Peter Cooper

How Lies Are Destroying Both Businesses and Consumers

I’d rather be considered a tactless prick than someone who lies or doesn’t stick to his promises.

Thanks in part to insatiable customers, however, businesses have discovered that it’s economically viable to trade large amounts of goodwill by not sticking to their promises for the reward of getting a contract signed or more cash in the bank. Consumers are little different, having developed apathy towards companies who lie, resulting in their lying to get what they want (fraudulent reasons when returning items, complaining for no reason, stating matters as urgent when they’re not).

This is an amensal relationship; one where both parties are impeding each other’s success. Both parties are being passive aggressive, and neither is coming out on top. Most companies (and people) would rather be ‘polite’ liars and cheats, rather than grow some balls and tell the truth. This is slowly destroying our economy.

Even machines cannot be trusted

Supposedly “automated” tracking systems are being fraudulently manipulated to make the customer look like a liar, instead of the businesses they support. Consider the mess surrounding Amazon.com’s delivery of Harry Potter 7. Supposedly, UPS went so far to manipulate their system to show “Delivery attempted - recipient not home” (despite the recipient being at home the whole day) when they had too many packages to deliver, instead of stating the truth.

That this manipulation can even occur is a good reason not to trust tracking systems any more. Lies not only breed distrust, but apathy. If a tracking system is not relaying the facts, then I don’t care about those facts, since they are immeasurable. An apathetic customer is a customer you can milk only for a short period of time before their apathy leads to them going somewhere else.

Data manipulation is not new, but now that automated systems are so popular, it’s more powerful than before. These automated systems were initially put into place to make systems and customer communication more efficient. When you bamboozle customers by manipulating these systems, communications become less efficient as customers are forced to make phone calls, tie up customer agents, enter stores, or otherwise harass people to find the facts.

We have your phone, except when we don’t

The Carphone Warehouse decided to lie to me. I pre-ordered on the first day it was available, and received this on July 10, the day before its launch:

My screenshot’s a little blurry (no thanks to Ecto) but the key parts are that my order number was included in the mail; this isn’t just a spam or a mass mail, and they say “Your new iPhone 3G is now available and will be sent to your chosen delivery address on Friday 11th July.”

I attempted to call the store I had it delivered to earlier today, but there was no answer, so with a “I bet despite this they won’t have it,” Laura and I strolled into town. At the store, I asked if the phone I had ordered had arrived. The chap at the shop, leaning on the counter twiddling his thumbs, asked what the phone was, and immediately stated they didn’t have it and had no idea when they would “due to demand.” The demand issues are no big surprise, but curiously he added that “one came in yesterday but that was it.” This struck me as a curious addition, so I asked him how he knew it wasn’t mine, since I hadn’t mentioned my name, to which he had no answer. Laura suspects someone at the store has got a nice present.

Hey ho, it’ll turn up in the next couple of weeks. A lot of people haven’t entered apathy yet, and continue to get upset about things like this, but I’ve had so many companies lie to me, cheat me, and fail to live up to their promises so often that I accept it. This is how business is supposed to work. Businesses are supposed to lie, fake their systems, and trick customers. That is business. Thinking this, it then struck me how odd that is. No, that’s not how business is supposed to work. At least, it’s not how it used to work. I’m just apathetic to big business.

If I wasn’t stuck in a contract with the Carphone Warehouse that’s reasonably difficult to extract myself from, I’d have cancelled my contract today, and then chosen to wait a few weeks till the hysteria dies down. Instead, the Carphone Warehouse has ensured I’m an apathetic customer, who won’t be willing to answer their stupid surveys, won’t read their promotional mails, and who won’t be recommending them. Lies breed apathy.

Lying is initially beneficial

If you know someone who constantly lies, even in a non-malicious way, you no longer take what they say at face value. You could still be friends or have a productive relationship, but you will always need to check what they say. This is what’s happening between businesses and consumers now.

I’ve had this issue with some of my clients over the years. One in particular tends to deal with every single issue as a matter of urgency (even those with no urgency whatsoever). Mails start with subjects like “URGENT!!” and voicemails are fraught. Initially this spurred me into action, but I quickly realized they were crying wolf. They are the consumer-equivalent of the companies who realize that lying is economically viable. In this case, the customer realizes that if they make their case seem urgent, they’ll be dealt with slightly more quickly. Unfortunately, however, this no longer works. I no longer treat this customer’s cries with any urgency, because I am used to their lies.

Customers who have failed to have a good customer service experience in the past start to become like my client. If a big business ignores you once, start screaming the next time to get some attention. It tends to work with them, and likewise big businesses have started to focus on satisfying those who scream loudest. This gives a natural disadvantage to customers who choose not to lie. The winners all round? The liars. The losers when the decent customers finally become apathetic? The liars, again.

The solution (where I state the bloody obvious)

The solution is, as always, tell the truth. Whether you’re a business or a consumer, telling the truth is the best policy. It’s the most painful policy in the short term, which means few people will bother to try, but it leads the most mutually beneficial situation down the line. When we trust other people, we are willing to accept compromise, and also benefit by others accepting to compromise when we are truly in an urgent situation. When no-one trusts anyone, we no longer accept compromise, but are no longer trusted by others when we need that trust.

Luckily the trust-trust scenario is still visible in a few, minor areas of our economy. The small, personally run stores; quality craftsmen; one-man bands run by people with honor. My tailor doesn’t lie to me; I don’t lie to him; we both benefit. If he screws something up, he tells me. I have no apathy about buying clothes from him, even if they’re three times the price. It’s an experience I enjoy, and I know I’m not getting shafted.

Perhaps the power of lies will ultimately have a benefit: to small business! As people finally start to become apathetic to big businesses, and I hope they will, small businesses can have the opportunity of promote a good, honest agenda. Likewise, customers can enjoy the honesty, but also learn to deal with the truth. If a company fucks up and is honest about it, don’t get upset or encourage the company to lie, because we know where that’s gotten us so far.

I have had pretty much the same problem with Carphone Warehouse making promises about Saturday morning delivery via email AND via telephone, only to then email me to tell me that they are out of stock etc.

I have called three times and emailed once demanding that they cancel the order and do not charge me a cent. They have this evening instead, sent me an email saying that as a “high priority” customer they have CHARGED MY CARD and will get me a phone in the next couple of weeks!

I agree that it is a lose-lose situation where companies AND customers lie to each other.

In this situation however, CPW have consistently lied to me and I have not lied to them at all. Subsequently, I will make a final call to them on Monday morning where I demand my money back - if they fail to do this, I will call my bank and inform them that (truthfully,) CPW have committed fraud and that a charge back should be issued.

I am amazed at the entire incident to be honest.

I think they’ve already charged me too. The guy in the shop said that they were expecting a further shipment on Monday but seemed to think that was for customers who actually ordered them from the store. In any case, if they can’t stump one up on Monday, I’ll cancel the contract inconvenience be damned. I can do without a new phone for a couple of weeks if it stops CPW getting any more money.

Amusing side story: Carphone Warehouse will only pay their affiliates if they don’t promote the iPhone at all.

Lies as a side-affect of laziness, incompetence or stupidity, while rather frustrating, I can (somewhat) deal with. However, pre-calculated and intentional lying is something else, and CPW seem to actively encourage barefaced lying amongst their staff.

O2, on the other hand, have been shockingly honest and pleasant to deal with. Even though the queue of > 100 people on Friday morning got rained on a bit and had to wait a lot longer than anticipated, the O2 staff were honest about their stock levels and made sure that they could get a phone to everyone in the queue.

However, a guy from CPW came across the street, telling people that O2 were lying (they weren’t) about having enough stock and that if they came over to CPW they could have one later that afternoon - another lie since that CPW only had stock of a handful of phones and obviously couldn’t even fulfill their existing pre-orders.

Out of all the bad companies I’ve ever dealt with, CPW seem to lead the pack in the level of underhanded-ness and lying that they are willing to do to get a sale. The in-store staff seem happy to tell you whatever you want to hear, only to find out months later that you simply cannot do that on the plan you have.

I stumbled upon your blog through TechCrunch. I really enjoy the design and your writing. Hope you have a better customer experience in the future.