They say that most urban legends and scary tales are created to act as "parables" of sorts. These stories almost ALWAYS have a moral to teach. For example, the story of Little Red Riding Hood was told to teach children not to talk to strangers. This isn’t your typical "scary" Halloween story. Instead, this one is real.
The tale I’m about to tell is true. It is one of Comcast, the media GIANT that treats it’s customers with EXTREME disrespect. (I call it disrespect when a company creates an invoice for a client addressed to "Bitch Dog".) Mike Masnick in his Techdirt post "Comcast Still Dancing Around Its Content Jamming Operations; What’s Wrong With Admitting It?" brings us up to speed quickly on the latest in the continuing saga of how Comcast continues to disrespect the very life blood of their business, their customers.
As someone who is a creator of "Marketing Messages"…. it is my worst nightmare that customers would begin to utter a catch phrase I’ve developed for a client as a profanity. Just as a rash of shootings by postal employees has created the permanent phrase "Going Postal", it appear "Comcastic" is well on it’s way to meaning "Relentlessly screwing your customers."
The tale should serve as a warning for business owners EVERYWHERE what happens when you forget WHY you’re in business! In Comcast’s case, their latest sin (throttling the bandwidth of high bandwidth consumers while advertising unlimited bandwidth) is just another chapter in an ongoing feud with customers.
The moral to the Comcast story: when you give disrespect, expect a backlash. Some tech savvy customers are providing ways to work AROUND the throttling. Others… lots of others, are blogging about it.
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Comcast Must Die: Seeking Ideas for a Consumer Jihad
- Consumers use web to vent cable rage
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Chris Pirillo: My FAX to the Comcast Business Unit
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. The thing is, the nature of Web 2.0 actually works extremely well at keeping these "urban legends" alive.
However, as a business owner you shouldn’t discount the ire of less tech savvy customers, who may choose to retaliate with swift and blinding violence. Read about the little old lady who took a hammer to her local Comcast office…because if she couldn’t have phone and internet, then they shouldn’t have it either!
As the Wired blog network notes, tales of such rage can ignite a firestorm of (bad) media publicity. The thing is, the internet could be Comcast’s best friend. But it’s not.
Web 2.0 is all about increasing the interaction between customers and business. Many companies actually PREFER a one way conversation.
Perhaps Comcast should take the advice offered by the Washington Post: Spend less on advertising and more on customer service.
The moral to this story: Make sure your business principles are SOUND before you spend a penny on advertising.
Great blog, Kathy. Thanks for calling my attention to this. — Bob