The customer service revolt: how bad support is building a grievance empire on social media

The recent experience of a customer at CVS serves as an example of the growing issue of poor customer service in the retail industry. During a routine purchase, the customer was unexpectedly enrolled in a membership program without their consent. When attempting to cancel the subscription, the customer encountered difficulties and had to resort to social media to voice their frustration.

The customer's complaint on social media platform X garnered responses from the company, highlighting the consequences of poor customer service. Companies are increasingly treating customer service as a cost to be minimized rather than a relationship to be invested in, leading to negative experiences for customers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned about the "doom loops" of chatbots in 2023, where customers become trapped in a cycle of scripted responses without access to a human representative.

Data indicates that customer experience has worsened for four consecutive years, with a significant decrease in the Forrester Customer Experience Index. Companies are facing issues related to the performance of their employees, a dwindling focus on customers, and the ineffective implementation of AI. Additionally, the National Customer Rage Study revealed that 77% of U.S. consumers had encountered major problems with products or services in the past year, a rate that has nearly doubled since 1976.

Digital channels have become the primary means for consumers to express their dissatisfaction, with a growing number of complaints being made on social media. Companies are responding to these complaints to mitigate damage to their reputation, even when the underlying issues remain unresolved. The economist Albert Hirschman identified two responses to declining quality: exit and voice.

Exit involves leaving a company, while voice refers to complaining, which has become more prevalent due to the ease of doing so on social media platforms.

Companies with market power tend to receive more public complaints and engage with them more actively, particularly when they dominate the local market. Research has shown that drops in on-time performance generate a higher number of online complaints when the airline has a significant market share, and airlines are more likely to respond when competition is limited.

In the case of CVS, the public nature of the complaint highlights the potential risks associated with unauthorized subscriptions. The company has faced legal consequences for similar practices in the past, including a $20.5 million settlement for illegally sharing customer data and a $2.5 billion fine for enrolling consumers in Prime without their consent.

These incidents serve as cautionary tales for other companies, emphasizing the importance of maintaining ethical business practices and providing satisfactory customer service.