Disgruntled Hotel Guest in England Joins the Age of the Empowered Customer

Looking at visitor reports for this blog, I've noticed an interesting source of new traffic from a blog site in England which focuses on consumer complaints. On December 10, a very proper English gentleman complained about a negative experience  that he had with at the Marmadukes Hotel in York. He writes eloquently about the problems with his room and the staff. When he seeks a refund from management, he initially is greeted with scorn and then receives a nasty email from the hotel's owner - all of which he posts to the blog.

When the owner apologizes for being rude and offers a full refund and 100 pounds, the disgruntled customer accepts yet emphasizes that the owner should check out a  post on this blog  about the "Age of the Empowered Customer." He also quotes the following passage from this blog: “In 1999, Technical Research Programs conducted a survey showing that for every one complaining customer, there are 26 customers who don’t bother to complain. This equals 27 unhappy customers for every one complaint that management receives. Furthermore, Technical Research Programs reported that the average unhappy customer will tell 16 people about a negative experience. Thus, when 27 unhappy customers tell 16 people about their negative experience, 432 people will hear negative comments about the business in question.”

It's great to see that consumers around the world are using the power of the Internet to get their complaints solved. And, I'm sure that many bad businesses will fail over the next decade because they don't understand the reach and power of consumer complaints in the digital age.