Complaining about Online Complaints

Back in the “good old days,” when a customer got a bad product or had a bad experience, they might complain to their friends and neighbors, which could bruise the reputation of a business. The more adamant dissatisfied client might even write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. If printed, the reputation could get a black eye.

The good news in both these cases: over time, the complaint would fade from memory, along with the damage to the reputation of the organization. A few more dollars spent on advertising would be medicine to the bottom line.

As for the bad news: those days are gone. Forever. That’s the operative word: forever. Folks can now post their complaints on Twitter and Facebook or one of the complaint boards…and forever is how long the complaints will stay online—searchable, visible and discussable. And the damage done is so much more than just a surface injury; these sites can slice up a reputation like Jack the Ripper on a ‘roid rage.

Last year, we saw the impact of online complaints when a musician’s guitar was damaged on a United Airlines flight. When he didn’t get a satisfactory response, he wrote a song entitled “United Breaks Guitars,” made a video and posted it to YouTube. It went viral when it hit Twitter and the video was viewed more than 2.5 million times in less than a week and garnered national media attention. He became an “overnight” sensation and United took a reputation hit.

It’s a new landscape today when it comes to complaints. For many consumers, it seems to be much easier to post a gripe online first than it is to go through the customer services channels with the business. And there is no shortage of place to go where venting is not only encouraged, it’s the norm. Indeed, that’s the sole purpose of some sites. (Personal Note: Even as I write this, I struggle with whether to give actual examples of these sites.) Complaint boards and Review sites (where customers can go online and “rate” local businesses) can be seriously detrimental to a business reputation, and it’s not always deserved.

To me, one of the biggest problems with this genre of sites is the lack of validation required to post. Having worked with clients who’ve had bad reviews or become the target of complaint sites, the dilemma is more than just an online gripe. There is often no method to have negative posts removed when it’s not true or after it’s been resolved. I can go to these sites and say anything, exaggerate my bad experience, make wild accusations…and no one asks: is this true or can it be verified? Disgruntled ex-employees can go online and rant about how they were treated, thus hurting efforts to recruit new personnel.

That bring up other inherent weaknesses: how do you separate fact from personal opinion, how do I determine if the grievance registered is an isolated incident or a symptom of a more systemic problem?

I admit that I use several review sites, but I try to sort through the histrionics and get to real information. But not everyone goes with that perspective. And sadly, the negative review of one person can trigger a “feeding frenzy” of biz-bashing. Perhaps the business is truly god-awful, but it may be a case of just a few people. (I worked with one client where this was the case. It seriously and negatively impacted their Google search results, which was affecting their business.)

Here’s my question: As PR professionals, what’s our role in these online complaint-fests? Should we advise our clients/companies to respond? (BTW, I think it depends…and in my next post, I’ll share some “tips” about responding.)

What are YOUR thoughts?
What do you think about these sites?
Have you had experience dealing with negative reviews or online complaints?
What did you do?

I welcome your thoughts, insights, comments or questions.

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Next post: How to Respond to Online Complaints

What Are Others Saying About You?

“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

Most of us grew up hearing that platitude, especially after getting our feelings hurt by someone’s harsh words, racial slurs, verbal put-downs or derogatory name-calling. And even when the cliché was piously spoken to us, we knew it wasn’t true. Words hurt! In fact, the bruises of sticks and stones often heal faster and more completely than the damage caused by the powerful weapon of hurtful words.

The Role of Reputation

In case you didn’t know, the same is true for your business. It matters what others are saying (and thinking, and feeling, and doing) about your company. And it’s this reality that makes up a significant part of the function of public relations. It is part of the role of PR to “listen” to what’s being said about you and your company and to respond with what you want them to know. It’s about reputation! This involved what other think of you, your organization, your brand, your product, your service… You get the picture.

We all know this principle when it comes to something like good customer service. How long does it take to build a good customer? On the flip side, how difficult is it to regain a disgruntled customer? Because of that, we must keep working to give good service. The same is true of our reputation: it takes time to build it, but can be damage very quickly. And once damaged, it’s not always so easy to restore. We don’t have to look far for glaring examples of this.

The Rules of Reputation

It’s important when thinking about what others are saying about you, to take an aggressive approach. Don’t wait! You must decide what you want them to know, and work to make that a reality. Consider these important steps to developing and maintaining a successful reputation

Define your company. Call it “brand” or vision or mission, but every company should have a clear statement of who they are and what they want to be. How will you know if your reputation is being damaged if you can’t define what it is? And based on these statements, you can also set up your values, which define what’s important to your organization.

Embody your Vision. Once you have these clear declarations of who you are, it’s time to flesh it out. It’s one thing to say that you value prompt, quality customer service, but are you doing to insure that? If you say that your vision is to be a premier employer and you value employee retention, what specific actions do you have in place that will make that happen? This is where policies, procedures and practices come into play; we do certain things because of who we are! In other words, identity (mission, vision and value) dictate actions, which shouldn’t contradict identity.

Explain & Train. As we discussed in an earlier article, your employees are your first-line of public relations. Once you have defined and refined the statements of your brand/reputation, share them with your office team…often. They should be clear about what the mission and value are and how they play out in everyday work life. In addition, this becomes a wonderful springboard to explain why your organization operates a certain way or why particular policies are in place.

Practice and perform. Many years ago, when I was young, I remember reading an article about thieves who stole a prototype briefcase with a built-in telephone. Of course, this was long before the advent of cell phone technology, so the item was a one-of-a-kind and very expensive. Fortunately, the police were able to catch the criminals quickly by tracing the many phone calls they were make from the pilfered device. The spokesperson for the police department said they were apprehended because they did too much talking and not enough walking.

It’s not enough to define what you want your reputation to be, and putting corresponding policies into place is not enough. You can’t even stop with training your employees. You have to…wait for it…DO IT every day! Others won’t see your intention or your policy manual; they will see what you do on a daily basis. Make sure that you, your team and your company is performing according to the mission, vision and values that define what you want to be.

Listen! This leads us to the original question in the title of this installment. What are others saying about you? As the old adage goes, we’ve been given one mouth and two ears, which indicates we were meant to listen twice as much as we talk. It’s important to learn what your employees, your vendors and your customers are saying about you. The best way to do that is to ask. If one-on-one discussion is not possible, you might consider a survey. Look at the results with a view to understand how well your concept of your reputation is translating to other’s perception.

Consider also expanding your scope of “listening” to what others outside your office are saying. What is the media saying about you, your company, your products, your industry? What is the competition saying, either direct or implied? One way to do this is with a clipping service. This is a business who will read all your local publications, looking for any references to you organization, using keywords that you define for them. Check your local newspapers for services in your area. Some concentrate on the local publications, while others can give you national service. If you are actively sending out news releases, it would worth the investment to monitor what’s being said.

Reinforce. If you are hearing anything negative, or if nothing is being said, it’s time to reinforce your reputation. More employee training might be needed. Greater visibility could be the answer. Ongoing PR would be helpful. The goal of “listening” is to make any changes necessary to build on the tenets of your mission, vision and values.

Protect & Defend. What’s more important than your reputation? The truth is clear: lose your reputation and it doesn’t matter the quality of your products, the speed of your service, the size of your staff or the retail value of your property. You are the “police of your reputation” and you must be vigilant to protect it. If you not you, who else?


Sticks and stones can indeed break your bones, but the negative words of those who are talking about your business can hurt you in ways that cannot be measured. Time, energy and money spent on preventing the damage will be nothing compared to what it will cost to heal the pain of a damaged or destroyed reputation.


What would you add to this discussion about reputation?
I welcome your thoughts, insights, comments or questions. I would especially like to see hear some of your experiences.

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Next: Speaking of reputation, how do we respond to online complaints?