As expected, yesterday (April 15) was the biggest day of the year for tax giant H & R Block — but not in a good way. Failure number one was with its desktop software program that prevented thousands of filers from electronically submitting their returns. To make it worse, each time a person tried to file, their credit card was charged $19.95, racking up hundreds of dollars over multiple failed attempts.
But the real failure was in H & R Block’s (non) response. The company ignored its calls, did not respond to chat, and sent infrequent, inaccurate, and thus meaningless messages on social media. There were no ongoing updates. No apology. No adjustment of its simultaneous humor-based promotion with Wendy’s.
Customers wouldn’t have liked it but would have been far more forgiving if the company had immediately acknowledged that it was Tax Day and this blunder was worse than an IRS Audit. Instead, saying things would be “resolved in an hour” and twelve hours later having the same issue did not endear the company to its clients. For example:
If (no, when) something goes astray in your organization, no matter how bad, the best thing you can do is to own it. Apologize. Communicate. Share what you know and admit what you don’t. Acknowledge the hardship this places on your customers. Radio silence or platitudes just serve to incense those you’re trying to calm. Don’t be a blockhead and compound your problems with a bungled response.
