Yet another company that just doesn't get it: Husker turns Huckster

Latest story over the mojo wire about companies just not "getting" the new marketing economy; guy buys a BMW M3 on sale for $10,000 less than the book price via an Ebay auction, and the seller (a dealership in Nebraska) refuses to honour the deal. The winning bidder posts his displeasure at dealer's unhanded ethics on a BMW forum and it's taken up by BMW blogs, Fark, Reddit Consumerist. The seller reaps the negative press whirlwind.

When will companies learn that being bad just to one customer in the new economy can create a tsunami of negative press worldwide?

So from a position where the dealership could have lost money but saved face by using some canny tricks, they've failed twice over. They'll end up having to sell the car at the original bid, but the unintentional costs of appearing aloof, uncaring and unprofessional will hit them much more over a much longer time period.

As a poster said today on the original forum, they could have given the buyer a ring;

“Yeah, this is the BMW dealership, we messed up on the price we set, but you won the deal, fair and square. Man, the boss is really going to be steamed at me...Say, how about doing me a favor and telling your buddies and my boss how well you were treated by me (sales guy) and how we (the dealership) did the right thing even though that did not turn out like we planned?"

This would have turned the negative into a positive, avoided the incriminating digital footprint which'll plague the dealership, will probably lead to them losing their official BMW franchise status (and ultimately, maybe job losses), all because of a measly a few thousand dollars when they thought they could ignore one buyer.

For one company and its staff a totally avoidable issue (let's repeat that: a totally avoidable issue) was unnecessarily thrust into the limelight because they cared more for the money than the customer in the new economy. Again, when will companies learn?

Labels: bmw, consumerist, customer, ethos, fark, internet, reddit