the customer revenge
The Customers’ Revenge
Atida Motors’ decades-old complaint policy may be no match for unhappy customers who threaten to take their case to YouTube.
by Dan Ariely
J
IM MCINTIRE, vice president of customer service at Atida Motor Company, was just about to shut down for the day when he received an e-mail from his brother.
“Go to Hell, Angel!” the subject line shouted.
The message linked to a YouTube video. In “A Letter for Bill Watkins, CEO,
Angel Airlines,” two stolid executives – “Jeff” and “Jerry” – wearing identical pinstripe suits, took turns narrating the story of their airline nightmare. In one scene, the pair sat chained to their coach seats in a stuffy, tarmac-stranded plane.
Sweating women and children in prison garb begged for water from surly flight attendants dressed as guards. In the next, the two men crawled on their knees before a leather-clad gate attendant, crowned with devil horns and holding a long whip. They begged her to finally assign them their “guaranteed” seats
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The Customers’ Revenge
on an overbooked plane. “Not a chance,” she replied huffily. She snapped her whip dismissively and shouted, “Next in line!”
In the final sequence, the men took turns reeling off a series of probabilities.
“Lifetime chances of dying in a bathtub: one in 10,000,” said Jerry. “Chances of Earth being ejected from the solar system by the gravitational pull of a passing star: one in 2 million,” said Jeff.
“Chances of winning the UK’s National
Lottery: one in 14 million,” said Jerry.
“Chances of anyone from our 3,000person company ever flying with Angel in the future: zero!” they shouted in unison. The video ended with a message to
Angel’s CEO: “Now, Mr. Watkins, we’re letting the world know about your socalled customer service!”
For his part, Jim had expended a lot of energy trying to improve customer service at Atida. Historically, the 70year-old automobile manufacturer had had a better reputation
Atida Motors’ decades-old complaint policy may be no match for unhappy customers who threaten to take their case to YouTube.
by Dan Ariely
J
IM MCINTIRE, vice president of customer service at Atida Motor Company, was just about to shut down for the day when he received an e-mail from his brother.
“Go to Hell, Angel!” the subject line shouted.
The message linked to a YouTube video. In “A Letter for Bill Watkins, CEO,
Angel Airlines,” two stolid executives – “Jeff” and “Jerry” – wearing identical pinstripe suits, took turns narrating the story of their airline nightmare. In one scene, the pair sat chained to their coach seats in a stuffy, tarmac-stranded plane.
Sweating women and children in prison garb begged for water from surly flight attendants dressed as guards. In the next, the two men crawled on their knees before a leather-clad gate attendant, crowned with devil horns and holding a long whip. They begged her to finally assign them their “guaranteed” seats
HBR CASE STUDY
|
The Customers’ Revenge
on an overbooked plane. “Not a chance,” she replied huffily. She snapped her whip dismissively and shouted, “Next in line!”
In the final sequence, the men took turns reeling off a series of probabilities.
“Lifetime chances of dying in a bathtub: one in 10,000,” said Jerry. “Chances of Earth being ejected from the solar system by the gravitational pull of a passing star: one in 2 million,” said Jeff.
“Chances of winning the UK’s National
Lottery: one in 14 million,” said Jerry.
“Chances of anyone from our 3,000person company ever flying with Angel in the future: zero!” they shouted in unison. The video ended with a message to
Angel’s CEO: “Now, Mr. Watkins, we’re letting the world know about your socalled customer service!”
For his part, Jim had expended a lot of energy trying to improve customer service at Atida. Historically, the 70year-old automobile manufacturer had had a better reputation