Member Avatar for MktgRob

I was to attend a recent event in NYC that was to be the introduction of a new online community in the US. The company, similar to DaniWeb, has been around for 10 years. Unlike DaniWeb, they charge their community members a yearly fee. Because of a sudden death in my family I was unable to attend or have anyone else from my company attend in my place. I alerted the company and I knew that the lateness of my alerting them to my inability to attend would make it impossible for them to fill my spot. Although the event was free to attend, they did ask for a credit card to secure the spot and if you did not attend you would be charge a fee of $395. One would think that a sudden death would be an acceptable reason to not attend without penalty.

Unfortunately, one of their VPs involved in sales, sent me an e-mail informing me that while my families loss was unfortunate I would get charged a penalty. But, so that I would get something out of it they would make it a membership and at a discounted rate. I attempted to contact their US office and left a voice mail but I was never contacted. I have taken additional steps that I will not mention now but I am using social media as a way of contacting the CEO in regards to this.

Has this ever happened to you? If you were managing and growing an online community that you charged for would you assess penalty fees for unforseen events that were beyond the control of anyone?

  • 2 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 201 Views
  • 2 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by MktgRob

Dani AI

Generated

A compact, practical checklist for community managers running paid or ticketed programs — focused on minimizing harm, protecting reputation, and keeping processes simple. Thanks to the real-world point raised by and the social-media perspective from , the recommendations below translate those lessons into repeatable steps.

  • Clear, compassionate policy language: publish a short exceptions clause (emergencies, serious illness, bereavement) and a one-click link to the exceptions process so members know what to expect before they buy or reserve.
  • Low-friction verification: accept commonly available proof (brief obituary link or clinic note), but limit information requested and allow redaction to protect privacy.
  • Flexible remedies: offer simple options — refund, credit toward a future event, or a transferable spot — and define timelines for each so staff decisions are consistent.
  • Operations & authority: create a single inbox for exceptions, guarantee a 24–48 hour acknowledgement, and give frontline staff a clear waiver threshold so cases are resolved fast without manager ping-pong.
  • Sign-up mechanics to reduce no-shows: support a waitlist, allow last-minute transfers, and consider an inexpensive “flex” add-on that permits refunds to avoid hard penalties.

Social-media playbook: acknowledge quickly and briefly in public, move the conversation to a private channel, and follow up with a concrete remedy. Public messages should be empathetic, factual, and never defensive. Log the incident, review what failed, and update policy and training.

A final note: small operational costs from flexible handling usually cost less than the reputational damage of a visible, rigid response. Treat these moments as teachable cases for staff and clients; build the paperwork, authority, and scripts so compassion is operational, not optional.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for MktgRob

***UPDATE***

A couple of tweets to the CEO, seen by every member of their online community, has caused the VP to reverse field. It seems that he has been bombarded with e-mails, both externally and internally, along with a number of retweets, and that was enough to make them realize that there was a public relations nightmare in the offing. Some personal proof on my part that while twitter can do some wonderful things for your company in terms of marketing and PR it can also be used to point out the failings of your company in a very public way.

Member Avatar for jay 11

Nice! I was going to say to stick with the plan of trying to contact them via Social Media. Twitter is a great way for making waves and getting the attention of "higher-ups." Glad to see they did the right thing and made amends in public fashion.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

Nice! I was going to say to stick with the plan of trying to contact them via Social Media. Twitter is a great way for making waves and getting the attention of "higher-ups." Glad to see they did the right thing and made amends in public fashion.

I actually am using this experience as a way to demonstrate the power of twitter so that my clients understand that it can be an excellent way to communicate with clients.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.