Customer terrorists

Have you ever had a shopping experience that was so nerve-racking that you entertained the thought of getting even with the establishment?

Most people are passive and will not say anything when they are dissatisfied with some aspect of the service. According to statistics from surveys reported by the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, one customer in four is dissatisfied with some aspect of a typical transaction; however, only about 4 percent of those dissatisfied customers will express their complaint to someone at the business. The other 96 percent will quietly go away and 91 percent will never come back.

A research study by Case Western Reserve University interviewed hundreds of households, and approximately 30 percent recalled a dissatisfying experience that they shared. The researchers asked what they did about the experience, and they divided their responses into three levels. At the first level, the customers made a complaint to someone at the company, such as a salesperson or manager. This would represent the 4 percent who expressed their dissatisfaction.

At the second level, the customers stopped buying from the business and complained to someone other than the organization that slighted them. This would include friends, family and coworkers. This group represented the 91 percent that never come back.

On the third level, the customer was so dissatisfied that they went to a third party such as a lawyer to initiate a lawsuit, a newspaper to write a letter to the editor, or to the Better Business Bureau to complain about the incident. People at the third level were mad and not willing to take it anymore.

It’s true that there are some customers that nobody can satisfy. They are just plain mean-spirited and their presence strikes fear in the hearts of your employees every time they visit your business. There will always be something they do not like and they will make a scene about it unless you bend over backwards to placate them.

Many customers become numb to the poor service and accusatory attitudes of managers and customer reps. They may continue to shop at a store because they feel they have no other alternative. Most people are generally nice, and have to be pushed to a breaking point where they feel they are unfairly treated. When that happens—look out, because you may have created a customer terrorist who is bent on having you experiencing their pain. A business can push these people off the edge until it becomes a series of unfortunate events for both the business and the customer.

One case in point is Mr. Jeremy Dorosin, who could arguably be labeled as Starbucks angriest customer. It first started when he felt he was mistreated by a cashier who refused to give him a free half-pound of coffee that was normally included with all coffee machine purchases. Because of the coffee bean slight, he became just another dissatisfied customers. Later, his dissatisfaction escalated to anger when two coffee machines he bought malfunctioned. He made a complaint to Starbuck headquarters, and after feeling like he was not treated fairly, he took out a display ad in the Wall Street Journal to find out if there were other dissatisfied Starbucks customers, and he had a 1-800 for them to call. He got a lot of calls. A series of unfortunate events led Dorosin to create a web site called starbucked.com, to share his feelings with the world.

With the advent of the Internet, customer terrorists can now tell 120 or 120 million through e-mail or a web site just as easily as they can tell 12 individuals in person. Numerous web sites have been created that express their displeasure with a business, political leader, or even a resort location. A few examples include disney-sucks.com, againstthewal.com [Wal-Mart], govenorsteroid.com [Gov. Schwarzenegger], and saipansucks.com. It is difficult to gauge the impact these web sites have to dissuade others from patronizing a place or voting for someone—and it often started with one disgruntled customer.

These customer terrorists are usually so emotional about their experience that it becomes difficult to deal with them rationally. Their mantra becomes, “You hurt me; I hurt you!”

The best way to avoid customer terrorists is to be responsive to the dissatisfaction of your customers. Learn to listen to their concerns and deal with them appropriately. In cases where their demands are unreasonable, you should kindly refuse to serve them and dismiss them to your competitors. This can save the sanity of all involved, except maybe your competitor.

(Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They can be contacted at: biz_results@yahoo.com)