Inspired by a Hungarian website Nick Denton has launched The Consumerist to hit corporations where it hurts … where they blow it. Here is the intro on the blog:
Welcome, internet, to The Consumerist, the latest title from Gawker Media. The Consumerist loves to shop, and is reconciled to utilities, but hates paying for shoddy products, inhumane customer support, and half-assed service.Each week The Consumerist will guide you through the delinquencies of retail and service organizations. The Consumerist will highlight the persistent, shameless boners of modern consumerism — and the latest hot deals, discounts, and freebies around.
My favourite on the site the site right now … NyQuil not working. I guess in an effort to keep NyQuil off the must-have ingredients list for crystal meth labs, they took pseudoephedrine out of the formula … and now it doesn’t work. Oops. Not good for the cold season. Maybe try Buckley’s (if you live in Canada).
I love it. It’s about time customers had more of a soap-box. Companies can no longer afford to ignore their customers. It used to be that an unhappy customer would spread the word to their friends. Now, an unhappy customer can spread the word to hundreds, thousands, and in some cases, millions of people.
Brands take decades to build, and minutes to destroy.
I posted a short analysis of The Consumerist on our blog, with a little rant of my own:
http://blog.exclusiveconcepts.com/archives/2005/12/consumer_compla.html
Comment by Scott — December 7, 2005 @ 11:24 am