When Customers Bite Back Using the Web As Teeth

The New York Times picked up (as did everyone) on the recent customer service nightmares of AOL and Comcast. The AOL nightmare happened when a customer looking to cancel his account couldn't get satisfaction from the rep on the other end of the phone. Comcast got a nice thank you video of their service guy sleeping on the customer's sofa while waiting for a call from support back at the office.

Both instances point up the large disconnect between what I'm sure are We Love Our Customer Mission Statements that are posted all around offices, and the apparently indifference to customers from those who run these shops. The NYTimes and Steve Rubel point out that the Internet is now a large megaphone and companies need to pay attention and lose the arrogance or face the consequences. Dell didn't and took not only heat, but a huge drop in business. Toshiba just got a failing grade form the Better Business Bureau for its haphazard customer support, and intriguingly doens't even belong to the BBB.

A lot of talk came out of Gnomedex this weekend about the users being in control or taking control and in many cases they do have control, but I venture it is only when that sort of atmosphere is instilled and lived from the top down. I'm not sure most corporate chains of command will ever pay attention to a bottom up approach focusing on what users want, until it impacts the bottom line.