Online Consumer Complaints, Helping or Hurting?
Online Consumer Complaints, Helping or Hurting
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Complaints Gone 2.0
We can all understand the need and right to complain about products and services that do not meet our personal satisfaction standards. But, lately, I've noticed that even though we as humans tend to complain much faster than we praise, complaints have escalated dramatically.
I've thought a lot about why this is happening and came up with a lot of reasons, but the primary ones appear to me to be one, the ease and speed with which we can now complain online; two, the many venues in which to place them online, and three, the increase in consumers' concern with saving, not wasting, resources. Responsible spending is a good thing and a result of the not-so-good economic stress we've all felt in one way or another, but perhaps sometimes we might be a little too quick to complain these days.
Great Expectations
I agree the Internet can be a valid place to complain if it appears like this may be the only way to get satisfaction or response from a company when you've given them ample opportunity to resolve your complaint. I disagree we should voice our complaints in any venue online, and I submit we should first analyze in all honesty, whether or not we even really have a complaint before we act.
What do I mean really have a complaint? Well, I believe at times we've all been guilty of not understanding or admitting our expectations were completely unmatched to the products or services we purchased. Believe me, I know life's busy, but if we'd take a little more time to understand what a company offers, review descriptions, disclaimers or contracts, and ask questions, we'd eliminate a lot of miss-understandings and problems. Here's a quick example.
Pepper on the Side
Yes. I really heard someone order that once and I'm not talking hot peppers, I mean the kind that comes from a shaker. Countless times, I've seen people try to change an entree so much the kitchen could never hope to get it right, and then when it comes wrong, the complaints begin. I know, I want it my way too, but we have to understand depending upon what type of establishment we are patronizing, some reasonable limits likely apply. You might just have to live with those tomatoes in that never-ending pasta bowl you're getting for $9.99!
The Bureau
Look to the Better Business Bureau first when you have a valid complaint. This will help you and me because the BBB can usually get valid complaints resolved fairly, and they do a good job grading their members. This develops a good repository of companies for all of us to use for evaluation purposes.
Many of the other complaint sites have been built just to capture your "copy" so they can go to the top of search engines like Google for free and sell advertising off your content. Yes, this is what they were built to do. They perform no service for us. They don't resolve anything, nor respond in any way. If you use them for evaluation purposes, you have no idea of the validity of the content, nor do you have an idea of the size of the company (e.g., a small company should have proportionally less complaints than a larger competitor). Competitors often litter these sites too, and there is no identity requirement. They often do not depict a true picture of any company.
Lumped In
I'm lucky to be in a great company, Home Warranty of America. We work hard to handle each complaint properly. We also don't have a lot of complaints relative to the number of plans we sell, and we work hard to maintain an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
But, nevertheless, we do get customers whose expectations are not necessarily matched to what we provide. An example is those who expect everything to be covered under their home warranty plan. Logic would dictate that when you buy a $400 warranty for the entire home, there will be exclusions, or warranty companies couldn't exist. This is the fundamental concept of home warranties and other insurance plans.
Home warranty plans cover normal wear and tear on systems and appliances in the plan. And most customers understand this concept, but those who don't or don't want to complain online anyway. Telling the good home warranty companies from the bad becomes almost impossible.
Hurting Everyone
When customers place invalid complaints online, it hurts us all. Every day HWA home warranties help customers save money, many times paying out more than the warranty cost. But when potential new customers read these unsupervised online sites first, they may not purchase coverage for their home. Then when they have a breakdown, they suffer the full expense themselves. It's unfortunate.
Be Careful Out There
So, be careful how and where you complain, and do it only when you believe you have a legitimate issue. Also use a supervised venue like the BBB. Remember, too, if the company satisfied your complaint, it ends there. Only go online if you are going to praise the company for how they handled your problem.
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