The bad news is that companies will continue to implement policies that are not customer-friendly.
The good news is that, thanks to Social, this era will be over soon.
Today's story comes from Washington Gas and Energy Services.
Background
About 16 months ago, I signed up to be a customer at a fixed rate of electricity. A one year contract.
No problems.
The other day, however, I called up to ask about cancelling my service and transferring to a lower cost provider.
Their answer: "Sure, but you have to pay a $150 cancellation fee."
Why?
"We sent you a renewal form in December, but we didn't hear from you, so we renewed you for a 1 year contract."
Issue
Now, I have no problem with cancellation fees for services to which you commit, but when a company says, "well, we didn't hear anything, so we just did what we wanted to," that's an issue.
Like many organizations, WGES is probably committed to statements such as "the customer is right," "we value our customers," and "we need to treat our customers with respect."
However, as you have undoubtedly seen in your life, corporate actions and statements don't always align.
Here's the Social Marketing@Scale Lesson
While I'm personally a bit upset at WGES and I will not be doing business with them in the future and I would caution those in the DC Metro Area to think twice as well, there's a MUCH bigger marketing lesson here for doing business in the social world and the dangers of the siloed business.
From my call, it would seem that Customer Service/Retention is tasked with something like keeping customers and scaring them with fees in order to stay customers.
Meanwhile, the Marketing department, which sends me literature is looking to continue serving me or increase referenceability.
What they don't know is that my personal experience with Customer Service/Retention will fundamentally affect my perception of the brand.
In a non-networked world, this brand perception damage is limited to a handful of people, but in a networked and socially empowered world, the potential damage in terms of PR and Marketing costs is much higher.
If you want an extreme example, here's how one mommy blogger took down an entire company.
Because, now, when you or I or anyone is taken aback by a business practice, we have a voice.
It used to be that if I felt taken advantage of by WGES, I would have to call the Public Service Commission (that's what the WGES rep told me I could do), but now I get to do that...and I get to tell you.
And people trust their friends.
So, while this small example may not go viral to millions of people, it's not inconceivable that you will read it, you will share it and it will show up in Google results...all of which may lead to 1 or 100 people to decide, "you know, I heard some bad things about WGES, so I'll pass."
In the end, it could cost WGES a lot more than $150, but there's no way that the marketing/PR/social departments as they currently see it will ever be able to connect those dots.
Social is more than a departmental function. It's more than one silo. Social impacts and affects every corner of the organization.
Social@Scale is more than a tagline, it's a way of doing business in a networked world.