Angry Customers: What Are They Saying About You Online?

“It looks like your payment was misplaced, so we had to turn off your electricity. We have no proof that you sent it. I can’t backdate payments. This probably ruined your credit. I know it’s 95 degrees out and you’re sweating to death in your house. There’s nothing I can do. Maybe you own a fan? Thank you for calling First Electric Company! Have a great day!” rambles the robotic customer support representative, barely stopping to listen.

As you slam down your phone and your dog whimpers in the sweltering heat, you yell, “How could they lose my payment?! They didn’t even listen to me! I AM HOT!”  

Whether it’s a snotty salesperson, a condescending technical support representative or a negligent front desk agent, we all know what it’s like to be treated badly by someone who is being paid to help us. As we seethe in anger over being mistreated, we have several options. Our doctors would recommend a brisk walk so we can clear our heads. Our inner fatties demand ice cream. The road-rager in us demands we get in the car and see how many other drivers we can drive off the road.

But what do most of us do? We complain. Loudly. To anyone who will listen. And increasingly, that includes posting about our experiences online.

No matter what you’re angry about, there is a site on which you can post about it. Having issues with your faulty Hyundai? Post on furiocity.com, where the site logo is a frowny-face emoticon. Have major beef with Capital One? Take a gander at caponesucks.com, where over 6,000 registered users complain about being mishandled by Capital One. Feel that you were wrongfully arrested? Grumble about it with fellow inmates on screwedcentral.com, where they will also gladly host your complaints about the government.

So how do companies control the negative feedback? As media becomes more and more instant, the need to know what people are saying about your company is critical. The impact of one bad experience broadcast on the internet could potentially expedite customer churn and cost you millions of dollars in lost revenue. I came across one extremely angry man who claims that a pest control company killed his dog and is trying to send his wife to prison for writing a bad check. If that isn’t bad PR, I don’t know what is.

It may be easy to brush off angry customers as being crazy, but that tact might not be the right one to take. In most industries, there is very little difference between competitive products, so customer service has become the great differentiator. It is critical that someone in your marketing organization monitors these sites and monitors what people are saying online about your brand. In addition, it would be a wise move to provide your customers with a clear and easy-to-use forum for sending their disputes and complaints to you directly instead of sending their rage directly into the void. 

The bottom line is that you’d better start listening, or else the rest of the world will first.

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