I want to complain!
- Stefan Sojka
- 22 February 2010
As business owners and consumers, chances are we've been on both sides of the complaints discourse: the complainer and the complained about. While I shudder at the thought of receiving a complaint, I know it's the most valuable thing my business can receive. Bring it on.
When it comes to making complaints, I'm not exactly in the grumpy-old-man category... yet. But I certainly don't hesitate to provide feedback if I think it will lead to my service provider making real improvements. Thanks to the web and word of mouse, the customer feedback loop is now in hyperdrive.
Disgruntled customers don't just tell their friends, they tell the whole world. Get used to it. Be proactive and ask your customers for complaints so you can address them before someone decides to set up, say, www.yourbusinesssucks.com. The net
is no place to hide from
your shortcomings.
About 10 years ago, a few enterprising netizens started using web pages to get even with companies that did them wrong. It is now a global consumer activist movement. Consumers are empowered and businesses are held to account.
The Squeaky Wheel has a proven strategy of listing complaints and automatically
emailing the company every time someone views the complaints page. Naturally, this approach has a high success rate! Ripoff Report
is another great site, as is Complaints.
Not Good Enough is home-grown and has a
54,000-strong membership base, that actively discusses, reviews and advises businesses and consumers on customer service. If you end up on the gripes list, all is not lost: just be sure to do something about it
Choice has evolved fabulously from its print roots. A founding
member, way back in 1960, of Consumers International, Choice is involved at every level. It
sits on boards and committees, promoting best practice, standards compliance, service and quality. Of course, the Choice website has plenty of scope for user interaction, including nominating yourself for election to the board.
Customer complaints and comments can show up anywhere online. You never know who is saying what and how deep feelings run until you take a good hard Google at yourself.
For instance, internet service provider whinge site Whirlpool's forums have
sprung up a thread about the pros and cons of BarterCard, with a couple of hundred posts and many thousand views. This kind of stuff is happening everywhere about every business. All the corporate marketing in the world can't erase these
opinions. It pays to find them and heed them.
Aussie site Complaint Line has a cool motto: "To
complain is human, to get results is divine." One might complain that the site needs a graphic design once-over, but the content is excellent. It covers 125 categories, suggestions on how to resolve issues amicably and support for businesses to
better manage their complaints.
On the government front we are very fortunate in this country. The Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission and the Commonwealth
Ombudsman provide well-funded, top-level support. Each state government has a department of fair trading, or similar, which encourages good complaints management and
outcomes for all parties.
It's a bit of a serious column this month, but I'm in the middle of some major business improvements myself, and my customers' feedback was the major impetus for change. We all want that glow of satisfaction that comes from knowing business is good, and everybody loves us.
Any complaints? Write to me! #
