Gripe of the Week: Party Expert, No Expert on Customer Service

By Dave Carroll
Founder, Gripevine.com

This installment of our Gripe of the Week is an excellent example of how to effectively share your complaint in a way likely to get the attention of both consumers and the company in question. By being creative, your chances of resolving your gripe increase greatly.

Link: http://gripevine.com/wasnt-no-party-party-expert-gripe-20805269

This week's complaint is from a man in Quebec, Canada who bought a Halloween costume from a chain store called Party Expert. It was an off the rack, one-size-fits-all costume of The Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show. Having paid $70 this man wasn't happy with the fit, claims the costume was defective, impaired his vision and actually looked nothing like the Swedish Chef. He wanted his money back or another costume but was told there are no refunds and they will only replace the exact costume.
Finding no satisfaction with Party Expert he created a funny and impassioned video from his home that includes him wearing the costume to highlight its imperfections, along with all of the other areas of frustration he found with the store and his perspective on how they treat customers. He even includes a clip from the Muppet Show to introduce viewers the real Swedish Chef, and end credits that specify the store number and location along with his Twitter address.

What I liked about his video is that it told a relatable story. We've all bought things that we'd like to return but are told we can't and that feeling of being tricked or taken advantage of is frustrating. That automatically drew me in. Thanks to social media's ability to share a message so quickly today he was able to make this video while the issue was fresh and his passion and frustration is evident in his video adding to the authenticity. Anyone who knows about United Breaks Guitars knows that I enjoy a cheap costume and so a story about cheap costumes had from the outset. In short I found it simply entertaining and would recommend that others to use video for their next Gripe, so I've created a list of tips for creating a Gripe video that will get results.


Six Ways to Create a Gripe Video That Get Results

1. Just do it! With smartphones and laptops, recording a video of yourself has never been easier or faster.

2. Include details in your video, and be specific. Company name, location, how to contact you, etc.

4. Make it watchable. It can be genuine, relatable, funny, heartfelt. People respond to honesty.

5. Keep it short. Tell your story, but stick to the most important details.

6. Mind your Ps and Qs and F-bombs. The consumer in this video dropped a few, and they were funny, but keep in mind that it may alienate some watchers and make others more hesitant to spread your messages.

I'm not sure if Party Expert will reach out to this customer but they should. According to the customer, Party Expert seem to be spending more time and resources warning customers that if they steal they will caught than standing behind their products. A whopping 90% of adult U.S. shoppers said that a convenient return policy is important when deciding to make a purchase (according to a Newgistics poll). Maybe Party Expert doesn't realize their policy may be turning away customers refusing to visit from knowing their policies already. How many more will avoid them when this video gets out?

This story is a perfect example of why we started Gripevine. We want to be the place where consumers can come and be creative; where they can share relatable stories in a format designed to resolve complaints and not just bash brands. We also see ourselves as creators of a fair an open playing field to both consumers and businesses. In this instance Party Expert were the first to be notified what this customer was saying and had the ability to instantly reach out and solve the problem. If they choose to wait, thousands of people may see this story and their brand may be seriously damaged, but they have now been armed with the information and given the ability to communicate with the customer off-line.

I maintain that complaints are going to happen online whether Gripevine exists or not. Before Gripevine he would have simply posted the video to YouTube. But with us at the centre, the company is now being proactively alerted to what's being said about them and everyone's brand is nothing more than the sum of the conversations being had about it. Party Expert should take note of that.



About Gripevine:
Gripevine connects customers and companies on a fair and level public playing field where they can come together to create win-win resolutions to common consumer complaints. Consumers can use Gripevine to leverage the power of social media to get their stories heard. Companies can use their Customer Satisfaction Index on Gripevine to show the world the quality of their customer service. By leveraging the power of social media, both groups of users can ultimately affect a company's Customer Satisfaction Index on Gripevine, which provides an effective scale for the quality of customer service.


About Dave Carroll:
Dave Carroll is an award winning singer-songwriter, professional speaker, author and social media innovator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He began his music career with his brother Don in the band Sons of Maxwell and has been enjoying success as a solo artist for the last four years. Known as a master storyteller, Dave's incredible talent was introduced to millions when his 2009 YouTube music video 'United Breaks Guitars' became a worldwide sensation. Dave is now co-founder of the consumer resolution complaint platform, Gripevine.com. Most recently, Dave published his first book: "United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media" and released his second album, "Raincoat in Vegas."