Watch out for Web complaints
Ray Allegrezza, Editor in Chief -- Furniture Today, October 17, 2009
You better hope that Ann Minch doesn't shop your store. Or that if she does, she has a good experience.
In case you haven't heard her story or watched her video on YouTube, here's the setup: Ms. Minch was a happy customer of Bank of America.
But one day, Minch says that without reason, the bank jacked her interest rate up from its original 12.99% to an incredible 30% APR.
Shocked, Minch, who had faithfully banked with Bank of America for some 14 years, went the conventional route and tried to call the bank and reason with it. According to Minch, who maintains she was not over her credit limit or delinquent with payments, got nowhere.
In published reports, she alleged that the bank did not want to negotiate. “I could get a better rate from a loan shark,” she angrily quipped.
It seems that Minch is a “don't get mad — get-even” woman. She decided to make and post a video on YouTube where in a controlled voice she essentially tells her side of the story to the world.
OK, maybe the entire world hasn't watched her video, but it has received a five-star rating from the more than 350,000 people who have.
It is pretty convincing. At one point, she looks into the camera and accuses Bank of America of reaping “ungodly profits in your behemoth casino scams, then lost, only to turn around and usurp the wealth of this great nation by the outright rape and pillage of middle-class Americans whose sweat and toil built it.”
Referring to banks as “evil and thieving,” she maintains she is willing to sacrifice her credit score in order to take a stand for what's right.
She concludes by inviting viewers to join her in an “American debtors' revolution.” (To see the original video, go to YouTube.com and search for her name.)
Clearly, today's technology is a two-edged sword that gives the average consumer the tools to assault reputations at the click of a mouse.
By the way, the bank saw fit to reinstate her lower interest rate but in this case, the damage was already done.
You've heard it said that today's consumer is armed and dangerous. Now you have proof. Treat her right. If you don't, you just might find yourself on YouTube.
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