Feature
The Gist
- Swift intervention. A quick and heartfelt response to customer complaints can help shape public perception and salvage a brand’s image.
- Empowerment ethos. Brands should create a culture where they encourage and trust employees to handle customer issues independently.
- Predictive innovation. Smart technology can help companies foresee and address potential customer service issues before they arise.
We’ve all experienced bad customer service. But have you been so mad that you decided to promote a tweet about it? Or write a hit country song?
While these responses might seem extreme, they’re part of a powerful reality: in today’s connected world, a single poor customer experience can escalate from private frustration to a viral sensation.
Let’s take a walk through five real-world instances of customer service gone wrong, along with the lessons customer service leaders can learn to avoid a similar fate.
1. ‘United Breaks Guitars’ Becomes Country Hit
What Happened:
This incident happened more than 15 years ago, but it still remains infamous when it comes to real-world bad customer service examples.
Musician Dave Carroll was flying with United Airlines and, during a layover at Chicago O’Hare, witnessed baggage handlers throwing around his $3,500 guitar, resulting in significant damage. After getting ignored by multiple United employees and denied recompensation, Carroll took to his music studio and came up with “United Breaks Guitars,” a country-style song about his ordeal.
Within one week, the video hit 3 million views. It was also picked up by major news outlets like BBC, CBS Morning Show, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and more. The PR was so bad, it caused United Airlines’ stock price to plunge by 10%, costing shareholders $180 million.
In the end, United Airlines offered Carroll $1,200 in cash and $1,200 in flight vouchers to make the situation right.
The Lesson:
What could United have done to prevent this blow-up? Better employee training and a customer-centric culture would have been a good start. More than one United employee refused to even talk to Carroll about the problem, instead pointing him in a new direction.
One of the worst mistakes a company can make is to be prescriptive about how it handles complaints, said Michelle Martinez, former head of post-order customer experience strategy at Wayfair. “It’s certainly valuable to provide guardrails, but ultimately, you want to have a culture of empowerment where employees are enabled and trusted to respond to a situation as only they will know what is appropriate.”
Make sure employees feel like business owners, Martinez added. That they own profit and loss and understand the long-term cost and value of handling complaints quickly and with empathy.
This is also a lesson in accountability. Mistakes happen. But when they do, maintaining transparency and taking accountability for the problem goes a long way. In fact, studies on the Service Recovery Paradox (SRP) suggest that a well-handled response to a service failure can enhance a customer’s loyalty more than if that failure had never occurred.
Related Article: What Defines World-Class Customer Service Now and How to Get There
2. Airbnb Host Blogs About Severe Vandalism
What Happened:
Airbnb gained popularity as a platform where people could rent out their homes, apartments, cabins and more to travelers seeking unique experiences. But when one host, referred to as EJ, blogged about guests vandalizing her property, the company’s lackluster response led to major consequences.
We’re not talking about a few broken kitchen tiles or a clogged toilet. The host claimed the renter cut through walls to steal locked up valuables, including jewelry, cash and electronics, along with a passport, birth certificate and social security card.
When EJ contacted Airbnb to report the incident, she said the company was unresponsive and unhelpful. However, her blog post went viral, and Airbnb later reimbursed her for damages and helped police track down the suspected responsible party.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky later apologized to the host for not handling the incident properly. He also announced a policy change to guard against future incidents, including offering a $50,000 guarantee — later increased to $1 million — designed to protect host properties against damages. The platform also updated user profiles, allowing members to find more information about a potential guest and read reviews about that person from other hosts.
The Lesson:
This bad customer service example shows the importance of immediate and empathetic customer service followed by concrete action.
“When companies make mistakes, acting swiftly is critical,” said Natalie Beckerman, global head of customer support operations at IHG Hotels & Resorts. She recommends that when a problem crops up, to follow these steps:
- Acknowledge the error publicly.
- Offer a sincere apology.
- Outline steps you will take to rectify the situation.
- Engage with the affected customers and gather feedback.
- Implement changes to prevent future issues.
Airbnb stumbled in the first half when it came to acknowledging the issue and making a sincere effort to remedy it. But after some initial backlash due to EJ’s blog post, they eventually took the right steps in coming up with a solution (i.e., policy changes), to prevent the issue from happening again.
3. Man Promotes Tweets Bashing British Airways
What Happened:
The second airline to make the list of bad customer service examples, and for good reason, is British Airways. In 2013, businessman Hasan Syed paid $1,000 to promote tweets complaining about the poor customer service he received when trying to locate his father’s lost baggage.
The tweets were shared online and the story picked up by various news sites. “Thanks for ruining my EU business trip #britishairways. I shouldn’t have flown @BritishAirways…,” Syed wrote in one tweet.
Thanks for ruining my EU business trip #britishairways. I shouldn't have flown @BritishAirways @British_Airways. Never flying with you again
— hasan (@HVSVN) September 2, 2013
The tweet reached Syed’s own 400 followers, and also targeted 300,000+ of British Airway’s Twitter followers. It was seemingly the first time someone had purchased a promoted tweet in an effort to shame a brand online for a poor customer experience and brought rise to the term complainvertising.
Days later, British Airways finally responded on Twitter, blaming the delay on their Twitter feed only being open from 9am-5pm GMT. They also requested that he send over his luggage information via direct message.
@HVSVN Sorry for the delay in responding, our twitter feed is open 0900-1700 GMT. Please DM your baggage ref and we'll look into this.
— British Airways (@British_Airways) September 3, 2013
The Lesson:
One mistake British Airways made in its response was to blame Twitter for its delayed response, something which makes the apology come off as insincere.
When a company makes a mistake, the first thing they need to do is take accountability, according to Martinez. “In our highly litigious society, few people want to do that, but it can actually save you from lawsuits down the road.” The next step? Apologize. “And not just, I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but a truly empathetic apology.”
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British Airways’ delayed response also highlights one of the biggest disadvantages of a reactive (rather than proactive) customer service strategy. Brands that are proactive can monitor and respond to complaints before they escalate into larger, more public problems.
Proactive customer service requires following a few key steps, according to Beckerman, including:
- Collect customer feedback. Collect and analyze feedback to identify pain points.
- Use predictive analytics and automation. Use data to anticipate customer behavior preferences and implement automated systems to streamline processes and service.
- Strive for continuous improvement. Regularly update processes using industry trends.
- Provide education and support. Offer the right resources and guidance to customers to help them get the most from services and products.
- Tap into employee training and coaching. Equip teams with the skills to anticipate and meet customer needs.
(Editor's note: CMSWire Contributor Ben Motteram also covered each of these airline CX fails in his June 2023 piece, "3 Examples Where Customers Went Rogue — and Made Brands Pay").
Related Article: From Reactive to Proactive: Strategies for Anticipating Customer Needs
4. Virgin Media Bills Dead People
What Happened:
Virgin Media broadband sent a bill to a deceased customer, including a £10 fee for late payment.
The man’s son-in-law, Jim Boyden, posted a photo of the bill on Facebook, writing: “Dear Virgin Media, I’m really sorry for my Father in Law not paying his bill last month, but what with him being dead and all, it’s probably slipped his mind. Some people, eh?”
The post was shared more than 90,000 times. Boyden also followed up by creating another post about his experience on the Virgin Media Facebook page.
Virgin Media eventually issued an apology via the BBC, saying, “We offer our sincerest apologies for the wording that appeared on the bill. Automated responses from banks should not appear on customer bills and we’re investigating how this happened.”
The company also confirmed that they had closed the father-in-law’s account and removed all late charges.
The Lesson:
There are risks associated with any automated system that has the potential to interact with customers. Just ask Air Canada, who experienced some recent AI chatbot difficulties.
Despite the efficiency of automation, human oversight is still crucial. Teams should be in place to monitor system outputs, especially for sensitive issues like account closures or billing changes following a customer’s death. Regular reviews and audits to automated systems can also help catch errors before they reach customers.
Today, brands can also take advantage of technology like machine learning to improve the intelligence of their automated systems. These tools can help predict potential errors before they happen, learning from past incidents to improve future responses.
5. Comcast Customer Records Nightmare Service Call
What Happened:
Comcast has a (well-deserved) reputation for bad customer service. And one incident from 2014 stands out from the rest.
Ryan Block called the telecom company to cancel his service. But the representative on the line continuously argued with him about why he was trying to cancel and refused to comply with his request. Block was able to record around eight minutes of the call, after already being on the phone for more than 10 minutes.
(Warning: Listening to this recording may cause a spike in blood pressure.)
The call contains gems like: “If you don’t want to talk to me, you can go into the Comcast store and cancel there.” and “So you’re not interested in the fastest internet in the country?"
After nearly 20 minutes, the employee finally agreed to cancel the service — but the damage was done. Block’s recording went viral, reaching more than 5 million listeners within days and leading to more than 1,000 news articles on the incident. Comcast’s VP of customer experience, Tom Karinshak, released a statement expressing embarrassment over the call and claiming the company was contacting Block to apologize.
The Lesson:
Comcast may have apologized for the incident — and later invested heavily in CX — but they’re still the butt of the joke when it comes to bad customer service (think South Park’s running gag).
Customers and prospects gravitate toward businesses that offer a superior, simpler and more expedited experience, said David Avrin, CX consultant and keynote speaker. But adding friction to the customer’s journey makes a brand less appealing.
And while Block was trying to cancel his service with Comcast, a streamlined and easy process might have meant he’d eventually return.
It’s important to examine every point-of-contact, policy or procedure, said Avrin, and ask a few simple questions:
- Does doing business this way make life easier for our customers, or harder?
- Does this make our service delivery faster or slower?
- Have we made this more complicated for our customer or simpler?
- Are we more or less convenient than others?
“Your customers are asking these questions. You should be as well,” he explained.
Related Article: Customer Journey Mapping: A How-To Guide
Key Lessons From Bad Customer Service
Customer service strategies need to go beyond mere damage control. For businesses that want to compete, the path forward after a mistake is to embrace transparency, foster strong communication channels and ensure every policy is infused with empathy.
By learning from past mistakes, companies can turn potential disasters into opportunities for growth and deepen their connections with customers.
