If you don’t think the Internet can make or break your reputation online, you’re sorely mistaken. In the age before social media, each consumer’s didn’t have their own soapbox. Now, that’s changed and people are able to share their worst experiences with everyone else.
Check out these corporate problems that made it to the front page of Digg.
Comcast is an Evil Corporation that Sucks:
After complaining to Comcast about not getting information about a rate change, this blogger decided to call to complain and inquire about why he had received no notice. In the end he was forced to cancel the $140 service, but had the last word when he posted his article and it went hot on digg.
He said there was no other way they could have notified us. I told him lots of businesses I work with mail out announcements as individual letters notifying their customers of changes. He seemed completely baffled by the idea and chided me for not getting my bills in the mail, blaming the whole misunderstanding on me.
Sprint Refuses To Cancel Dead Brother’s Cellphone:
This sad story highlights how bad some employees need a PR seminar. When the writer’s brother past away, everyone but Sprint was understanding. They told “M”, the writer, that the most they could do was put the account on vacation and charge $5.95 until the contract had expired, or “M” would have to pay early termination fees.
My brother passed away suddenly in December. I have been dealing with his estate since. Most creditors have been easy to deal with and have even offered their condolences. Sprint is an exception.
Verizon still doesn’t understand fire:
Network World columnist James Gaskin had a huge problem with Verizon when his in-law’s house was burned down. They had called Verizon to ask that their phone number be transferred to their temporary living quarters. Apparently Verizon can’t do that, but what they can do is forward you’re calls. Too bad the small obstacle is that you have to do it, and if you don’t have the original phone you’re SOL.
We can’t do (the forwarding), said the Verizon reps; only you can do it. Get this: They were told to call from their old phone to request the forwarding service. Yes, the phone in a house that burned down. Yes, calling on phones that had turned into lumps of melted plastic with metal bits sticking out.
Enterprise Tells Post-Op Patient To Drive 400 Miles On A Faulty Tire:
Bad press is one thing, but putting a customer’s life in danger is another. Enterprise might want to take a look at how their employees conduct themselves, especially since they have a “promote from within” only policy (yes one of the employees in this story might one day become an Enterprise executive).
This enterprise customer had noticed that one of the tires in the car she had rented looked like it was low on air. She called to Enterprise to find out if they could replace the car, and explained that she couldn’t drive right now because she had just undergone surgery. After a run around and lots of bureaucracy, she realized that Enterprise would be no help and decided to complain online.
I explained the situation, and was connected to what I believe was the Manhattan office, though I was never told. However, as I was trying to explain that I could not drive to another branch because of the anesthesia, the representative became confused and hung up on me. I called customer service again, and was again disconnected.
Microsoft tester fired after talking about Xbox 360 defects:
A lot of us gamers were disappointed with this turn of events. Ars Technica covered this story perfectly, and portrayed Microsoft in a light that I agree with. The story goes that Rob Delaware, a tester for Microsoft publicly spoke about issues with the Xbox 360 unit, notably the “Red Ring of Death”, and found himself without a job because of it. If Microsoft wants to pull itself back to its former glory, it could use some PR help. The fact that the Xbox 360 had issues is not something to cover up. You should be investing time and money into making your product and customer service better, instead of firing good game testers.
Working closely with Dean Takahashi at VentureBeat, Delaware walked through the sordid history of the Xbox 360 defects. The warranty replacement policy, which sees refurbished units sent out to those with failed consoles, is fingered as largely the result of Microsoft’s decision to hurriedly get the Xbox 360 onto the market.
Way to Spot Suspicious Activity Bank of America:
This article was really interesting to me because not only do I read Chris Hooley’s blog, but because he’s a smart guy and a lot of other people read his blog too. So when Bank of America let an identity thief take about $40,000 of Chris’ money, it was not going to end well. Chris quickly wrote a blog post after the incident, letting everyone know what had happened and over-all just venting. Bank of America probably should have done some better customer service and maybe even just apologized for the problem, some swag goes a long way too.
A quick review turned up 5 suspicious transactions. Two were deposits, and three were withdrawals. All five transactions occurred *inside* five different Bank of America banking centers. What amazed me most is the final two transactions. A withdrawal of 26k. And later that day, another withdrawal of 12.5k. Way to spot suspicious activity Bank of America. They handed the guy almost 40k in cash in one day.
A Quick Note From Idaho (And Why I Hate Wal-Mart):
Yeah, Walmart sucks and I’m clearly not a fan of them. But this story takes the cake. This blogger was driving to Chicago when he stopped in Idaho to get the oil changed in his car. 30 minutes and $24 dollars later he was told the oil had been changed. Too bad that was a lie. In the end after being lied to by both the mechanic and receptionist, the oil was finally changed. But that didn’t stop the blogger from writing about the horrible customer service, and highlighting just how much Walmart sucks.
She called in the mechanic and in front of me said to him “why didn’t you change the oil?” Clearly she either forgot, or just didn’t care that she had already told me that she had done it.
His response was “You told me to just pull it into the lot, you didn’t say anything about an oil change.”
I was on the mechanic’s side for a minute until he looked at me and said “When we get these foreign cars in here, sometimes it gets confusing.”
Best Buy Cancels Your Order As You Stand There Shouting “Stop!”:
Usually I’m a huge fan of Best Buy. It’s an technology fan’s playground, and a place to check out some pretty cool gadgets. Regardless of how cool the store is, their customer service definitely needs some help. After stories of a hidden website and two tier pricing had been uncovered, I had hoped it would be the end of bad PR for Best Buy. Once again, I was mistaken.
Best Buy didn’t want to honor the sale price of the 2GB flash drive Matt ordered through their website, so when Matt arrived to pick-up his purchase, the store’s assistant manager called customer service and, pretending to be Matt, asked to cancel the order.
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