Bringing Companies to Book

Jimmeny

Hi

I am a programmer who works in the mobile phone industry and I am a firm believer that the only way to ameliorate rip-off ireland is to complain about bad service and expensive prices. As we all know - we aren't great at it as a nation. Ah sure - who wants to upset the apple cart. I'll say nothing about the hair in my soup and maybe I won't leave as big a tip.

So - what can we do? Well why not let it easier for people to complain. I would like to set up a 'text line' for bad service. People could use the number to text in complaints about late buses, bad service, overpriced bills right then when they are annoyed. If enough complaints were gathered about a particular company - than I would package up all the complaints and send it off to them. Maybe I'd have to commit to sending every complaint to the complaint.

Do you think such a hot line for complaints would work? How could it be publicised? Do you think companies would do anything about the complaints when they receive them? I would really like to team up with someone who has the right mix of marketing expertise to get this thing rolling. If anyone is interested - please send me a note.


thanks

James

rondjon

Sounds very like the guy who set up the howismydriving number for companies to put on the back of vans and trucks.

Valid idea, but why not just complain directly to the companies that we have a problem with? This is what needs to be done, and then, if companies don't respond to complaints, then slag them off somewhere.

Texting a complaint to "somewhere" will never be as good as going straight to the people who can actually do something about your issue.

Would this be a premium text line??? MMmmmm!!! Making money out of ripoff ireland.... nice!!!!

Jimmeny

Well the idea here would be to pass on the complaints to the companies. If your annoyed about the price of a pint in a pub - perhaps you can put pressure on the pub owner to offer better value. If the bus is late - you can at least register your complaint. By having one number for all complaints - it would be easier to complain compared with nagging a member of staff who probably doesnt give a damn anyway - or going home - getting the address fo the company - buying a stamp etc etc .

I'm not sure that it would work as a premium rate service. Its bad enough you are annoyed without having to pay for the privilege of complaining.

But how would you get the word out? How would you publicise the number? Would people use it? Would you use it?

rondjon

Jimmeny wrote:

it would be easier to complain compared with nagging a member of staff who probably doesnt give a damn anyway

You seem to miss the point regarding complaining.

The member of staff, whether or not they care or not, is a representative of the company that you're dealing with.

They are the first line if you have a complaint to make. You should complain to them first. If everyone waiting for a late bus complains, they'll eventually get the hump and give out to their managers about the sh1t they're having to take every time a bus is late.

If I was in business, and I got a complaint after the fact, I'd not put much stock in it. My first question to such a late complaint would be "Why didn't you complain at the time you received poor service/quality/value?. How do you expect me to respond now that the moment has gone, and you're at home, and not at my premises?".

If you are making a complaint, there are loads of things that should be done.

http://www.valueireland.net/tips/complain.htm

Sorry, but I don't rate your idea at all. All it would be good for is for compiling statistics on numbers of complaints. I don't think that it would get anything done.

For example, why would texting your number complaining about Eircom not checking out my line for broadband suitability for 6 weeks do anything good when I can go to their website, complain officially, and get them to check the line and confirm availability in 3 days?

Adding a middleman into the complaints process isn't going to add any value whatsoever.

landser

Jimmeny wrote:

I would like to set up a 'text line' for bad service. People could use the number to text in complaints about late buses, bad service, overpriced bills right then when they are annoyed.
QUOTE]

and, of course, this wouldn't be done via premium sms, would it?

Jimmeny

Hi Ron

Well fair enough - I guess its not everyone's cup of tea. Thanks for the link though. On that site I found

http://www.valueireland.com/contact.htm

They let you post reviews of bad service by text. I personally think that any way that lets people feedback on bad service is to be welcomed. In an ideal world everyone would have no problem with complaining and there would always be someone to complain to. This isn't the case of course.

I run a small business and I'm always interested in customer feedback where-ever it comes from. Not all businesses would have the same interest in this feedback of course. Unhappy customers cost me money. They wonder off and are never to be seen again. I also know that addressing a customers complaint will make that customer more likely to buy from me again compared with never having the complaint in the first place. If companies weren't interested in complaints - why would persal have a 'care line'? Why would Lever Brothers offer your money back?

Let me rephrase the question.

Are there any businesses out there that would be interseted in this type of feedback?
Are there customers who would send feedback by text?

Here is one suggestion I came up with;

A franchise owner has a number of franchisee's around the country. They are interested keeping their franchise product up to date. Lets say it is a coffee franchise. Coffee is a low value item and there is plenty of choice around. If I get bad coffee or bad service - its easy enough for me to switch store. As a busy type of individual I don't really want to take time out of my day to go tell them how they should suck eggs - even if I think they are sucking them in completely the wrong way. If I could complain in a convenient way - which for me would be sending a text - then the franchise owner would have a way to guage how his product is doing in field 'in real time'. He might even text me back with a thanks and a complimentary coffee voucher.

Of course I'd like to declare my hand. If the company could be charged for the service I'd be the first to take the money. If not - I'd still like to get a reasonably priced nice cup of coffee in this town.

Jimmeny

landser wrote:

and, of course, this wouldn't be done via premium sms, would it?

No. I don't think so. Its bad enough being annoyed without paying for the privilige of complaining - although that is what you do when you write a letter of complaint.

landser

Jimmeny wrote:

Let me rephrase the question.

Are there any businesses out there that would be interseted in this type of feedback?
Are there customers who would send feedback by text?

.

so, basically, as i suspected, your using boards for market research purposes, and to make a few bob for yourself.

Megatron

No thats not what he was doing .. stop being paranoid .


as for the matter of the question, i prefer myself to complain to the company it's self, more satasfaction that way.

landser

Jimmeny wrote:

Do you think such a hot line for complaints would work? How could it be publicised? Do you think companies would do anything about the complaints when they receive them? I would really like to team up with someone who has the right mix of marketing expertise to get this thing rolling. If anyone is interested - please send me a note.


thanks

James

Of course I'd like to declare my hand. If the company could be charged for the service I'd be the first to take the money.

Megatron, read these, and tell me this thread isn't sales patter and Market Research. Further, these are his first posts on boards.... smell the coffee!

Jimmeny

Well sure. If could be set up as a commercial concern then there would be money to promote it - and goodness, light and better customer service would spread throughout the land. Commercial operations are often a lot more effective than 'not for profit' setups. I worked in one such place many moons ago and the amount of money that was shovelled down the plug hole was phenominal.

I'm not sure it could be though.

Lets say I was out to make my personal fortune. Maybe its against the terms of use to mull commercial ideas on here. If so - well - oops. Otherwise - would it be better to have a completely free service that fewer companies paid attention to due to lack of marketing - or for there to be a paid service that effected greater change in the community?

As I have found out - the hard way - its not good enough to have a fancy idea and expect it to work. Much as I wouldn't like to admit it - you need a truck load of sales and marketing effort to get even the brightest of ideas off the ground. Now - I know there are plenty of examples of grass-roots services which arose from obscurity without coming within ten miles of a pin-suited advertising geek. The sad reality is that it hardly ever works that way.

Jimmeny

ps: this forum really is great. Its the first time I've posted on a topic and I never realised it was so active. Long live people power!