- The Guardian,
- Thursday August 3 2000
If you've ever had reason to complain to a large company about a problem you've encountered - perhaps taking issue with an inferior product or service, or about the way your case was handled - you'll know how frustrating it can be.
A select few firms have excellent customer service and complaints operations, rapidly resolving and compensating customers for the hassle and inconvenience they have experienced. But too many seem hell-bent on refusing to resolve and recompense customers who feel they have been cheated, wronged or poorly treated. And, while many industries, such as the travel trade, do have recognised complaints organisations many consumers understandably feel less than pleased with the way their case has been handled. Take the case of Steve Pardoe (www.pardoes.com) and his ongoing battle against BT Cellnet.
Early in 1999, Pardoe was amazed to find his Barclaycard had been debited by Cellnet (now BT Cellnet) for £50. The debit was unauthorised and, as a result, he contacted Cellnet, only to get, what he claimed was, rather unsympathetic handling. After contacting Barclaycard, who were more helpful, he had his account credited with the unauthorised debit. When two further debits of £50 appeared on his statement, Pardoe cancelled his Barclaycard, which he says was less than convenient, as he was about to travel and so needed a credit card.
What annoyed Pardoe most was that BT Cellnet was at the time apparently unable to prevent its prepaid cellular customers from using his card number and expiry date to get call credit on their mobiles.
Because of Cellnet's poor response to his original complaint, Pardoe - described by one cellular trade magazine as "Mr Angry" - has staged a one-man campaign on the web to publicise the mobile network's loopholes in its security procedures. BT Cellnet has tried to deal with the problem by making sure that any new mobile phone owners have to register their debit or credit card number when they buy a mobile phone. Pardoe remains incensed, as witnessed by an ongoing campaign on his site, much to BT Cellnet's annoyance. BT Cellnet now appears to have realised - too late - that it handled Pardoe's case with less than its usual level of professionalism, and is now reaping the negative publicity rewards.
According to Alan Stevens, digital media specialist with the Consumer's Association (www.which.net) and editor of Which? magazine, cases like Pardoe's, and the Dump the Pump campaign (www.boycott-the-pumps.com) against high petrol prices, show that, thanks to the web, consumers are becoming empowered against large organisations. There are plenty of other instances where consumers have used the internet to complain about services.
The "Flaming Ford" site (www.flamingfords.com) for example, started when a Ford owner, who claimed his car burst into flames, complained to the company only to be told that his was the only case they had encountered. When the irate owner posted his grievances on the web he was contacted by other "Flaming Ford" owners and the campaign really took off. A class action against Ford is currently being heavily disputed.
The Consumer's Association, has also used the power of the web to stage its own campaign. Alongside its www.which.net site, the CA has opened a campaign site at www.carbusters.com, to highlight the extra costs of buying a car - almost any car - in the UK, comparing the prices that continental motorists pay.
Before you turn to the web to air your grievances, make sure you have explored the normal avenues of complaint, and ensured your complaint is valid, advise the Consumer's Association. Alistair Kelman, a barrister who specialises in IT law, warns of the legal consequences of a badly-thought-out web campaign. "Consumer's tales have a habit of becoming embroidered, and the danger is that customers can end up libelling another person, or more usually, a company, with their campaigning web site."
It is easier for companies to show damage to their trading reputation. "This makes it relatively easy for a company to take action against someone posting incorrect or untruthful allegations on their web sites. Users should take care to only report the facts, referring to copies of their correspondence or email on their site, which they can also post." By referring to correspondence or emails with the company in question, and sticking to the facts, and the facts only, you shouldn't go too far wrong.
So how easy (and expensive) is it to wage a legitimate campaign against a major company or organisation you feel has wronged you? Provided you have explored all normal avenues of complaint and have got nowhere, or have not received a sensible and satisfactory response, the answer is - very easy, and relatively cheap.
The last 12 months has seen the cost of registering and maintaining a web site on an Internet company's servers tumble from a relatively great height. UK2Net (www.uk2.net), which claims to be the largest web hosting company in the UK, currently with 435,000 registered users, charges just £8.98 for a year's basic registration on its servers.
In return for this modest fee, you get your own registered web domain, plus email forwarding. On top of this, you'll pay from around £10 a year for hosting (storing) your web pages on UK2net's servers, with the internet firm offering to publicise your site via a variety of search engines for free.
You can also upload and maintain your own web pages via your existing internet service provider (ISP), usually for free, although usually with a less than obvious address. Another company, Free Parking, (www. freeparking.co.uk) will register, park and manage your pages for free, although you'll also have to allow the service's adverts on your pages.
Creating and editing your site is also surprisingly easy, as Microsoft's Internet Explorer (www.microsoft.com), the free Internet browser and email package that most internet kits come with, includes a page editing and upload package called Front Page Express.
Front Page Express, like Internet Explorer, is free to download and use from the Microsoft site. You can also use it to interact with your internet company's servers. All you pay is the usual cost of accessing the internet, which for most users amounts to a local phone call.
