Women community helping in solving business issues

terryklingerman — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:16:42 -0500

i have read your business internal issues www.braveheartwomen.com
is community which is helping women in their decision making & increasing their confidence
it will help to keep their personal life away from business issues.

Hmmm...

Elana Centor — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:26:54 -0500

Not sure what I would have done but I don't think I would have taken down the posts. Perhaps I would have written a forward to that blog post sharing what the power of the blogosphere is and that someone at Dollar read this post and responded in a terrific way.

As the Post An Apology folks say, in business "making restitution" is a big part of the apology.

elana
Blogher Contributing Editor,Business&CareersFunnyBusiness

But do they make it right?

suebob — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:40:24 -0500

An empty apology is one thing. Trying to make a situation right is entirely a different thing. Anyone can apologize.

I had a big issue with Dollar Rent-a-Car when I travelled to Chicago earlier this year. They compounded the issue by passing me around from person to person on the phone until I went from a rational normal customer (for the first 2 times I told my whole story) to a screaming meemie the FIFTH time I had to tell it.

I blogged about it extensively and angrily, and one of my readers went out of her way to find someone at Dollar to help me. She apologized, read my blog, and offered me $175 credit on my next rental. I took it, rented a Dollar car at BlogHer, had a good experience and took down my blog posts when I got home. I also posted a short thank you to Dollar.

So in that case, it made a difference to me.

When a business issues an apology, does it really matter to you?

Elana Centor — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:54:25 -0500

When a business messes up we expect an apology. Sometimes we demand one. Then we choose whether to accept or reject it. Often we grade the business apology. Was it sincere? Was it sincere enough?

Why do we care so much whether a business apologizes to us? Does it really change things?

In our personal lives, apologies are important. But business relationships and personal relationships are not one in the same. And yet, we are constantly asking businesses to apologize for a bad customer service experience, for bad management decisions and policies.

Does the way a company handles or does not handle an apology really affect whether you will do business with them? Isn't that the bottom line?

A lot of businesses have been making headlines with their very public
apologies recently and some have been making headlines for what they
are not apologizing for.

Best Buy doesn't seem to be apologizing for behavior that seems on the surface to be dishonest, unethical and perhaps illegal. It's just adding a disclaimer to its instore Kiosk. Meg Marco writing at The Consumerist provides the back story.

In response to being sued and humiliated on the internet over their "secret website," reader MK says Best Buy has added a disclaimer that warns customers that the in-store kiosk doesn't display the same prices as the public website. For those of you new to this issue, Best Buy was caught using a duplicate website to fool customers who tried to compare internet prices with in-store prices. Customers who asked why the price was higher in the store were often told that "the sale must have ended" in the time it took them to drive to the store. They were then told to "check the website" to see for themselves, then were shown an identical-looking website that displayed different "in-store" prices.

Would a formal apology from Best Buy change whether or not I continue to shop there?

Truth be told, I'll continue to shop at Best Buy even knowing they have engaged in these deceptive practices.

While I do hold myself to a higher ethics, I, like many consumers, do not hold businesses to the same ethical standards.

I think Best Buy knows this and counts on this. When it comes to getting a deal, many of us, including myself, are price whores. If an individual had duped me like Best Buy is accused of duping customers there is no way I would do business with them.

But like many, my personal ethics seem to fly out the window when a big business is involved in bad behavior.My "need" for the store's convenience, inventory, and prices overshadows my ethical outrage.

Just this morning I received an email from a new blog syndication service,BlogRush that sent a mea culpa email to people who subscribed to their beta service that was launched just last week.
I signed up for the service to see if it would indeed drive more traffic to my blog. Suffice it to say, this is not how a business wants their first week to go.

The BlogRush team has been hard at work making major improvements for you and we won't rest until BlogRush is running 100% smoothly and sending you tons of targeted traffic! This is OUR MISSION. Please know that our entire team is working around-the-clock to make improvements and fix any problems AS FAST AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.(We sincerely appreciate your patience.)We've encountered some problems since our historic launch just over a week ago, and we fully recognize that we've made some real 'goofs' with the system for our Public Beta release...

Given that I have no real relationship with BlogRush, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for this week but if they don't get their act together soon, I will have no problems disengaging from this budding relationship.

Last week, Mattel made headlines for what they didn't apologize for and what they did apologize for in regard to those "Made In China" toys.

Valeria Maltoni takes a closer look at Mattel's action in a post called When the Apology has a Different Meaning

This post is not about who is right in the Mattel case. It is actually about when an apology is just the beginning and may not even be the right communication to use in the event of a crisis. In Knowledge@Wharton Can't Run, Can't Hide: New Rules of Engagement for Crisis Management Wharton professor Maurice Schweitzer categorizes crisis into three groups: Customer service issues -- here you keep customers from giving up on the company and its promise.Failures of competence -- problems you should have prevented as they relate to your core promise.Screw ups not related to core competences -- incidents and accidents do happen.

The website Perfect Apology is devoted to helping people understand "the most effective and creative ways to apologize."The website has a section devoted to the business apology.

As for the apology itself, the guidelines for any perfect apology remain the same.take full responsibilityrecognize your role or the company’s in the situationinclude a statement of regretask for forgivenesspromise that it won't happen again provide a form of restitution, if possible
1. Customer service issues -- here you keep customers from giving up on the company and its promise.
2. Failures of competence -- problems you should have prevented as they relate to your core promise.
3. Screw ups not related to core competences -- incidents and accidents do happen.

After the media blitz about Kyla Ebbert, the woman Southwest Airlines almost threw off their plane because of her outfit, many were surprised when the airlines didn't apologize.

A week and hundreds of unflattering comments on their blog later, The airlines finally did apologize, sort of. I wrote about the half-hearted apology on FunnyBusiness and Marie Tupot at Brand Noise weighed in with a post call "Profiting from an Apology is Not Cool."

"From a Company who really loves PR, touche to you Kyla! Some have said we've gone from wearing our famous hot pants to having hot flashes at Southwest, but nothing could be further from the truth. As we both know, this story has great legs, but the true issue here is that you are a valued Customer, and you did not get an adequate apology. Kyla, we could have handled this better, and on behalf of Southwest Airlines, I am truly sorry. We hope you continue to fly Southwest Airlines. Our Company is based on freedom even if our actions may have not appeared that way. It was never our intention to treat you unfairly and again, we apologize."

The apology coincides with the launch of a national fare sale featuring "mini-skirt" fares.The apology coincides with the launch of a national fare sale featuring "mini-skirt" fares.

Do business apologies matter to you? If you were offended by Southwest Airline's behavior and their tongue -in -cheek apology, would that keep you from flying their airlines?

And, does Mattel's apology to China change your attitude toward the "Made in China" label?

Image Credit: from the collaborative art project website Invisible Book

Elana writes an almost daily blog -
FunnyBusiness-everything about business except the bottom line at

BlogHer - When a business issues an apology, does it really matter to you? - Comments

Women community helping in solving business issues

Hmmm...

But do they make it right?

When a business issues an apology, does it really matter to you?