When Isobel Jones kicked the bucket a few years ago, I couldn’t help but notice that consumerism died on that same day.
In my last month of trying to get a company to notice their wrongdoing and provoke customer wrath against a company like Core (which brings Apple into South Africa) I learnt quite a few things. The aim of this blog is to provide some hints at how best to go about creating a complaint against a company online. This is both a how-to and a cautionary tale.
The first tip I’d probably give is don’t do it. Unless you’re young and dumb like myself, you’ll probably run out of steam pretty quickly. After a month of this I’m running out of steam as there has been a recent flurry of fairly anti-anti-Core blog posts and Podcasts as of late. Lets be honest, no one is that annoyed about a product (especially something as non essential as an Apple laptop) to wage a constant campaign of negative PR. It seems clear that I’m probably never going to be a revolutionary.
My second tip is to find great compatriots in your fight against a company. I have had a great response to the blog, both positive and negative and have made some good friends and contacts in this whole mess. If anything, I’ve given a lot of people something to talk about and I’d like to think that the prices of Apple in SA came down as a result of StopCore.co.za. I’d also be careful though to avoid getting together an angry mob. What you want to do is find at least one other cool headed person with a high level of integrity to bounce ideas off and keep you motivated when the going gets tough.
The third tip is something I wish I’d worked out earlier: Don’t antagonise! If you’re going to create a website with “Stop” and the name of the company you’re aiming to reach then you come across as both aggressive and emotional. This is a stupid thing to do. Had I created the site “ILoveMacInSa.co.za” I do believe the whole situation would have been different. The critical issue here is to promote the fact that you’re doing this because you’re passionate about the product (you are passionate and not vindictive right?) rather than aggressive.
Another unfortunate issue of bad timing was how we got dragged into the same debate as the Core – Cool Apple Buddy (CAB) reseller issue. The aim of Stopcore was never to promote the aim of CAB and a lot of the ridiculous press about CAB being a grey reseller meant we were lumped into the same situation. Were we interested in getting two distributors in South Africa? Most certainly not. Were we lumped in the same category as supporting CAB wanting to be the second distributor? Unfortunately so. In addition to this, other blogs and twitter accounts got emotional and said stupid things. Guess who got put in the same category as those emotional, baseless groups? That’s right, Stopcore.co.za was then considered in the bunch of people. The moral, control the crowd as the mob mentality does not work in your favour. Make sure when the pitchfork mob comes out, you distance yourselves as much as possible. A simple Social Media strategy of commenting on blogs and tweets is quick and easy, even though it’s easy to be caught up in the hype of organising to burn the monster. The simple truth is that you will spend time fighting fires against your campaign as well as fighting against the company.
You’ve also got to remember to try traditional PR as well. Journalists are desperate for attention and love stuff like this. With the Internet, you can easily find the details of journalists who love sensationalist things like this. Considering a spot on the Mybroadband site brought over 1300 unique visitors in one day, imagine what would have happened had we bothered to speak to a business or financial publication. Of course getting your “news” onto online sites is just as good although there is clear overlap with current website viewers.
One thing to be careful about when it comes to slanderous comments against a company is that of legalities. I have no idea what the legalities of this sort of commentary is and whether it can be considered damaging to a brand and thus make you a target for a lawsuit but consider whether it’s worth being the fall guy if a big company comes knocking. Unless you’re also a big company they have much, much more money than you do and it’s just not worth it. Yes, it is unlikely that you will get sued but do you really want that risk? I’ll be honest, it’s given me a fair amount of anxiety over the past few months.
My final point is that we need to stop being complacent. Another blog pointed out that Mac prices are not necessarily much higher than PC prices in South Africa as both the PC and Mac distributors are ripping us off. In my mind this is a terrible point as we as South Africans have become comfortable with being taken advantage of and ripped off. I do believe that consumerism is dead in South Africa and it will be a long time before we have someone championing the rights of the average consumer. Unfortunately this style of business is endemic from bread to telecoms to high end electronics such as a Mac. All I’m saying is don’t just accept high prices and do something about it. Whether your “doing something” is creating a website or telling all your friends about bad service or terrible pricing then do it. Don’t just accept that prices are high for the dumb reasons you’re told and investigate. If you find a business doing their customers a disservice then expose them because not only are you helping yourself but helping our entire society be more open and transparent.
In closing I’d like to say thanks to the other sites that have commented and given both positive and negative feedback. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with Stopcore as it’s grown to be bigger than myself and there are other people involved. What I do know is that in the future I will take on the situation in a different, less aggressive nature. I’d like to think my posts were never aggressive but the name alone is enough to misinterpret the situation. I’d love to meet RJ Van Spaandonk for a drink one day just to clear the air and hopefully set him on the right track when it comes to his Twitter strategy but I don’t have any negative feelings towards the guy and hear that he’s fun to work with. If anyone can make that happen, please contact me.
Did we win the fight against Core? I would definitely say no but I would say we’ve raised awareness and ruffled some feathers at Core. I’d like to think we’ve already made a small difference in price and while the site will stay up, I might change it to a forum for people to help each other solve Mac issues. That said, I’m extremely grateful to Minnaar Pieters who has been incredibly helpful in this “project” of mine and has been my backup and motivator. Don’t consider this me giving up, just me learning and changing the strategy.
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