Why bother suing disgruntled customers? at Piaras Kelly PR

Why bother suing disgruntled customers?

Published October 4th, 2005 in General

I honestly don’t know what companies are thinking when they decide to sue disgruntled customers. Just look at BT Ireland senidng Adam Beecher a solictor’s letter. The story made the Sunday Business Post, but it never registered as I flicked through it this weekend. However, two sites that I read both mentioned it. Michele Neylon and TCAL both commented on the story, thus illustrating the strength of how word-of-mouth spreads on the Internet.

So what has BT Ireland managed to do by persuing Adam Beecher?

Restore credibility in its service? I wasn’t aware that they had any issues, but now I do.
Enhance its relationship with its existing customer base? Their customers are disgruntled and they’ve obviously received feedback on the problem, but rather than fix it they sue the disgruntled customer
Build its appeal to potential customers? I for one don’t want to be within 500 yards of them
Manage a customer complaint efficiently? Someone was annoyed with their payment system. Now it has made the national press. <sarcasm>Good going guys</sarcasm>

So they’ve achieved nothing except for scaring off customers and make a mountain out of a molehill. Honestly does anyone believe that suing disgruntled customers will achieve anything?

More worryingly, BT Ireland - an Internet provider - shows a complete lack of knowledge about Consumer Generated Media. Consumers can set up a free website in minutes. The company’s main grievance is that BT Ireland is part of the URL. Pry tell how are they going to stop btirelandsucks.blogspot.com?

Technorati Tags: BT Ireland, Piaras Kelly, PR, Adam Beecher, Word-of-mouth

9 Responses to “Why bother suing disgruntled customers?”

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1 John McCormac Oct 4th, 2005 at 1:46 am

Well all the usual spin control to the mainstream press and what is laughably called the “technology press” in Ireland will not help them. This is an example of how blogs completely bypass the traditional PR avenues. It seems that problems with BT Ireland’s billing system is not isolated and other people with billing problems are mentioning them on blogs and internet fora. The only real thing of value that BT Ireland can do is to fix the billing system and train the people who use it.
2 Damien Mulley Oct 4th, 2005 at 3:30 am

Point of order: They’re not suing. They sent a letter signed by a solicitor.
3 Myles Oct 4th, 2005 at 2:21 pm

Yeah they are not suing, they are asking for removal of the website name in use.

HUGE difference, but that’s “online reporting” for you.

50% of most facts correct 50% of the time!
4 Dublin Net User Oct 4th, 2005 at 2:45 pm

When you dont get a bill for months you have a point. BT think they can push people around when its as clear as a summers day that they need to review their Billing system and take action to solve customers querys. Has anyone ever heard of the billing cup?
5 Piaras Oct 4th, 2005 at 6:23 pm

Yep amended the fact that they’re not suing - thanks for the heads-up, my bad. The points made are all still valid.

John - This was hardly the subject of a press release from BT Ireland. It also shows how blogs compliment traditional media, seeing as I missed the original story, but went back to read it after seeing it flagged from trusted sources. If I didn’t read TCAL or Michele Neylon’s blogs then I still would have missed it.

The whole point about how blogging and other forms of social media will reinvigorate PR or customer service is that complaints should be tracked and acted upon accordingly. Exactly what you say in your last sentence.
6 John McCormac Oct 5th, 2005 at 12:21 am

Piaras - it was not the press release angle but the comments to the media angle that I had in mind. The press (online/offline) generally are more restrained when it comes to reporting something that could affect advertising. So it can be easy enough for the big advertisers to have such stories limited. The proof of this is that you rarely, if ever, see any decent groundbreaking or investigative journalism in the Irish technology press.

What is happening around the BT Ireland billing issue is a potential blogstorm. A few key opinion influencers pick up the thread and it begins to spread outward, eventually reaching the print media. By the time it reaches the conventional media, the story has long since been a PR nuclear disaster. It should be taught as a case study in how not to handle a problem.
7 Piaras Oct 5th, 2005 at 10:25 pm

I wouldn’t really agree with that John. At regional level there is advertising influence and in a lot of trade mags advertising buys you column inches, but at national level advertising doesn’t guarantee you coverage - in fact it can work against you at times.

I’d forget the blogosphere and look at the wider span of Consumer Generated Media. If you treat your customers badly they’re going to talk about it. The growing power of the web ampliys that fact and highlights poor quality/service.
8 DJ Oct 6th, 2005 at 3:05 pm

I hope there is a positive outcome, this would be a win-win situation if BT were to do the right thing. Irish Broadband are also seeing huge issues and a groundswell of negative opinion on boards.ie which was picked up on by RTE radio last week when they interviewed the IBB CEO. Experience however does suggest that BT will just trip over this cf. Jeff Jarvis and his Dell hell that echoed round the blogging world.