Caveat emptor or “let the buyer beware” is a long-used phrase familiar to consumers. Your ability to get good service is proportional to your knowledge. Certain industries have poor reputations that make customers wary, but they remain reliant on the vendor to be honest with them. The predictable result is anything from rip-offs to dissatisfaction.

The Internet has begun to change all this, and the advent of social media appears to be speeding the process up. Consumers may not rely on all favorable and unfavorable reviews but will use their social networks to find out the reputation, cost, and other relevant criteria to assess service before buying.

Regularly, I speak to consumers about how they decided to use a particular service provider, and the answer is still referral. However, in today’s networked society, they don’t just rely on their next-door neighbor; they are communicating with people and reading about the reputation of the company on the Internet. These days there are just fewer places to hide poor service quality.

W.

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