For a long time, many business owners have operated with the mindset that one angry customer is no big deal. Even if they toss the old “I’m telling everyone I know about this.” at you you still figured, really, how many people can one person know?
The rules have changed.
No longer is any one customer “just one angry customer.” In today’s “everyone has a voice” hyper-connected age, one angry customer quickly turns into 1.5 million views on youtube and a lot of national press. Don’t believe me? Just ask United. The airline broke Dave Carroll’s guitar during his band’s trip to Nebraska then refused to pay to replace it. After wrangling with all of United’s minions who were set to impede rather than help the customer, Dave did what any musician would do: he made a music video.
After this broke to national attention and 1.3 million views in two days, United offered to pay Dave for the guitar. He refused, offering this rebuttal and continuing with his plans to make two more songs about his United experience.
So next time you’re tempted to make a customer jump through hoops just to get the sort of service that should be standard think twice. Do you want someone like Dave Carroll singing about your failures or singing your praises? Remember that it’s a two-way street and an amazingly good story can take off like this too. Unfortunately with the state of American business it’s stories like Dave’s we most often see.