Earlier this week, I took part in a panel discussion at SXSW on “The Legal Ramifications Of Saying ‘I’m Sorry,'” along with a senior executive from Southwest Airlines who explained why his company believes it’s best to be proactive about apologizing to customers when a mistake has been made. A few days later, Southwest was given the chance to make good on its claim. [More]
apologies
BP's CEO Is Super Sorry About That Oil Spill
By 3.9.11
BP Chief Executive Robert Dudley inherited quite a bit of a mess from former CEO Tony Hayward, he of the loose lips, in the the form of last year’s terrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But Dudley wants everyone to know that he’s totally sorry. [More]
Conan Apologizes For Swiping Segment From Kimmel
By 12.24.10
Maybe it was plagiarism or maybe it was a coincidence, but for whatever reason, Conan ended up airing a short in which Sarah Palin hunts and shoots Rudolph after Jimmy Kimmel did the same thing two weeks before. In the video embedded below, Conan O’Brien apologizes for the mishap. [More]
Continental Sorta-Apologizes For Not Allowing Service Dog On Flight
By 9.24.10
Last month, Continental wouldn’t let Jessica bring her service dog on a flight because a ticket agent thought she was pulling one over on the airline. Now Continental has finally responded to Jessica’s complaint. She said the company is admitting partial fault in the dust-up, writing the agent’s “failure to provide you with the correct information would be considered a violation of federal disability law.” [More]
Apple: Puerto Ricans Aren't Americans And Can't Have Free iPhone 4 Cases
By 7.31.10
Sorry Puerto Ricans, even though you bought your iPhone 4s with U.S. dollars, endure AT&T’s shoddy “national” coverage, and are United States citizens, Apple doesn’t think you’re entitled to a free case like real Americans. Apple originally told Puerto Ricans that they would qualify for free apology cases, but decided to cancel all orders being shipped to Puerto Rico after claiming that they were “unable to ship to an international address.” [More]
ESRB Apologizes For Leaking A Thousand Emails
By 7.14.10
After accidentally sharing the email addresses of gamers who complained about having to use their real names on World of Warcraft-maker Blizzard’s forums, the Entertainment Software Rating Board offered this mea culpa: [More]
Stone Brewing Co. Discovers Its Beer Mustard Is Missing The Beer
By 6.28.10
In addition to pale ales, Stone Brewing Co. sells mustards and sauces made with beer. Last week, in a blog post titled “MustardGate 2010,” the company announced that it recently discovered its mustards were beerless. (Or as they describe it, those mustards are “instant beer mustards–just add beer!”) The real mystery is what happened to the beer; the brewer says the kegs sent out to the mustard company were sent back empty. [More]
Soccer Team Gives "Refund" After Epic 4-0 Beatdown
By 5.11.10
The Seattle Sounders got beat 4-0 by the LA Galaxy, prompting one of the players to suggest that fans deserve a refund and apology from the team. It seem the ownership agrees. Sort of. They’re offering a one game credit to season ticket holders as compensation for the crappy play. It’s not a refund exactly, but its almost one. [More]
Delta Offers More Money For Pooch Lost In Transit, Apologizes
By 5.7.10
Paco is still missing, but after we contacted them, Delta reached out to Josiah and said sorry, along with offering to reimburse him for all the costs he put into the dog and two additional $200 vouchers for future travel on their airline. Josiah says that’s unnecessary, as he still probably won’t be flying Delta ever again after this experience. [More]
Should You Abandon McAfee Or Take Their Free 2-Year Extension?
By 4.27.10
If you use McAfee’s anti-virus program and have Windows XP with SP 3, you may have noticed last week that your PC was shutting down every 60 seconds. That was because McAfee pushed out an update that it now admits wasn’t properly tested. To apologize, the company says it will reimburse you for repairs (although it hasn’t provided details on this yet), and it’s offering everyone who was affected a free 2-year extension of the service. Should you take the offer and call it even? Seth Rosenblatt at Cnet says you shouldn’t bother. [More]
Delta Apologizes For Threatening To Cancel Flight
By 3.30.10
Coincidentally, Delta emailed Teresa an apology the same day we posted her complaint that the airline threatened to cancel its flight if enough passengers didn’t take its offer to bump them to a later flight. This after Delta had changed her itinerary without notice. [More]
Disney Store Apologizes For Refusing To Sell Stuff Without ID, Says It's Not Their Policy
By 2.18.10
Terry, who was annoyed that the Disney Store refused to sell his family less than $10 worth of stuff without ID, has sent an update. [More]
Update On Woman Sent To Jail For Using Gift Cards At Best Buy
By 2.4.10 — Updated: 3.13.15
Last month, New York City’s NY1 news channel produced a news segment on the woman who was arrested for paying with AMEX gift cards at a Best Buy. If you read our earlier post with Ilona’s email, you already know most of the basics, but you can see the problematic gift cards and hear Ilona describe the experience in her own words. It turns out that after she was released, she went back to Best Buy for either a refund or the DVD player, but had to leave without either one–she was told she’d have to contact American Express to resolve the problem. [More]
Sprint Gives Stranger Full Access To Customer's Account, Shrugs
By 11.20.09
When Campbell changed his phone number with Sprint earlier this year, the company immediately assigned his old number to a new customer. They also gave that customer full access to Campbell’s account.
Ulta District Manager Apologizes For "No Writing Anything Down" Policy
By 11.16.09
Last week, Daynah wrote about how she was forced to stop writing anything down during a recent shopping trip to the cosmetics store Ulta. At the time, Daynah grudgingly gave in because she really wanted to make a purchase (she tests products for consumers). But once she left the store, she took the fight back to Ulta.
PerfectPitch Owner Apologizes For DMCA Notice, Explains What Happened
By 11.6.09
Gary Boucherle, the owner of the website and product PerfectPitch, sent us an explanation of why he got Google to remove links to mentions of his product on another person’s blog.
Customer Gets Payless To Compensate Him For Text Message Spam
By 10.23.09
Peter was pretty frustrated when Payless Shoesource ignored his two opt-out texts and continued to pester him with SMS spam. His complained via email and got taken off their list, but then he decided to see if he could get back the money those texts cost him.
Trend Watch: CEOs Apologizing Via YouTube
By 9.16.09
Want to see a bunch of corporate executives apologizing? Thanks to the magical internet, now you can!
