Fiona Stewart
Sunday Herald Sun
8 February 2004

CAR manufacturers and dealers are the most complained about industry, according to a survey by a consumer website.

The site, NotGoodEnough.org, found automotive companies attracted a higher number of complaints than even banks.

In November, December and January, the website received 631 specific complaints about particular models of car.

More than 830 general complaints about the automotive industry were received -- largest for any industry -- followed by Internet service providers (400), airlines (380) and banks (280). In the car industry, Holden topped the list of specific complaints with 237, Ford had 98 and Toyota had 76.

Then came Peugeot (54), Subaru (43), Mercedes Benz (32), Kia (29), Daewoo (24), Mitsubishi (22) and Mazda (16).

Common faults with new cars included mechanical problems, faults with electrical systems and quality in the after-sales servicing.

Ford said an unhappy customer could contact the dealer directly or contact its customer relationship centre.

It would then investigate on a case by case basis.

In the US, consumers have greater powers when it comes to car complaints.

In some states, including California and New York, a customer is entitled to a full refund or a new car if the purchased car has been back to the dealer four or more times during its warranty or if it has been off the road for more than 30 consecutive days.

Law firms in the US routinely document cases in which replacements have been won for bubbled paint work and dodgy transmissions.

Many Australians must wonder if more should be done here.

Stephen Newman, of Melbourne law firm Cornwall Stodart, says new-car owners should promptly put complaints in writing.

Mr Newman said unresolved complaints could and should be pursued through the courts or the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, depending on the circumstances.

After a house, buying a new car is the biggest personal investment most people are likely to make.

Going to the dealer, choosing the colour, haggling over price and extras is all part of the excitement.

Yet, what most buyers don't expect, and what more and more new-car owners are discovering, is that their beloved purchase is a lemon.

Drive To Despair by Ford

LACHLAN Merryfull has not had much luck with cars lately.

First, he bought a Suzuki Vitara, but after numerous mechanical faults he sold it and bought a new Ford BA Fairmont, believing Ford's reputation for reliability and performance would see him through.

How wrong he was.

After almost a year, his Fairmont has been back to the dealer more than 20 times, he claims, with faults in its transmission, brakes, console, software, handbrake and rattles in the engine.

To top things off, one dealer damaged its demister vent, which had to be pointed out to him by another Ford dealer's mechanic.

Mr Merryfull says he has heard all the excuses for his car's poor performance -- from "all cars do that'' to "the techs are working on it''.

But the troubles will not go away.

The problem with warranty in Australia, Mr Merryfull says, is that manufacturers are obligated only to fix the product to their satisfaction, not the owner's.

Fiona Stewart
Sydney Morning Herald
4 February 2004

When Travis Marriott proudly drove out of a Subaru showroom in his brand new Forrester, the last thing on his mind was being pulled over by the police. But not long after, he was booked for driving with an obscured number plate and fined $74. Marriott had not modified his car - the Forrester had a standard Subaru factory tow bar and ball, which unfortunately obscured the plate.

"I was not told anything when I collected my new vehicle, despite Subaru stating it has a policy that dealers must advise customers to remove the ball when not in use," Marriott said.

When NotGoodEnough.org took the gripe to Subaru Australia, the company's corporate affairs manager, David Rowley, said Subaru designed their tow bars "to facilitate removal ... This involves removal of a spring clip and a pin, loosening one 14mm-head bolt to be able to remove the tow ball and tongue, and takes a few seconds."

Marriott reckons this is an inadequate response for "a standard-fit tow ball, issued on a new vehicle purchase and fitted by a dealer of Subaru Australia".

He asks: "Why are tow balls even fitted on new vehicles if Subaru policy is that they should be removed?"

- Fiona Stewart, founder of NotGoodEnough.

More complaints at www.notgoodenough.org

Fiona Stewart
Sydney Morning Herald - Radar
January 28, 2004

Have your consumer gripe dealt with promptly.

When service is bad, you have two choices - keep quiet or complain. But even when you complain, it's sometimes difficult to get a response.

Last year, Aussie Home Loans incorrectly charged Bernadette Jenzen twice for insurance on her new home loan. Jenzen wrote one letter of complaint, sent five emails and left numerous phone messages for Aussie Home Loans to fix the mistake - all to no avail.

When we contacted Aussie Home Loans on her behalf, the home lender refunded the money and said the error was an oversight.

So what's the most effective way to complain?

1 Check your rights. The NSW Office of Fair Trading (www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au) should be your first stop. The website has lots of information about regulations for shopping, motor vehicles trading and repairs, and home building. The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (www.accc.gov.au) and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (www.fido.asic.gov.au) both provide useful websites with brochures on the law.

These are the big players of Australian corporate regulation, so your gripe had better be big to match, although the ACCC provides a number of publications that could be considered the Trade Practices Act for dummies.

2 Check to see if others share your complaints. Search notgoodenough.org and the aus.consumers newsgroup (head to groups.google.com.au and search for "aus.consumers"). A community of customers is a powerful weapon. Find out what others did to get justice.

3 Approach the company concerned - in person is good, in writing is always recommended. Or pick up the phone.

4 If you get no result, complain to the NSW office of Fair Trading.

5 Go back to the company again. If you still get a brick wall, ask Notgoodenough.org to take up your complaint. Otherwise, it may be time to hire a lawyer - a well-written legal letter can work wonders.

When writing a letter of complaint, remember these hints:

Find out the name of the company's boss and address your letter to him or her.

Start your letter with: "I am writing to complain". This will get their attention.

Keep details to a minimum. Describe what has happened and your communications with the company.

State what you would like the company to do to make amends.

Copy (cc) media organisations and consumer advocates such as NotGoodEnough.org at the bottom of the letter. This shows others are watching and should prompt action.

Fiona Stewart is the founder of the consumer complaints website www.notgoodenough.org

Fiona Stewart
Herald Sun
November 17, 2003

IN days gone by, if you were annoyed with a company, folklore had it that you would tell nine other people about your bad experience.

These nine people would tell another nine people and so on.

Bad news would spread and the company would lose more customers than the person who was originally wronged.

In his book Business@the Speed of Thought, Bill Gates argued that the internet has changed everything. I agree. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the realm of customer feedback.

This is because the internet has opened up communication -- not only between companies and their customers, but among customers themselves.

If they play it smart, both customers and companies have much to gain. In contemporary society, one thing we all have in common is our status as consumers. It matters little that some of us buy new TVs while others buy books. Some of us eat out at restaurants while others prefer home cooking.

And things still go wrong, perhaps even more so.

Banks charge us hidden fees. Phone companies give us the wrong bill.

Electrical manufacturers dodge warranty obligations and car companies? Well, if you've been unlucky enough to buy a lemon, you might as well kiss your money goodbye. Or not?

Enter the internet. It puts our mouths or rather our fingers (via our keyboards) into overdrive.

Research from online gripe site NotGoodEnough.org has found that once a customer complains online, an average of 92 other people hear their sorry tale.

Not in two or three years time but that same week. How many other people are told online or offline can only be guessed at.

For companies, the internet creates a 10-fold increase in how far bad news travels.

Once a complaint makes it to the NotGoodEnough.org's weekly Top 10 Gripes List, more than 10,000 people learn of the customer's experience.

Take a recent complaint about Telstra.

Earlier this year, one long-standing Telstra customer had the bill for her broadband service jump from $350 to over $7000 in one hit, and for no obvious reason.

The bill was $25,000 when Telstra called the debt collectors in, leaving the customer to argue her way out of debt.

Last week, Telstra posted on the website acknowledging that given the size of the bill and under the circumstances, this case should have been investigated immediately.

But the damage was already done. Hosing down the anger of this one disgruntled customer (and 10,000 sympathisers) is something the corporate spin doctors could have done without. Australia Post is another example. When they lost all 30 of a customer's wedding invitations and would not reimburse printing costs, a couldn't-care-less attitude combined with ineptitude to produce a rather bad look.

Eventually Australia Post offered to refund the cost of the stamps.

The discussion forum on NotGoodEnough.org is still going strong about whether this was a reasonable response on Aussie Post's behalf.

But the news need not be all bad.

If a company uses the net to address customer gripes, the e-word of mouth becomes a hugely powerful marketing tool. To this day, there remains no better promotion than old-fashioned customer endorsements.

SMART companies such as Virgin Mobile -- about whom one customer typed "you would not believe what they did for me'' -- know that the internet can give them 1000 per cent more bang for their buck, as loyal customers become evangelical in their praise online.

Company benefits aside, the internet remains the tool, par excellence, to empower customers around the world.

The fishbowl nature of gripe sites allows customers to tell it like it is, or how it should be. But instead of just the cat looking on, the whole world is waiting and watching.

DR FIONA STEWART is Founder of the consumer website NotGoodEnough.org

Joel Gibson
Sydney Morning Herald - Radar
October 29, 2003

A cheap lunch became a free lunch for one customer who was prepared to be even cheaper than cut-price chicken chain KFC.

Robert Selman, 27, visited the colonel's premises on George Street on August 3 and ordered a meal with three pieces of chicken and chips. When he asked for thigh pieces only, as he always does, he was told it would cost an extra 50 cents. So Selman complained.

When he got no response, Selman reported his story on a consumer website, NotGoodEnough.org. Then KFC took notice.

"I didn't care that much about the 50c or getting a refund. I just wanted a clarification of the policy becasue it didn't say anywhere that there was a surcharge" Selman says.

He got his clarification in a letter from the George Street operations manager, Justin Tuddenham, which said: "The practice of chargnig an extra $0.50 for different pieces is certainly not policy and I apologise for this happening as it shouldn't have". Selman also got a $20 voucher for any KFC in the country, which he says bought lunch for a couple of homeless people.

Jessica Lawrence
Sunday Mail
October 19, 2003

* A version of this article appeared in the above newspaper.

QUEENSLANDERS are the biggest whingers in the country, according to a new report by Australia's leading consumer website, Notgoodenough.org.

Gripes about banking, mobile phones and bad seats to sporting events form the a good chunk of complaints to a consumer website.

NotGoodEnough found Queenslanders made almost 20% of complaints about bad service and products in the past 18 months, followed by Victorians (19%) and Northern Territorians (17%).

Almost 60 per cent of complaints are from men, and the average age of the whingers is about 40. NotGoodEnough founder Fiona Stewart said the many Queensland complaints stemmed from high service expectations in the top tourist state.

"Queenslanders seem to have an attitude and a sense of entitlement that says, 'You're not going to get away with treating me like this','' she said.

Australian Consumers' Association spokeswoman Catherine Wolthuizen said banking continued to generate complaints. "It seems like every week there is a new form of bank fee . . . without accompanying an increase in the standards of service.''

Adrian Tame
Sunday Herald Sun
October 12, 2003

* A version of this article appeared in the above newspaper.

VICTORIANS are up there with the best of them when it comes to consumer complaints.

Only Queenslanders have a lower tolerance threshold for shoddy goods or indifferent service, according to the consumer website NotGood Enough.org

The website, which has 23,000 consumer members, has conducted a survey: "To determine who whinges loudest.''

Surprisingly, the laid-back state of Queensland recorded the highest % of complaints received by the site, with 19.7%. Victoria finished second on 18.8 per cent, with the Northern Territory third on 17.1 per cent.

South Australians were reported to be the least likely to complain with only 8.7 per cent. Dr Fiona Stewart, who founded NotGoodEnough .org two years ago, said: "Victorians know poor service when they see it, unlike certain states who are hesitant to complain."

"Victorians have an attitude and a sense of entitlement that 'you're not going to get away with treating me like this'.

"It protects consumers from the 'she'll be right' attitude that sometimes characterises smaller states and rural areas.''

The organisation receives between 700 and 1000 complaints a week in 95 different industry and service categories, and achieves an estimated 50 per cent success rate in responses to gripes.

Recent wins for consumers have included a "lemon'' car being replaced with a new model, and refunds totalling more than $10,000 for faulty electrical goods, Dr Stewart said.

Caption: Service: Marion
IllusBy: TIM CARAFFA
Section: NEWS

Mark Day
The Daily Telegraph
August 13, 2003

* A version of this article appeared in the above newspaper.

NOBODY likes whingers, but there are good and growing reasons why more of us should be complainers. Yesterday's news that Qantas has established a top management crisis committee to deal with public discontent over its services is an example of how consumers can force action. And action is needed for sure and certain. Some of the nation's top companies are in the pits when people are asked to rate them for their levels of customer service and consumer satisfaction.

Everyone has a favourite gripe about the lack of service. The airlines, banks, telephone companies and insurance companies which operate through telephone call centres are near the top of the list.

Qantas is a particularly prominent offender. The level of gripes has risen so alarmingly its management has been stampeded into trying to find the cause. The opinion researchers and image advisers, Mark Textor and Lynton Crosby, have been hired to help.

Qantas passengers are being polled for their opinions. Northern Territory MP Dave Tollner told yesterday when he was asked to name positives about the airline, he nominated safety. When it came to negatives, he nominated ``lost luggage, delays, unscheduled overnight stays, high prices, monopoly -- you name it.''

Anyone who has travelled by air knows the story. Qantas has become a near monopoly with 70 per cent of the Australian market; its management is arrogant and alarmist as demonstrated by CEO Geoff Dixon's hysterical claim that the airline was heading into financial turbulence when it is preparing to unveil a $500 million plus profit.

Phone companies are also capable of pulling swifties on their unsuspecting customers. I recently decided I had had enough of my old supplier, Primus, so I switched to Optus -- but I still got Primus bills because the Optus operative had ``forgotten'' to change my local as well as long distance service. I was told this is common among phone companies because the profit is in the long distance calls, and no-one wants the less valuable local calls.

Everyone who has had to deal with any of the so-called service companies which use telephone call centres will know what a trial it is. You wait and wait, being told by a disembodied voice that ``your call is important to us'', and you are in a queue. And when you finally get to talk to someone, they tell you you are in the wrong place and you have to start all over again.

Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!

It's enough to drive you mad.

But perhaps help is at hand. All we need to do from now on is complain.

The excellent website Not Good Enough (notgood enough.org) has been established a little more than a year, allowing people to register their complaints about poor service. These are then referred to the company responsible. Sometimes complete satisfaction is provided, with refunds for rip-offs, apologies, and promises to lift the game.

Sometimes the companies ignore the complaint -- only to find themselves highlighted for their lack of service.

In its first year, the 10 most complained about companies included the National Australia Bank, Telstra, Coles Myer (including Kmart and Target), Optus, Centrelink, Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank.

The top 10 most loved companies included: Bunnings, Super Cheap Auto, Big W, Colorado, David Jones and Lush.

The Not Good Enough site is the brainchild of Dr Fiona Stewart, who had the idea after an unhappy brush with (who else?) Qantas. It deserves to flourish and bring pain and shame to those corporations who say, through word or deed, ``stuff the public''.

There was another move this week which adds a government arrow to the public's quiver of consumer rights.

The new head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Graeme Samuel, announced the ACCC would invite industry bodies to submit their industry codes of practice setting out how they promise to deal with the public -- honestly, openly, ethically and within the laws of competition.

If the ACCC approves the codes, member companies can advertise that their customer procedures have a tick from the ACCC. However, if the companies stray from their voluntary codes, the ACCC approval will be revoked, and that fact will be advertised by the ACCC. Imagine the corporate red faces when that happens.

How will the watchdogs from the ACCC know if the companies are stepping out of line? Because it will be up to us to tell them.

At last we will have someone to complain to, and some confidence that they will listen. mday@ozemail.com.au

Gavin McGrath
Herald Sun
August 1, 2003

UNHAPPY car owners are whining on the web. They are whingeing about some of the biggest brands in Australia, including Holden, Ford, Subaru and BMW.

NotGoodEnough.org was set up 18 months ago as a forum for people to complain about consumer issues.

Since then, car companies have become a favourite target and compare unfavourably with mobile phone companies and even banks, according to website founder Fiona Stewart.

"They are among the most-complained-about categories," she says. "What we're finding is they're not always particularly keen to talk to unhappy customers.

"Car company gripes are complex because often they're design faults, so they don't want to go into much detail about it, obviously."

Most complaints are about poor service and warranty issues, and not necessarily about faults in specific cars, according to Stewart. Holden tops the list of most-griped-about car companies, followed by Ford and Toyota.

Stewart admits this is possibly because of the popularity of these brands. "In some ways, no news is bad news," she says. "The fact that people talk about these cars shows they're interested in them.

"With Holdens, it's probably about market share and that Holden owners are passionate about their cars, and that can work both ways.

"Holden haven't contacted us about our website, although Ford engaged with us a few times. I suppose Ford hasn't had the luxury of not listening to its customers." Holden spokesman Jason Laird denies the company is complacent.

"We take issues of customer service very seriously. It's the cornerstone of our business," he says. "Obviously one concerned customer is too many, but by the same token, we sold more cars last year than any Australian carmaker in history. There has to be some perspective.

"We have a dedicated customer assistance centre and we are firmly of the view a customer's concern is best resolved by the retailer (dealer), not through an anonymous website." Subaru was the fourth-most-complained-about brand on the list, with the WRX being the main offender. But Stewart says some of the complainants have got themselves into trouble.

"A lot of young men come on after they've modified their cars and are now arguing with Subaru about whether the modification has damaged the engine." Nevertheless, Subaru spokesman David Rowley was disappointed that the company was named on the NotGoodEnough.org list.

"Our handbook quite clearly states non-factory modifications have the potential to void the warranty. "To the best of our knowledge there have been only two complaints about us.

"One we responded to through the website but on the second they told us we had to pay a fee to respond and they chose not to provide us with the complainant's details. I'll take it (the website) seriously if we don't have to pay for comment."

Andrew Hornery with Jonathan Pearlman
Sydney Morning Herald - Spike
Page 22
11 June 2003

The critics called her ``eerily unerotic" as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Her much-hyped role in the ill-fated series Marshall Law couldn't save the show. Good luck just doesn't seem to be going Lisa McCune's way.

Now it appears she's really got her work cut out for her in those Coles ads trying to convince us to shop at the supermarket, which has been named the most-complained-about grocery chain in Australia.

Consumer watchdog website notgoodenough.com.au, which specialises in highlighting consumer gripes, has released its first audit of complaints since it started 14 months ago.

Coles topped the list of most-complained-about retailers. It was the subject of 400 postings on the website since March 2002.

Complaints about Coles ranged from poor service to the lack of use-by dates in the deli department. Whenever a complaint is pursued by the notgoodenough team, the company being complained about is approached for a response. On several occasions Coles failed to respond to the gripe including the one about the deli.

Notgoodenough's founder, Dr Fiona Stewart, said the website's success had resulted in a lot of companies subscribing to the service. Coles was not one of them yet, she revealed.

Joke's on Big Brother

Daniel Dasey
Sun Herald
Page 46
11 May 2003

You log onto the Internet to find a holiday, wa home loan or a new car.

A website has just what you are looking for and you send an email asking for more information. And then you wait, and wait, and wait.

A new study suggests more than half of Australian companeis with websites are frustrating customers and losing businss by failing to answer simple online inquiries.

Consumer advocacy group www.notgoodenough.org surveyed 161 Australian and Australian-based websites and found just 44 perssent were both able and wiling to respond to online inquireies within 10 days.

"The message is, if you want to talk to a compnay via their website don't assume that anyone will listen," group founder Fiona Stewart said.

"Customers are asking 'what's the use of having a website if you are ignored?'".

The website hosts forums where consumers can complain about poor servcie and attracts about 3500 visitors a day. It has been criticised for its policy iof charging companies to pass on complaints, although firms such as Telstra and McDonalds have signe up for the service.

Dr Stewart said that of the 161 top comapny websites surveyed, 18 had no facility for consumers to seek more information or complain online. Of the remainder, 70 responded to an inquiry witnin 10 days and 69 did not respond at all. Four asked not to be included in the survey.

Dr Stewart said the top performers included AAMI, David Jones, Mitre 10 and HMV, who all responded with a personalised email or telephone call within 24 hours.

Companies such as Big W, Flight Centre and Holden respolnded with a call or personalised email within a week, while firms including Colgate, Westpac and Mobil responded with an automated email. Companies which did not reply included Avis, Panasonic and Vodafone.

Craig Roberts
BRW
Page 70
May 15-22 2003

Few of the promising internet businesses of the late 1990s passed the fundamental test of being able to produce real revenue. In 2003, the controversial customer complaints and feedback Web site NotGoodEnough.org (NGE) is still facing the same challenge. At least the first part of the company's strategy, getting publicity, has been successful. When the site began operating in February 2002, it attracted plenty of media attention by publishing consumer complaints about the behavior of big business.

NotGoodEnough.org's top 10 gripes of the week secti0n received regular radio coverage, and television current affairs shows delighted in re-telling the stories of powerless consumers being treated poorly by big business. By March this year, with no marketing budget, NGE had more than 15,000 members.

NGE is trying to turn its public awareness and membership into a profitable business by selling unedited customer comments and complaints to companies. This part of the strategy is risky, because the revenue flow is far from certain.

For the first 14 months of NGE's operation, there was no revenue - site membership is free. Its founder and CEO, Fiona Stewart, and her six staff have had no salaries and lived off savings and occasional consulting work while they tried to increase membership. Stewart estimates that she has spent about $100,000 developing the site, or about $500,000 if the cost of lost income is included.

NGE is seeking investors willing to provide enough funds for the rest of the year, by which time Stewart expects the business to be self-sustaining. NGE's investor information document forecasts revenue this year of about $350,000, and operating costs of about $485,000. NGE expects to be profitable in its second year. Within five years, its management hopes to have revenue of about $10 million a year, with profit of $3 million. Then it will look at selling the business, potentially to a similar but more established company, such as the US-based Planetfeedback.com.

These are ambitious goals. For a subscription fee of $50 a year, companies are sent an e-mail alert each time a message is posted on the site mentioning that company's name. If the company asks for a follow-up, NGE - for a $100 fee - will contact the customer who posted the message and try to assess the legitimacy of the complaint. Then, if the customer agrees, NGE will pass the contact details on to the company, which can then deal with the complaint.

Sale of woes

Company: NotGoodEnough.org
Founder and CEO: Fiona Stewart
Background: On-line qualitative research academic, consultant and author
Idea: Web-based forum for customer complaints and comments. Came from seeing 'gripe sites' in the United States
Challenge: Create a financially viable, internet-based business

Since starting to charge for the corporate e-mail alert service in March, NGE has signed 20 companies who receive up to 10 alerts a day. Of these, less than 15% are followed up for the $100 fee. In June, the company hopes to expand its service by including automated market intelligence reports and research on public sentiment about specific companies, competing against research companies such as ACNeilson and Datamonitor. NGE's chief operating officer, Guy Carvalho, says he hopes corporate customers will spend between $6,000 and $12,000 a year on these services.

One subscriber to NGE's service, the Queensland energy company Energex, sees NotGoodEnough.org as another way to reach disgruntled customers. Energex's residential communications manager, Carla Scott, says: 'Not all customers like to be directly confrontational.'

Despite its increasing membership base -NGE says about 1000 new members are joining each month - and up to 200 new messages posted by subscribers each day, the volume of complaints followed up by NGE and paid for by companies is low. Scott says Energex has only uncovered 'about half a dozen' legitimate complaints through NGE after almost a year of monitoring traffic on the site.

Not all companies are interested in NGE's service. Kodak Aus-tralasia has declined to join. Kodak's public relations manager, consumer imaging, Glenn Campbell, says: 'We prefer not to engage third parties to broker our complaints.

Companies will need to see real benefits from NGE to justify an annual cost of about $12,000 for follow-up services, which is NGE's target figure. And more than 200 large, service-based companies will need to become NGE subscribers over the next three years to produce the sort of overall revenue that NGE wants. After exceeding its own targets for signing disgruntled customers in its first year of operation, with limited costs and clever use of the media, the real challenge for NGE - making money - lies ahead.

Scott Murdoch
Courier Mail
April 28 2003

A WEBSITE which began with a complaint about Qantas has grown to an aggressive watchdog for consumers and a potential hotspot for investors.

The online site, notgoodenough.org was started 15 months ago by Melbourne academic Dr Fiona Stewart after she experienced shoddy service at Brisbane Airport.

Since then, the site has bloomed in popularity and with the consuming public willing to go head to head with Australian businesses, corporations have been watching cautiously.

The site now charges $100 each time a business replies to a customer complaint and is steadily growing towards making a profit.

The website investigates complaints before posting and chronicles replies from the organisations involved.

For some consumers, it has proven successful; for others it has not.

Notgoodenough.org highlights the companies that refuse to respond while the list of signed-up, paying subscribers includes Commonwealth Bank, Energex, Telstra, McDonald's, American Express, Bank of Queensland, Virgin Mobile, Philips, Australia Post, AAMI, Foxtel and Bunnings.

"It's taken a year to get the companies on side, for them to take to us. Sure they will bag us but for too long businesses were able to get away with not listening to consumer complaints," Dr Stewart said.

"They can't hide anymore. Some have said 'you are holding us to ransom, and it's extortion'. Most though have welcomed it.

"One thing companies hate is not being able to control their communications, they resent it."

The managing organisation, headed by Dr Stewart and Guy Carvalho, plans to eventually look at publicly listing the website.

However, it remains cautious of the historical downward fortunes of Web companies.

"So far everything has been funded by Guy (Carvalho). We are really trying to develop the website and make it dynamic," Dr Stewart says.

"We have also been looking at going into television. The potential is there for us to go public, essentially we are a dot-com business.

"I think we could make a point to the market and get sales in the door."

Plans to extend the website globally will also be examined after it received feedback from the United Kingdom and the US.

The Queensland energy supplier Energex is a paying customer to the website and according to business communications co-ordinator Pauline McLennan, it is an opportunity to strengthen customer ties.

"If we address a problem on the spot then it's better for our reputation and makes us a good corporate citizen," she said.

"If we didn't respond or just didn't take it seriously then that would affect our reputation."

Carla Bridge
Inside Retailing
April 28 2003

Fast food, household, computer and electrical retailers beware: you are on top of NotGoodEnough.org’s list of companies with the most negative feedback.

NotGoodEnough.org is a free Australian web-based service, giving consumers the opportunity to complain about or compliment the service they have received from businesses they have used.

The complaints and compliments then make up lists of the top 10 Gripes and the Top 10 Winners.

Started just 14 months ago by CEO Fiona Stewart, the site now receives around 2500 postings per week and has analysed almost 100 000 postings since it's inception.

The postings are all analysed by NGE staff, who then contact the company involved for a speedy resolution to the complainant’s problem.

Stewart began the site after having her own unpleasant service experiences with Qantas at the time of the Ansett collapse in late 2001.

Responses come from across the board, however the companies featured more highly are retail businesses.

According to Stewart, fast food, household, computers and electrical, airlines, banks, pay TV, telcos and Centrelink received the most responses.

The majority of complaints centre on rude staff, indifferent management, disrespect, faulty products and lack of value for money.

Coles, top of the most complained about retailers, has been the subject of 400 postings on the site since March 2002.

Stewart said people were increasingly willing to use the Internet to vent their problems.

“This is why the Internet is so great. Not only is the Net open 24/7, so you can get it off your chest when it matters most, but you can log in from the comfort and safety of your own home”.

The NGE site also allows users to choose a username to protect anonymity.

“In the 12 months since going live, NGE has developed a pretty good public profile. This means companies know it is in their interest to listen to us and they do” Stewart said.

NGE gets a host of responses from companies which it receives complaints about, from companies who attempt to sue, to those who are grateful.

“Some companies don’t want to hear from their customers, or they do want to hear but don’t want a third party like NGE involved in the process.

“Some companies like their customers to go directly to them if they have a problem, which is a good point.

“The world is not ideal and when a customer is angry, that person wants to vent their spleen in a really public way. This is something companies need to get used to.

“On the other hand, we have companies who know we can provide them with feedback they would otherwise not get.

“Only the other day a big bank was bemoaning to us the fact its complaints department will only give them nice compliments, so they feel they are not able to address the gist of the problem. NGE makes this possible.”

The top 10 Gripes of the Week is a quantitative list [NGE note: the Top 10 Gripes are actually qualitative]. Gripes are analysed and selected according to trend significance and broad availability; seriousness; public awareness level; improvement potential and public benefit.

Stewart’s advice to retailers was to listen to the customer.

“Look at the problem from the customer’s perspective. Own the problem and fix it when possible.

“Companies that come to us for advice are the ones that use us to talk to their customers.

“They use us to post statements and listen in on our discussion forums. The other thing company’s get from us is unfiltered and un-tampered with feedback.

The most complaints stem from Victoria and South Australia although members of the site cover all states and territories.

“Northern Territorians are always complaining about their extra poor level of customer service. They think they are penalized because they live in the top end.

Corporate membership to the website is available for a fee which allows organizations to receive unlimited eAlerts on all site postings containing their name.

Corporate members can also be forwarded the contact details for those making a complaint.

NGE business cards are also retailed from the site to allow customers to leave behind a card when they feel service has been unsatisfactory.

NGE Top 10 Most complained about Retailers

Coles (including Coles Online)
Target
Myer
Big W
Harvey Norman
Kmart (including Kmart Auto)
Ikea
Kodak
Officeworks
Super Amart

Inside Retailing
April 28, 2003

Kirsty Needham
Sydney Morning Herald
April 26, 2003

A website that has become "gripe headquarters" to thousands of consumers wanting to whinge about corporate neglect has taken the cheeky next step - charging companies to see the complaints. Notgoodenough.org has set a fee of $100 to pass on each complaint and more than 16 businesses - including Telstra, McDonald's, American Express, Commonwealth Bank and Australia Post - have signed up for the service.

Fiona Stewart, the co-author with Dale Spender, an academic, of a federal government report on online learning, launched the consumer advocacy website a year ago. Dr Spender also contributes to the site, which is attracting 3500 visits a day.

The website lists consumer's top 10 complaints each week, detailing misadventures with customer service departments. This week's winner was a BP petrol station in Queensland found to be rounding up the price on every litre poured (charging $1 a litre rather than 95 cents).

Organisations that do not reply to the site's attempts to get complaints resolved are highlighted as "non-responders".

One "non-responder", a manufacturer that supplied a faulty pre-paid mobile phone, has accused the website of holding it to ransom with the new service, which requires a $50 registration and alerts companies to complaints by email.

However, Dr Stewart said that the company was one of the few to take a "hostile" approach.

An American Express spokeswoman said it had already been monitoring the website before signing up for the email alerts.

"There will be individuals who are disgruntled, and some of the complaints will be personal ... This website does tend to be a wee bit gripey," said the spokeswoman.

American Express believed "companies need to take in feedback from wherever they can get it".

Dr Stewart said consumers benefited: "Because we're a public forum and everyone can see, the company concerned is much more likely to act. It explodes the secrecy of one-to-one complaints."

The American Express spokeswoman said it was interesting that the site had found a way to make money out of consumer complaints.

Dr Stewart said that notgoodenough.org was run by 12 staff, who all held other jobs to pay their way.

The site is discussing funding with venture capitalists.