August 28, 2006 @ 8:32 AM
Following an abysmal interaction with PNM‘s customer service department (New Mexico’s public utility company) I went online in search of a consumer advocate group with whom I could share my despair.
Knowing it was a long shot, I pointed Firefox to PNMsucks.com with the hope of discovering a vocal opponent to these “evil-doers”. No such luck. Interestingly, a quick domain lookup revealed that PNM was fully aware of their negative perception, and had preemptively purchased the domain… for ten years.
Not only did this revelation further incense me, it reinforced their brand - that is, my experience in dealing with their company. After witnessing first hand the full impotence of their customer service department, I’d now found that PNM was also attempting to quash a response to their utter “suckitude” rather than, I don’t know… trying not to suck maybe?
SaraJoy Pond’s recent rant on a visit to her local Walmart prompted another quick check, revealing Walmart too worries they suck - enough to secure the corresponding domain at least.
Other companies who know they suck? Verizon, Target and CarMax ...to name a few.
So what’s the right thing to do? The desire to slow the spread of vitriol from a company’s most fanatic opponents seems only natural. However, purchasing YourDomainSucks.com and sitting on it means missing out on an opportunity. Not surprisingly, good companies like Southwest Airlines almost get it (read the fine print).
Why not create a simple and empathetic customer feedback form at YourDomainSucks.com? Something that says:
“Wow, you must be really angry with us right now. Unfortunately, this happens way more often than we’d prefer. We’re not going to give you any free merchandise, or frequent flyer miles for being angry. But this is your opportunity to tell someone directly what we’ve done to make you so upset. Your comments here will be forwarded not only to our customer service department, but also our entire Board of Directors. While we can’t promise immediate action regarding your situation, we can promise that your complaint will be heard by people at the highest levels of influence within our organization. Thank you for helping make our company better.”
Now that would not suck.
Comments
I can picture the board of directors sitting around the table...- "Watson, we suck now?"
- "Yes sir"
- "Smith, how long do you think we will suck?"
- "Tough to tell sir, we have a ten year plan right now, with a good forecast for not sucking on the horizon"
- "Thompson, make sure we're covered till then"
- "Yes sir!"
I thought Walmartsucks dot com was the domain of an incensed, disabled veteran from Maine. Sounds like big brother threatened to have his VA benefits cut off if he didn't sell it.
Brilliant! I love the idea. I hope companies start adopting this. It makes a lot of sense to me.
In a way, having a yourcompanysucks.com is a sign of success. If you have enough customers that one of them cares enough to book a slanderous domain name, then you can probably afford to fly to Tahiti in your private jet to get away from all the complaints.I can't wait until I can fly away to Tahiti to mope. That'd be sweet.
Brilliant indeed! What a shame you're not in PR (because heaven knows no one will ever take the idea seriously until it comes from a million-dollar-an-hour-PR-consultant 
Here is an interesting article related to your post:http://news.com.com/2100-1023-268666.html
"Parisi owns about 700 domain names containing the word "sucks," including Microsoftsucks.com and Chinasucks.com." – funny stuff
Look at who owns Google Sucks and Amazon Sucks... Its a recommended brand protection vehicle and it seems its also used by Mark Monitor. Just type PayPal into Google and see why most big brands want to protect themselves.
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