Last weekend I had to return a Black & Decker mini fridge to Walmart. I am one that hates returning things so I typically make it a point to do extensive research before making a purchase and then live with the consequences of my choice for better or worse. What made this return easier was the fact that it was not my first pick to begin with. Prior to going to Walmart we had decided to go with another brand that we saw on Walmart.com. Unfortunately, the brand we wanted was not in store and could only be ordered online - I learned that after we made the 45 minute drive to the store. When we arrived the only mini fridge they had in our price range was this Black & Decker version. My wife convinced me that since we made the drive that we might as well get it. But as I stood on the checkout line I told her there was some reason I didn't want this one. I remember the reviews were bad online, but couldn't remember why. Instead of just relying on the fact that the reviews were bad, I made the purchase simply because I couldn't remember the specifics and was trying to make my wife happy. After all, Black & Decker's reputation offline is very well regarded especially when it comes to power tools - How bad could the fridge be? I see their products all the time when I am in Home Depot - they must be doing something right. Sure enough by the time we got home and I read the label closer, I remembered that it was one of these new thermoelectric environmentally friendly refrigerators (no compressor). It keeps things cold, but has two major drawbacks. It doesn't get cold enough to store frozen foods, and it gives off a lot of heat into the room. Considering we needed to store milk for my son, we needed something that would store dairy close to freezing temperatures. To be honest, after 2 days the fridge seemed to keep things cool enough for dairy, but the amount of heat it generated in my child's small room was enough to take it back.
After going back online, the comments about this fridge on the Internet were all confirmed first hand. Even the part about a lot of these cube fridges getting damaged during shipping. Ours had a dent in the left back corner of the fridge similar to when you try to crush the edge of a box by stacking too much weight at the corner. This one experience has now made me a strong believer in online customer reviews for products. While some companies are victims of unwarranted attacks and some companies falsely post positive comments about their products, overall I think the system is working. More and more "real" customers are going online to post real experiences about their perceptions of a product or service. In my case, I ruled out a product only to forget why. In the end, I wasted a week, but the comments online only helped me further justify the hassle of going back to return the product. If all the comments had been positive I probably would have just overlooked the excessive heat and dent in the back - I would have just assumed I was crazy. But seeing my perceptions in writing by other people who had no relation to me, was a huge factor.
Businesses must start to address all feedback good and bad on the Internet as more people come online. In fact as more people get mobile devices the problem becomes magnified. If I had my smartphone with me, I could have looked up the reviews while I was still in the store and eliminated the fridge right there on the spot. If you're not tracking your online reputation, you could be losing valuable business and not knowing why. Startups like Yelp and others are building entire business models on giving customers a forum to voice their pleasure or displeasure. Make sure you are taking an active role in managing your reputation in the digital world.
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