Using the web for revenge a marketers nightmare!
How amusing, poor Peugeot - tired of being fobbed off by the dealer this poor man who has had his car fixed for over 30 different issues since 2002 has decided to take matters into his own hands. He's crushing the car and having it delivered back to the dealer. His business model? Sponsorship - you can make donations which he says will be given to a cancer charity if he doesn't make enough for a new car (a reliable Toyota). Publicity like this cant be bought - splashed all over the BBC's international site for one and countless other news organizations carrying the story. Toyota 1, disgruntled customer 1, Peugeot 0. We will see more of these in the future I am sure as consumers get fed up with poor service and decide to use the pervasiveness of the net to enforce painful retribution! Marketers be afraid - be very afraid…
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his neighbourhood toyota dealer should sponsor the event by giving him the car for free.
Marketers are already afraid enough, and this should not make them any more afraid. This sort of thing happens all the time, and will not likely stop. The net has been used to slam countless numbers of companies - from negative posts on IBM defects, to XBOXs being smashed on video. This fear of unhappy customers is a big reason why a lot of companies do not open up their web presence to customer input through stuff like message boards. What marketers need to be is angry, not afraid. If marketers use their hate of negative press to get motivated to use the internet in creative ways to create enough positive spin beforehand, the blow of sites like this would be a lot less severe. When the disgruntled customer does come up with a campaign like this, companies can come up with a counter-attack to address directly the issues the disgruntled customer raises. Fearful marketers will turn their internet presence off and get trampled on by disgruntled customers. Angry marketers will back the disgruntled customers into a corner and win some free press of their own.
yeah. but the marketer shouldnt think about offering good enough service so an upset customer who feels cheated does not go and damage more business.
this is a one off. but in general an upset customer will tell everyone he sees not buy the product and will himself not purchase any further.
that is a loss positive spin cannot counter.