“A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all,” said the well known American businessman Michael LeBoeuf. What is a business? A daring entrepreneurs’ venture to deliver some old things in a new packaging to the same customer base. It incorporates new ways to sell the same things. So, there is stiff competition among the existing businesses and the new start-ups. What distinguishes them from the other organizations is their marketing gimmick. The way in which they sell their product their USP, that is to say. And the one thing that really puts the odds in a particular business’ favor is how it treats its customers.

The Public Relations department of any organization is its most essential department. The PR of a company can escalate it to the epitome of success or to the nadir. Spoken words, when dealt in a mass value, means a lot. But bad publicity can tear big holes in the public image of a company. The issue of customer care management should be dealt with the utmost care and precision. An irate customer is like an ant; the company is like an elephant. The ant can do enough damage to the elephant so as to kill it, if handled in improper ways. Here are some real-life instances of customer grievances that were left unresolved, thereby damaging the image of the companies and incurring them huge monetary losses.

15. When Verizon refused to disconnect a dead man’s services

After Cynthia Lacy’s father Bill Young died in June 2009, Verizon kept sending bills until February 2010. Lacy requested Verizon to discontinue the services, but the staff member asked the secret pin number which was required as an authoritative token. Cynthia had no knowledge of the pin. Soon after sending her father’s death certificate to the company, Lacy spoke to their customer service department. The customer service representative shamelessly laughed at Lacy and hung up the phone saying, “Well, there’s nothing else I can do for you.” Later the bereaved daughter spoke with the media and brought attention to her story. When the issue caught the attention from several media outlets, Verizon decided to make arrangements for a refund. Shameless Verizon!

14. Toyota didn’t recall faulty cars until 37 people died

During 2009 to 2011, the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota lost its brand image, including a huge sum of money due to faulty cars. Several models, including the Toyota Camry and Corolla, were recalled as the company found out that there were some problems with the gas pedal. Several accidents happened, and 37 people reportedly died due to the ‘Sticking Accelerator Pedal’ issue. Toyota tried its best to remain silent over the issue, but when the outrage didn’t stop, the company, after a week, apologized to its customers. James Lentz, the Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Motors North America released a video of himself apologizing to the car owners.

13. Southwest Airlines body shamed Kevin Smith & didn’t let him aboard

It was a spectacular PR disaster for Southwest Airlines. This incident was also an eye-opener about the hollow promises of airline facilities, especially when they are thought to be the politest of all service providers. Customers who pay thousands of dollars for flight tickets can be thrown out of a plane if the pilot feels that they are overweight. Yes, that’s what exactly happened when Southwest Airline pilot told Smith that he’s fat and it’s risky for passengers to travel with such a fat person. Kevin was sent to his destination by another flight and Southwest gave him US$100 voucher for the inconvenience. Kevin shared details about the incident on Twitter and later Southwest shamelessly tried to cover up the issue with purely dumb excuses.

12. A lady renamed the Bank of America as “Evil, thieving bastards”

The Bank of America from January 2008 began notifying some of its customers that their interest rates went up to 28% which was more than double of what the bank was charging customers initially. The irony was that the customers were in good standing and their accounts were in good condition. The Bank of America didn’t even care to explain why the interest rates went up. In 2009, when the bank did the same with a customer named Ann Minch, the lady started a Debtors’ Revolt by releasing a video on YouTube. She called the bank “evil, thieving bastards” and soon after, the video went viral. Soon after the bank contacted Minch and lowered her interest rates.

11. Walgreens almost killed a woman by misfiling her med doses

A Phoenix woman named Larina Helsom suffered painful episodes of spasms after her pharmacy filled her prescription with 10 times the advised dose. According to the lady, the pharmacy repeatedly misfiled the medication and as a result, she suffered crippling esophageal problems for months and had to get surgery. Even her doctors were unable to explain the cause. The lady feared she would die from the condition because she had questioned the pharmacy twice since she was doubtful about her medicine dosage. Once the pharmacy gave her generic medication as a substitute and the next time they provided her medicine from a different manufacturer without noticing the prescribed dose. The company stopped picking up calls from the lady and “reassured” her that the doses given to her were within therapeutic guidelines. Eventually, Helsom learned that her 5 mcg dose had been wrongly filed as 50 mcg. Walgreens later apologized to the woman.

10. FedEx Employees Love Tossing Your Boxes for Fun

FedEx didn’t know that its own employees would mock the company’s slogan, “We live to deliver.” A family registered a complaint against the company’s delivery style when a delivery man threw a box containing a computer monitor over the gate. The delivery man was in such hurry that he didn’t even care about ringing the doorbell or calling someone to collect the package. This was not the first time when FedEx employees were accused of mishandling their customer’s valuable packages. In a video recorded in Manhattan, a female FedEx employee carelessly threw boxes in a delivery truck and was quite proud of her behavior. Soon after these incidents, FedEx went into damage control mode and apologized to the customers.

9. A man lost his job, car and spent five days in prison because the bank accused him of forgery, mistakenly

A 28-year-old man Ikenna Njoku went to the Chase Bank with a tax-refund cheque of US$ 8,463.21. The Chase bank teller then proceeded to turn his life into a nightmare. Speaking to the press about the incident, he said “She asked me what I did for a living. Asked me where I got the check from, looked me up and down–like ‘you just bought a house in Auburn, really?’ She didn’t believe that.” The teller refused to cash the check and put it on hold. Next day when Njoku went to the bank, the police was waiting for him and he was arrested for forgery. The next day, the bank realized its mistake and called a detective, but since the detective was not working that day, he didn’t even care about informing anyone. While Njoku was in jail, he lost his job due for being a no-show and his car was towed and impounded. When he came out, he asked the bank to clear the cheque as he needed the money desperately to get his car back. The bank ignored him and eventually his car was auctioned off. Only after Njoku finally made his horrendous story public knowledge did the bank finally apologize and make a settlement. 

8. Amazon’s lack of willingness to understand customer’s need

Chris Williams, a victim of Amazon’s poor customer service posted his conversation online after a representative wasted his time and gave no solution to his problem. It is common for many of us because most of the time we are told to wait for no reason, but this case is a bit different. Chris wanted Amazon to remove an email address associated with his account because he was worried that someone was phishing his email with the name ‘brittni’. Unfortunately, the Amazon employee didn’t understand a single thing Chris tried to tell them and made him spend more than an hour trying to explain the problem. From the agent’s side, there was no sign of understanding and in fact, the lady even suggested Chris to go and delete his own email. Chris later posted the entire conversation online. 

7. She lost her home in a tornado, but Charter Communications wanted her to find their set-top-box or pay up

Tornado survivor and a single mother of three children, Kelly told her friend Jake about her horrendous encounter with a Charter Cable representative. While everyone else was offering Kelly help in the form of temporary shelter, food and financial assistance, the Charter representative had these choice words to say: “If your house was destroyed, and you have looked around the neighbourhood for our cable box and cannot find it, you owe us $212 and you need to either pay us or make an insurance claim on our behalf.” The company was curious to know when the lady will be capable of paying them. The company threatened the lady saying that if she did not arrange the money soon enough, the company will be taking the help of collection agencies. Later when the report got published by several media outlets, Charter Communications released a statement saying that the company will not charge the tornado affected people who lost their Cable TV Box.

6. When a journalist exposed how Pizza Hut takes care of its customers

A journalist Alex Hudson was waiting for the pizza he ordered from Pizza Hut, which he got nearly after two hours. He asked for a refund which adhered to Pizza Hut’s Delivery Policy. But Pizza Hut showed its incompetence by ignoring multiple refund requests. The company repeatedly asked Alex to provide more details on the issue and made him wait for 19 days. Finally, the refund request got completed and Alex was offered a 30-dollar voucher which he wanted Pizza Hut to donate to kids. The company’s chief marketing officer admitted that it was a mistake from the company’s side saying: “It is clear that there were delays, which are unacceptable.”

5. A 3-year-old girl who lost her eye was thrown out of KFC because “her face was disrupting others”

Young Victoria Wilcher was asked to leave KFC when she was on a feeding tube and her mother was helping her swallow potatoes. The baby girl was forced to leave the restaurant as one of the employees told her mother that her face was disruptive to the customers. Victoria understood everything and the incident left her disheartened to an extent that she started feeling ashamed of herself and began to avoid public interaction. The girl had lost her eyesight and was unable to move the right side of her face, owing to an attack by three stray dogs. KFC apologized for the mistake and offered US$30K to help the little girl.

4. OfficeMax sent an insensitive letter to a father whose daughter was killed in a road accident

Mike Seay, who lost his daughter Ashley in a car accident, received a letter from OfficeMax with a shocking line printed on the envelope in place of the address. The first line read Mike’s name and in the second line, a highly insensitive message was printed. His daughter Ashley died when their SUV crashed into a tree. Seay was shocked as to how OfficeMax got such information about her daughter. The bereaved dad contacted the company who, at first, didn’t believe him. Later the company realized the mistake and apologized to the father and blamed a third party service provider.

3. Burger King made an old woman cry when she saw the vulgar receipt

Some idiots working at a Burger King in Virginia made a woman cry when she found hideous profanities printed on her receipt. Lorel had been purchasing dinner with her daughter-in-law at the restaurant when this bizarre incident occurred. “This is more than an insult. I mean calling you names on a piece of a paper, that will hurt somebody,” Lorel told a local media company. The lady, in tears, spoke to the manager who apologized. Later Burger King released a statement and confirmed that the employee involved in the incident was fired.

2. Comcast didn’t allow this customer to cancel his account but instead put his call on hold for three hours

A young man, Aaron Spain, tried to cancel his Comcast account. The representative, after listening to his grievances, put his call on hold, promising a solution. Instead, the representative waited till the office closed, and put Spain on hold for three hours! He understandably got frustrated with this and tried to call the company from another number. After successfully navigating through the promotional offers and menus, he came to know that Comcast was closed for the day. Shockingly, his primary number was still on hold! Aaron recorded these things and uploaded the video on YouTube. This is not the first time when a customer got treated like garbage. Comcast is one of the most hated companies around the world and is known for its poor customer support.

1. United Airlines broke his guitar and then he got solid revenge

After seeing how badly the United Airlines treated his guitar due to poor handling of luggage, Dave Carroll Saw wrote a song and uploaded the video on YouTube featuring his band members. Carroll called the airlines many times but to no avail. He got the guitar repaired later by himself. He had to spend more than one thousand dollars! This incident caught the attention of many people and the company suffered a loss of around $180 million. Carroll later released two more videos and became popular with this act. The airlines tried its best to ignore his requests until he declared vocal war on the company. A classic example of how some companies treat their customers. Such companies deserve the wrath they get from their customers. 

Sources: Metro, TIME, Huffington Post, The Washington Post, BUSINESS INSIDER