Complainer's Dilemma

In the world of interpersonal communication, complaining ostensibly serves to make other people aware of some kind of dissatisfaction we’re experiencing—or which we’d like them to think we’re experiencing.

So we might complain to our long-time partner that they never take us on dates anymore, or we might complain to those running the school our children attend about overcrowded classrooms.

In both cases we may actually feel there’s a problem that needs to be remedied, and by voicing our complaint we hope they’ll think about and work on some kind of solution (like taking us on more dates and hiring more teachers to reduce class size).

It’s also possible to complain without substantial justification. If our partner does take us on dates, but we’re maybe a little bored or just want more attention, we might complain about the dates as part of a larger effort to direct more of their time and effort in our direction.

We might do something of the same when complaining about other sorts of things, like the products or services we purchase.

Many companies invest a lot of time and resources in fielding consumer complaints because some people contact them about legitimate warranty claims, dissatisfactions, and dangers related to their offerings, while others do the same, hoping to get unjustified refunds or freebies (or in some cases are just venting because of something else they’re unhappy about in their lives).

This has led to a situation in many economies in which the proverb, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”—which suggests you have to voice your complaints, and in some cases be louder than everyone else if you want to be helped—has become something of a rule, rather than the exception.

This effect, which is sometimes called the “Complainer’s Dilemma,” has been further amplified by the advent of the consumer internet, and the concomitant ability of customers to not just reach out to the companies that make the stuff they buy, but also complain about those companies on social media, and via public reviews.

Vast sums of money have been spent on this issue, as the number of complaints (and services via which they arrive) have increased dramatically, and researchers have scrambled to figure out functional models for sifting legitimate, actionable complaints from those that are outright falsehoods (or in some way unactionable).

Interestingly, some research has indicated that addressing (and redressing, if possible) a customer’s complaint can actually lead to heightened satisfaction, despite that complaint likely being the result of the opposite.

The idea is that although the customer might have received a flawed product or experienced a non-ideal service, because the market of complaints is so overpopulated and noisy, taking the time (and making the investment) to listen to and address their complaints can feel like above-and-beyond service. This, in turn, can convert a severe critic into a dedicated fan in terms of future purchasing decisions and their public-facing reviews and comments.