Warning: Antagonize customers at your peril
At one time, companies could antagonize customers with impunity – the worst that would happen is that they’d leave and perhaps tell a few friends.
Last year, a musician flying United Airlines had his guitar smashed by luggage handlers.
When his complaints fell on deaf ears, he retaliated with two hilarious and devastating You Tube videos, the first went viral with over five million views. The links are below; if you enjoy these, you may want to consider forwarding them to select clients.
There’s an important lesson here for companies – if you alienate customers, make sure they’re not musicians. United could not have bought publicity this bad if they’d tried.
As an aside, I was amazed by the production values on these videos, produced for a few thousand dollars. Note that the second video, while not quite as funny as the first, features final frames after the credits that are devastating for United.
The first video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
The follow up video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg&feature=channel
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