Customer Rage is Rising
Lalita Amos

The findings of the report, released by the Customer Care Alliance in collaboration with the W.P. Carey School of Business at the University of Arizona, indicate that the relationship between buyers and sellers is getting rockier -- not better. Most of us can relate a customer service horror story involving things from airline service to the treatment received in the medical industrial complex.

Why is Rage an Important Indicator?

Jerry Wilson, who studied the automotive industry, in his book Word of Mouth Marketing, coined the Rule of 3-33. He found that customers were 11 times more likely to tell others about a negative experience than a positive one. Make a customer unhappy? They're likely to tell 30 others, who in turn will tell another 10 each. Delight that customer? They'll only tell, on average, three. Three! 

Additional reports show Wilson's findings weren't a fluke. The White House Office of Consumer Affairs found that the dissatisfied masses average 9 negative "shout-outs," while a California marketing research firm focused on autos saw an average of 22. A Dallas research firm studying banking, found that each banking mistake racked up an additional 11 people involved.

The research is holding firm: Customers are talking and their negative stories are spreading.

What's Taking Customers from Simmer to Boil?

Aside from travel and leisure, you would not be surprised to learn that  it was financial and telephone service providers that raised the most ire. Customers were relegated to calling these service providers over and over again with minimal results.

Poor quality and poor service topped the list of complaints with 29% and 26% reporting a  dissatisfactory experience, respectively. Another 20% of complaints were comprised of  issues with billing, repair and service not being done as agreed. Any wonder why a staggering 70% of customers surveyed reported that they'd experienced rage in the last year? Interestingly, almost half said that the time they spent seeking redress wasn't worth it, having "ping-ponged" on average 4.2 times to get satisfaction. Those who did stay the course, mostly, got...nothing (40%) even though the majority wanted an explanation, assurances that it wouldn't happen again or an apology (the number who wanted their money back was amazingly low).

Absurdly, customer service (or the present "customer care" center), itself, has gotten more difficult to reach. Outsourcing (both offshore and to other firms) and the modern telephone tree has made it more challenging than ever to find a live body that will care. While attempting to learn why my deceased mother's account continued to be charged and to get a refund (we'd contacted the offending company months earlier by phone and in writing), I was told, when I asked who else I could talk with, that I could talk with the head of XYZ himself and I still wouldn't get my money back.

I did get my parents' money back...and then I, like studies showed, told everybody I know (I'm resisting, mightily, telling you all now).

How to Complain

Handing a complaint is more art than science. -- one that few of us are trained in. When faced with angry customer, we may be caught out of the blue. Further, most of us with small children (or who were small children) know that, when cornered about that broken bric-a-brac, will do or say anything to avert a parent's upset, even resorting to blaming the cat or an invisible friend. Our adult complaint-handling skills are, sometimes, little better ("It wasn't me...my department...my shift...my fault").

Knowing how to effectively handle a complaint may be the difference between you keeping that customer or becoming the newest talk of the town. Here are a few tips to remember when you pick up the phone and a less-than-delighted customer is on the other end:

Transforming your customer relationships can require the development of a new organizational culture. If you're interested in fundamentally shifting your customer relationships and want additional support to think you way through the process, contact us.

Read the Study: Sign up at the Customer Care Alliance to download the November, 2005 survey results.