was a lie anyway.
o After 72 hours, no response is received. Calling back and providing yet another rep. with the formal complaint reveals that a decision was made to close the case. They don’t call or email to tell you that – you have to pester them. Any attempt to query why the promised return call was not made, or why the revelation of the case being closed was not communicated by CompUSA to the customer, rather than being discovered by the customer, is cut off with “I’m transferring you to a TAP representative as the matter is now closed here.”
o The entire customer service system, whether at the point of sale or the upper echelons of corporate “communications”) is founded on the principle of saying one thing and then doing something completely different, with any actual conversation that could be material to the complaint and its resolution being strictly prohibited. Stores and TAP say call corporate, and corporate refers everything back to a store or a TAP subcontractor that it knows has no authority to resolve the issue.
o This is actually a customer abuse system, carefully compartmentalized and bereft of any accountability for misrepresentation by staff and shoddy performance by segmented subcontractors.
2. The explanation that CompUSA Corporate Customer Service had no interest in hearing or reading:
o On June 2, 2006 we purchased an Epson Stylus Photo RX700 printer at CompUSA for $399.99. It was Epson’s highest-priced multifunction inkjet, providing flash card slots, flatbed color and b&w scanning, including 35mm film and slides, color and B&W printing, including non-computer dependent functions. The salesman convinced us to also purchase a $44.99 2 Year TAP Printer Express Exchange Replacement Plan, explicitly describing the plan and assuring us that if we had a covered problem within the extended warranty period, we could bring the printer to any CompUSA store for either exchange or a gift card of equal value.
o Within the last few months, the RX700 has generated enough failures to warrant our reliance on the TAP plan. Issues include incomplete scanning, partial page printing, and failing to read or scan to a number of flash cards otherwise readable in other peripherals. We also note that this model was quickly orphaned in the retail market due to a growing pattern of such problems, as well as performance limitations under Mac OS X. The special ink cartridges that were designed only for the RX700 model are now unavailable in any local stores since the printer was withdrawn from stores. CompUSA still carries them but is a 90 mile round trip. In withdrawing the product, there were no driver updates available either. Curiously, the RX700 has never been replaced by Epson with an upgraded model, and Epson now sells only cheaper models with fewer features, and more subdued hype.
o On Oct. 15, 2007 my company called the TAP service line and initiated a service request. We received an email providing a case number and telling us to check the TAP website to track progress on our claim. When the online status remained unchanged for more than a week, we called the TAP people again and found that the warranty had been verified and that “a decision was pending”. We had to call again to find that a decision had been made to replace the printer. No one at TAP would or could tell us what we would receive, as that was up to a different subcontractor, whose name and telephone number was withheld.
o On Oct 26, 2007 we received a “refurbished” RX700 of claimed equal value from ANEW Business Solutions. According to its website, ANEW Business Solutions is committed to “Offering high quality low cost repair services and solutions to the retail, OEM and service communities.” Its customer in this case is CompUSA, not the end users.
o It does its own refurbishment, and keeps its costs down by falling well short of what the printer manufacturers themselves do. The replacement arrived in a flimsy brown carton that was splitting open at the seams on arrival. It was foamed in place, included no ink cartridges or other related materials, and was missing its output paper tray.
o ANEW directs follow-up support problems to www.supportmyitem.com. This website is nothing more than a link to the major original manufacturer’s websites. They of course do not support printers refurbished by third parties. A phone call to them revealed that they never send out anything new, and rarely anything different than the same model being replaced. They never include removable parts, ink, or anything else. They provide a 90 warranty, which will only trigger more of the same refurbished, substandard arriving at the customer’s door.
o We spent $400 for a supposedly durable, top-of-the-line printer, and another $45 for a misrepresented TAP, and have received something that is worth far less than what we bought, or even a manufacturer’s refurbished and guaranteed unit. We would have accepted a gift card, or another printer of similar capabilities within the original cost limit. And, we would have continued to buy at CompUSA.
Given the highly refined customer abuse system in place at CompUSA, including an arrogant, hostile corporate contact point, useless online complaint forms, and undisclosed use of subcontractors who ship sick-sounding, part-lacking rebuilts, we caution any company or consumer against doing business with CompUSA at all, and especially, falling for the verbal sales pitches extolling TAP plans.
Instead, consider Staples, Office Depot or OfficeMax. Here is a quote from the latter’s MaxAssurance Replacement Protection for Electronics under $400:
“Simply return the failed product to our replacement depot using the prepaid shipping label we provide. We will send you an OfficeMax Gift Card for the product’s full purchase price paid (plus tax if applicable).” Their warranty also covers accidental damage from handling, and begins at the end of the manufacturer’s warranty, not the beginning!
Guess where we bought our replacement printer. Guess where we didn’t.
Update to my printer TAP plan issues. Letters and calls to corporate office eventually led to receipt of a gift card in the full amount of the original printer cost. Arrived just in time (given CompUSA closure decision) to take advantage of liquidation sales. Did not buy anything that would rely on their support or warranties but did recoup the original investment.
Thought they (and ANEW, who issued the card via FedEx) deserved praise for the result, if not all the hassles along the way.
Jinan Jindiao Technology Co., Ltd has some real bad trading practices. Once they have your money they are done with you. I have tried to get support from the sales person (Cathy Sun)I have also left Emails for company president(ivy Pan) with no response. The units shipped to us had the wrong power cords (Australian cords shipped to USA)and two defective units out of twelve shipped. I would highly recomend not buying anything from this company, they will take your money and leave you out to dry.
Stay away from this company:
http://jnjindiao.fuzing.com/
Dan
danmar2@comcast.net
