How NOT to perform social customer service |

Last week I was asked eModeration’s opinion of this story about a Greek Apple reseller Systemgraph, who are suing a customer who complained – possibly with justification – about the damage they caused to his machine whilst supposedly fixing it. You may have heard the tale: the unhappy Mr Papadimitriadis posted his story on a forum, and in return, the company is suing him for 200,000 Euros for reputational damage. According to their statement on the AV Club forum, the law suit was in response to an “organised attempt to slander and insult” the company via social media sites, blogs and forums. The Twitterati have been enjoying this hugely – a post quoted by the article reads: ”In defense of #Systemgraph, their feelings were very hurt. 200,000 Euros is a bargain considering how hurt their feelings were.”

The fact that this case is actually going to court gives many reasons for concern, not the least of which is whether it will now be possible to complain about anything, anywhere on the Internet and not be sued. But I’m most interested right now in the customer service side to this case.

What should Systemgraph have done? They should have engaged with their angry customer, tried to take it out of the public arena asap, and done their level best to get the problem sorted. At the end of the day, it would have been far wiser to calculate the cost of the potential reputational damage of failing to resolve the problem versus the cost of the computer in question. Not the mention the potential PR gain of turning an angry customer around. Does it really, actually matter that much if they genuinely believe they didn’t damage his computer? How about ‘goodwill payments’ and ‘the customer is always right’? Taking the customer to court and suing him, frankly seems like reputational suicide.

How should you engage with customers who slate your product or service? What if they are battling you – or with each other – on your own site? eModeration’s new white paper (to be published on this blog tomorrow) will provide a guide on how to set up a review site, handle and moderate reviews, act on feedback and use it to your advantage.

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The story has a happy end, of sorts as Systemgraph have decided to settle the case out of court with help of the Greek Customer Ombudsman.

They made a half hearted attempted to back away from their original stand by saying that, "they did not wish to be part of any attempt to limit freedom of speech on the internet".

Which is ironic considering they were about to sue somebody for calling their company "dodgy".

http://www.systemgraph.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=172:2011-01-07-10-16-16&catid=1:2009-06-12-14-35-04
Tia Fisher

Thanks very much for the update. I don't suppose you've got a link to an English report on them settling out of court? Cheers!
Anonymous

" … With great joy we received today a letter of intervention of the Consumer Ombudsman, who urged all parties on Tuesday, January 18, 2011.

Recognizing that the mild treatment of events is more beneficial for both sides and refusing to help in limiting freedom of expression on the Internet, we will attend the meeting to mention our position, hoping to court litigation…."
Valerio Paris

I believe that one day this incident will be taught as a textbook example of how a company, who was right in the first place, shot it's self in the foot by suing the customer and thus inflicting a PR nightmare on it's self.

I wholeheartedly agree with the notion that turning a customer around is a huge gain.

I would like to point out however that Mr Papadimitriadis was not a customer of Systemgraph, he had bought his iMac from Public and brought it to Systemgraph who is an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Still by helping him he could have turned out to be a loyal customer as they are also a retailer of Apple products…
Richard Greco

This is not entirely true. The settlement has not been established yet.
Dr Papadimitriadis brought his iMac to Systemgraph who failed to repair, thus he requested for a replacement claim to be forwarded appropriately. However, Systemgraph refused to process his claim and decided to sue him for 200,000 euro instead due to a blog post and a forum citation of the events.
It should also be noted that this consumer had already contacted with apple, the retailer and another authorized distributor in Greeks.
Richard Greco

This is not entirely true. The settlement has not been established yet.
Dr Papadimitriadis brought his iMac to Systemgraph who failed to repair, thus he requested for a replacement claim to be forwarded appropriately. However, Systemgraph refused to process his claim and decided to sue him for 200,000 euro instead due to a blog post and a forum citation of the events.
It should also be noted that this consumer had already contacted with apple, the retailer and another authorized distributor in Greeks.
Inês Meneses

A similar case recently occurred in Portugal with the mobile phones' seller "Ensitel", but a growing number of people kind of invaded their facebook page with protests, which soon turned into massive mockery, so after a few days they droppped the legal case and apologize to the general public.

My point is that a bad customer service policy may nowadays be rapidly turned into a marketing nightmare, due to the internet.
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lol, yeah the customer is always right
evernote vs onenote

This is not entirely true. The settlement has not been established yet.
evernote vs onenote

My point is that a bad customer service policy may nowadays be rapidly turned into a marketing nightmare, due to the internet.
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Anonymous

Through many years of customer service, I have discovered one salient and decisive fact: the customer is rarely right. Roughly 80-90% of all customers I have dealt with, in several different fields, have been incorrect. From the woman whom spat in my face for 'ruining her christmas' (less than 3 minutes later we discovered she had purchased, not just from another store, but another store, entirely unaffiliated with the one I worked in), to the customer that spent over 25 screaming that his 'internets texts' were being stolen.
Anonymous

Well it's true to say the Internet is a great forum to let the fellow public know of poor customer service. Like this website I came across – http://www.customerangry.co.uk

Nothing bad being said about the company Marshall Motor Group, just information which suggests that the company shot it self in the foot and face. Rule 1 of good customer service is "Assume the customer is right". This website will stay there for life coming up on web search, etc., all at a cost of few pounds.