Blogger lashes out against credit union
Posted by Trey Reeme on August 13th, 2006
About a week ago, I ran across this blog post ranting about a credit union I won’t name here.
The blogger’s goal was plainly stated: get the credit union to the number one slot on a Google search for worst bank ever.
They succeeded at both handing said CU that title and the Google #1 slot of worst credit union ever as well.
Now I don’t know the fine folks at this credit union, but I do know the complaints against them on that blog aren’t at all justified – but that’s not the point.
So I sent a contact request through their website to offer some help. Upon doing so, I got this message (I’ve tried on two separate days including right before making this post):
“An error has occured. Please call your Financial Institution with this reference number: xxxx.”
That’s not good.
If you have a contact at this credit union, clue him/her in on what’s going on so they can help themselves. This doesn’t have the implications of the Kryptonite lock ordeal, but they really should stand up for themselves on this.
- Step 1: Explain yourselves to the bloggers who wrote the post. They’d probably amend the post with your response. You’d look much better – you’d be responsive and open to someone who doesn’t deserve it. Be the better people here. Hey, it’s not fair, but that’s life.
- Step 2: Fix the contact form on your website. That’s just plain frustrating.
Any other ideas?
Good catch Trey. And thanks for sharing the info.
It’s almost as though companies feel that they need to have an internet presence but then don’t set up the infrastructure to support it. If a company is going to use the web, it needs to invest in more than just a one-way information site. It’s like getting a phone number but then never answering the phone when people call.
Yikes. Someone needs to start watching their name in the blogosphere…
I agree with the steps Trey outlined – that’s a good first step and hopefully a dialog can be started with the poster about their experience and how the CU will try to improve going forward…
As the employee of a credit union, the poster definitely has some valid complaints. But.. he should take them to the credit union because I’m sure they want to improve the way they do business. Trying to googlebomb them is just childish.
Just followed a link here after checking out who was linking to ChangeEverything.ca. Ironically, I just finished lashing out at a financial institution
Banks seem to be a particular target of mine. Here and here.
Darren,
Bless you. You are another case-in-point of the advocacy (both good and bad) we’ve been trying to highlight for a long time. So thanks for making yourself known.
Your posts were top notch and on point. I’d love to see VanCity respond to your complaints.
To credit unions:
Wake up, because like it or not there are a lot of Darrens out there intelligently slapping you around.
Also, is your last name really Barefoot? If so, what a cool last name.
Has Darren been sued yet?
Rob,
Should he be worried? Now may be a good time to explain the legal implications of voicing a complaint.
But as a credit union, why choose to shut down a legitimate complaint with a lawsuit rather than tackle the actual problem?
Really, truly, my last name is Barefoot.
I suppose I could get sued for slander for calling CIBC Visa ‘asshats’, but it’d be a PR disaster for them. Everything else I’ve described is factual, and thus probably beyond legal reproach.
I forgot about this entry, which has probably provoked more backlash from the company than any of the others:
Here it is.
I take it Freedom 55 is mostly comprised of self-employed people, so they’re extra bitter. If nothing else, I tend to accidentally teach companies about SEO.
Darren makes a great point about SEO (search engine optimization) (or “optimisation” if you’re a Canadian, right?).
There’s a chance that cullenwaters’ post on worst credit union ever (the post that started this whole conversation off) will have the same effect on that credit union when you search for the offending credit union’s name.
And here’s another point: Darren’s blog is obviously a much higher ranked blog than the cullenwaters blog. He’s a better blogger with a knack for making a solid argument. So when he “slaps someone around” (or conversely gives praise), as Brent pointed out, he puts more weight into it than cullenwaters.
There’s all sorts of torts associated with self-expression. The main problem, as I see it, is that it only takes one lawsuit. Sure, a blogger may have an absolute defense and may win the lawsuit. But even absolute defenses can take 2 years and $100,000 in legal fees to assert.
Here’s the absolute defense definition from Wikipedia.
Rob, thanks for the further explanation – this is the kind of discussion I love having here.
The PR fallout would be huge if such a lawsuit would be filed by a credit union against a blogger. In the cullenwaters instance, for an offended credit union to take on a blogger with a very tiny audience it would only exponentially increase the reach of their message and make the credit union look petty.
Suing someone like Darren would be even more dangerous because Darren already has a wider audience. I haven’t told anyone this, but I came across Darren’s blog in my Vancity research before he ever posted a comment here. (I believe it was through Technorati, but I’m not entirely sure.)
Would it be worth the PR nightmare?
I agree with Trey, and I’m not just saying that because I have to look at his face all day.
Rob, what you’re saying may be true, but win or lose it would be total brand destruction for the credit union. A credit union would have to be willing to risk dissociating itself with its membership in order to pursue something like that.
The message it sends out is “we’d rather shut you up than fix our problems.”
They’d be flushing time, legal money, and the marketing and business development budget they’ve invested in brand equity for years down the toilet to “quiet” a voice…meanwhile a move like that would only turn up the volume and exaggerate the issue.
Burn money and trust so that “here’s my complaint” becomes <font>“here’s my complaint, also my credit union is a sue-happy juggernaut”</font>?
Seems counterintuitive.
Agree – I think the best action is always to attempt to create dialog, and if necessary to let the individual and the CU agree to disagree… but getting legal involved is probably a bad move.
I’m not saying I disagree, but for the sake of discussion, let’s assume a blogger google-bombs a company and it gets picked up by digg and slashdot and rises to the level of meme. The company then suffers reduced sales and profits. If the company can tie actual damages to the blogger, the company can sue for those damages and potentially much more. My point is simply that whether or not it would be a PR nightmare to do, a company can sue someone for saying bad things about them. I always opt for the wisdom of Thumper from Bambi: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Hi, there! Found you guys through Technorati. Thought you might be interested in my post. Thanks for the useful info.
Courtney,
Thanks for the link to your post. IMHO, what you wrote was a much more constructive way to air the complaints against the credit union than the “Google bomb” that sparked the conversation here. Your post was solid and I hope that it gets the attention of the CU.
And if the CU finds this comment thread one day, they know what could help. For starters, they could engage in a dialogue that you’ve tried to start with them numerous times.
Sure they’ve lost you as a member, but I believe your comment on your post sums it up nicely:
“Honestly, at this point, I just wish they would straighten up their customer service. It wouldn’t help us out, because we no longer have an account with them, but it would help other members. It would also be nice to know that we weren’t just an account number to them.”
I work for a large NY money center bank and was horrified when I read the responses from the “worst bank ever”. No financial institution concerned with remaining a functioning institution would ever refer to one of their customers as “whining” or to their complaints as “unjustified”. Perception is everything…and the perception after reading their response is that the original blogger was right….that CU does NOT care about its members. I feel so strongly about this that yesterday I closed my account with the very same “worst bank ever”.
Trey,
Thanks for the comment!
My problem wasn’t you, sorry if it seemed that way. I understand that your readers are in the industry and that they would understand (and know how to take) you more than I would.
We found a common ground last time and that’s okay with me. Nothing else to say. :)
How do I find any 5 digit transit number if I dont have one for any in credit union.
http://cuindirectlending.wordpress.com/2007/02/25/consistency/