For his part, Coursey, as well as others in the industry, are sympathetic toward Polaris, given that many companies face similar pressures to produce increasingly complex programs in a volatile marketplace. However, Polaris's customers (or ex-customers, in many cases) tend to be considerably less forgiving. Many of those people lost time and money trying to get PackRat to work, felt their requests for assistance were stonewalled, and had to recover crucial data about professional contacts and appointments after disk crashes. Given what they saw played out on-line, many customers felt that Polaris never tried to understand or acknowledge the scope of the trouble it had caused. After all, with the whole Internet population at its fingertips, the company had the chance to respond publicly with both speed and graciousness. Says Alan Mark, a psychology professor and ex-PackRat user from Mount Berry, Ga., "The company consistently avoided taking responsibility. . . . Its attitude on CompuServe ranged from mildly apologetic to belligerent."
Customers also faulted Leach for not confronting the situation on-line much sooner than he did. "Leach took his sweet time responding to a huge customer backlash," says Carl C. Norman, a software producer from Sunnyvale, Calif. He adds, "I'll never buy a Polaris product again, and I go out of my way to influence my friends and associates to avoid Polaris products."
Only after weeks of complaints and unrest did Leach post a note on CompuServe acknowledging and apologizing for PackRat's problems. Leach maintains that he sent the note as soon as the company understood what was going on with the software and was sure that the problem was its own.
Another factor that may have contributed more to customer ire than the buggy software itself was Polaris's payment policies, which had been a major source of on-line complaints. Polaris not only charged customers' credit cards for upgrades more than two months before the upgrades were shipped but also charged customers for shipping and handling if they wanted updated disk sets that contained the finalized nonbuggy software.
Wrote David Hary, "Given your miserable performance in recent months, the time and frustration that your customers endured, [charging for shipping] is a big mistake. You blew it and rather than apologize are boldly asking your customers, who already have financed the bulk of this fiasco, to continue funding your failed set-up distribution system!"
According to Leach, the shipping delay occurred because Polaris was being extra careful to vouchsafe the product: "We would get ready to ship, see another problem, and hold shipment until we had fixed it." As for the fee for shipping new disk sets: "We had already sent several disks free of charge and also had posted the fixes on CompuServe."
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The parallels between Intel's situation and Polaris's are striking. Like Polaris, Intel infuriated users more by its handling of a mistake than by the mistake itself. The response by Intel's CEO Grove was also considered too little, too late; and Intel's cost-saving measure of offering replacements only for some units (similar to Polaris's refusal to mail a final corrected set of disks) was particularly badly received. Finally, the press played a major role in disseminating news about Intel's problem and customer discontent.
It doesn't have to be that way. When software vendor Symantec Corp., based in Cupertino, Calif. (1993 revenues: $200 million), discovered a bug that could cause data loss in an upgrade version of its popular Norton Utilities for the Macintosh (NUM) product, it used the BBSs to its advantage. Not only did the company immediately send out press releases describing the problem and asking people to refrain from using the software, it also posted notices on CompuServe and other popular BBSs.
After the bug was fixed -- in less than a week -- Symantec sent out notices announcing the fix and mailed new disk sets to every registered owner of the product as well as to all dealers and distributors. Symantec's fix, according to NUM product manager Elissa Murphy, was expensive ("We took a severe hit to the product's profitability"), but cost was never a major factor. "We saw it as our duty to our customers to prevent even the possibility of the problem's occurring." Murphy says that although some of her customers became nervous, there was very little flaming.
Finally, there are ways to use BBS information competitively that do not involve poaching or other questionable activities. Matt Trask, president of Communica, a small software-development company based in Bourne, Mass., responded to the unfolding Pentium furor not by flaming but by quickly harnessing his team to develop a software program, or patch, that users could easily install in their computers to counteract the problem. (The alternate solution was to remove the old chip and install a replacement -- a daunting task even for professionals.) Trask posted word of his fix on the Internet and also alerted the press. He received widespread national attention, including network television interviews.
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Polaris is planning to release another version of PackRat. Leach is optimistic that it will help his company regain its former position as leader in the PIM category, though industry analysts are not as sanguine.
Polaris's debacle offers small businesses a glimpse into the likely future of customer relations. Traditionally, companies have been able to control the flow of information. No more. Customers now not only can get information from one another but also can band together to make sure their interests are protected. It doesn't take much imagination to picture an on-line-fueled national consumer boycott that catches fire literally overnight. Forewarned is forearmed.
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Helen Roper is a freelance writer based in New York City.
DOUSING THE FLAMES
Here are some steps you can take if negative publicity about your company or products starts to spread on-line:
Act immediately. You may be able to prevent a few negative comments from escalating into a flamefest.
Involve top-level management. The situation is potentially critical: you want to develop a high-level strategy and ensure that all company representatives are speaking with the same voice.
Assume responsibility promptly for any errors you've made. Do everything you can to rectify those errors, and keep customers informed. If the problem is one of misinformation, keep posting the truth in as many places as possible until it sinks in.
Proactively involve the press. Work to spread your version of things as much as possible.
Hold your temper. No matter how provoking a flamer is, your company's response should always be courteous and professional.
Recognize that flaming is a symptom, not a cause. Companies usually don't get flamed without some reason. Taking good care of your customers is the best way to prevent flaming.
