Quote:
Originally Posted by
Primrose 
The sad thing remains is that it took a public fragrance forum for Le Labo to own up to good customer service.
Le Lebo is probably not the only professional entity to be slow to realize the growing influence of online peer-to-peer web groups.
Peer-based communities of every possible stripe are establishing public presences on the web these days. Generally such forums take the form of support, but from a political standpoint (if you will) the effect is that those with shared interests or concerns are suddenly able to "compare notes" regarding those who provide services to those groups in ways which were simply impossible in the past.
As a result, providers who continue to believe that they can treat those they serve in thoughtless ways and get away with it, because they assume they are serving a diffuse and disconnected consumer base are increasingly likely to find they have made such assumptions in error.
I work in the area of mental health support, and am involved in specialty horticulture as well. Each of these areas now have large and active non-professionally supervised peer-to-peer interest groups on the web.
The days when bad things could happen and word would not get out are soon to be long past, and all providers of products and services, no matter who they might be, what fancy degree or title they may hold, or what customer base they serve, ignore this growing fact at their peril.
Humm, I think I'm going to change my user name to MrBombast....
