If it seems to you that people complain more today than ever before, it could be a simple reflection of a more discontented public. The U.S. economy enjoyed an incredible run of wealth production during the 1990's. Yet at the beginning of the 21st century, somewhat less than a majority (47%) of Americans believe that what is good for business is good for most Americans, according to a Business Week poll. 

This kind of reaction does not seem merely to be an negative knee-jerk response to big business. Americans recognize that big business has contributed to the unparalleled wealth that many people enjoy today. They just believe that businesses are more interested in making money than in satisfying public or customer needs. Perhaps so many people feel this way because they work in these very companies that they denigrate in opinion polls. They, therefore, know how these organizations operate.

If the public feels that no one is reigning in big business today (This assessment is even more pronounced about the current Bush administration which is seen as the pawn of big business by a substantial majority of Americans), then individuals feel compelled to do more complaining to balance the scales.

And herein lies a danger to big corporations. If the public gets so vociferous with complaints when in the role of either employee or customer, the government be forced to take action to regulate business. Witness the Patient's Bill of Rights, largely a response to the outrage over HMO treatment of insured patients. The tobacco industry ignored public reactions to secondhand smoke so that it is today increasingly difficult to find smoking sites just about anywhere. 

Businesses can listen to complaining customers and staff, or they can respond to legislation. Complaints do have an impact when a significant portion of the public has had enough. 
 
 

Janelle Barlow, Coauthor
A Complaint Is a Gift
Emotional Value
 
 
 

Previous "Complaint Is A Gift Corner" pages: 
 
 

#1	Overselling Service
#2	Not Listening to Complaints
#3	Plastic Chicken
#4	Complaints You Can Do Nothing About
#5	A+ Complaint Handling
#6	Beware! Others are Watching You
#7	At Least Keep Talking!
#8	Let Customers Know You'll Tell Someone
#9	If You're Going to Apologize, Then Mean It
#10	Keep Front-life Staff Well Informed
#11	Don't Set Goals to Reduce Complaints
#12	Products Used During Special Events
#13	Best Practices of Complaint-friendly Organizations
#14	Complaints About Mother Nature!
#15	Socially Offensive Situations
#16	A Complaint Is a Gift in Action
#17	Information Systems  Users' Complaints, I
#18	Information Systems  Users' Complaints, II
#19	Creating an Internal Service Culture
#20	When Your Customers are Industrial Buyers
#21	Customers Who are Poor Complainers
#22	Complaints That are Difficult to Talk About
#23	Do You Mistreat Your Customers?
#24	Fairness: Treatment of Staff
#25	Expectations and Complaints
#26	Successful Toll-free Experiences
#27	Small Companies and Service
#28	A Banking Customer Strikes Back
#29	Complaints in the Hospitality Business
#30	Customers Be More Cynical
#31	Above All, Communicate When Things Go Wrong!
_#32	Eliminating Blame
_#33	Friendliness Keeps Them Coming Back!
_#34	Seeking Out Complaints
_#35	If They Complain, Why Not Sue Them!
_#36	"Sorry for Any Inconvenience Caused"
_#37	Don't Back Away When Someone Complains To You
_#38	The Right Person
_#39	Complaining is Becoming Popular in Japan
_#40	Complaining Over the Holidays
_#41	Can Tracking Your Complaints Help Reduce Them?
_#42	Are the British Getting Better at Complaining?
_#43	The Danger of Being a Monopoloy
_#44	Complaints Within Complaint Call Centers
_#45	Why Not Take Complaints From Everyone?
_#46	British Airways Gains a Competitive Advantage
_#47	Corporate Complaints Inside Organizations

We invite you to submit your "best" examples by fax or e-mail. We won't print any company names with the "poor" examples, because we believe that every organization fails from time to time. We will give credit to companies delighting their customers. In the case of the "poor" examples, we'll comment on how we think this situation could have been handled better. If you want us to list your name, please tell us that is what you want to do.

A Complaint Is a Gift, The Training Program 

A Complaint Is a Gift, The Book

Note: We have been getting e-mail from our readers asking us to list the names of the companies who get complaints. Our policy is to never list names. The reason for this is because every company fails from time to time, and we wouldn't want to tar some company's name just because of one bad example. Furthermore, we are dependant upon the writer's side of the story. We don't know for sure what happened, and in the name of fairness, we will not post names. Furthermore, the purpose of this corner is not to pass complaints along to corporations. This Complaint Is a Gift corner is designed to look at examples of good and bad complaint handling so we can learn from these experiences. Please, if you have a direct complaint you want a company to learn about, contact them directly. In many cases, we have never heard of the company in question and have no idea how to reach them. Janelle Barlow

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