1. Chase’s #MondayMotivation Backfires
The start of the week is often a good time to get inspired and motivated, but Chase Bank’s attempt at #MondayMotivation has many of its customers motivated to take their business elsewhere. A tweet from Chase was meant to encourage customers to save more money but ended up missing the mark. In the scripted tweet, a bank customer asks why their balance is low, with Chase implying the reason poor people don’t have money is they waste it on fancy coffees, eating out, and are too lazy to walk so they take taxis (Chase is out of touch here too, as who takes a cab these days?).
seems like chase deleted that tweet pic.twitter.com/CNiLZv8x02
— Colin Campbell (@colincampbell) April 29, 2019
The condescending tone set off a firestorm on Twitter, with users saying they want to close their accounts and cancel their Chase credit cards. Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren also chimed in. She roasted the bank for receiving a $25B taxpayer bailout in 2007 and called Chase out for being tone-deaf when it comes to average Americans struggling to make ends meet.
.@Chase: why aren’t customers saving money?
Taxpayers: we lost our jobs/homes/savings but gave you a $25b bailout
Workers: employers don’t pay living wages
Economists: rising costs + stagnant wages = 0 savings
Chase: guess we’ll never know
Everyone: seriously?
#MoneyMotivation pic.twitter.com/WcboMr5MCE— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 29, 2019
Chase deleted the tweet soon after the backlash began and replaced it with a pseudo-apology, saying, “Our #MondayMotivation is to get better at #MondayMotivation tweets.
Our #MondayMotivation is to get better at #MondayMotivation tweets. Thanks for the feedback Twitter world.
— Chase (@Chase) April 29, 2019
Thanks for the feedback Twitter world.” Which, all things considered, is a good Flawsome approach.
(Source: Yahoo Finance)
2. Accenture Sued for Consulting Flop
Hertz, one of the world’s largest car rental companies, hired Accenture back in 2016 to revamp its digital presence… and the entire project pretty much crashed and burned. Hertz fired Accenture in May 2018 after receiving a string of (allegedly) crappy and late deliverables, but only after paying $32M for said crap. Now they’ve filed a lawsuit seeking a full refund and then some. According to the lawsuit, the two-year engagement yielded a pileup of issues: Accenture missed three go-live deadlines, then tried to charge Hertz for delay costs. Also, Accenture allegedly kept delivering PDF guides despite Hertz’s requests for an editable format. In both cases, Accenture refused to fix the issues without additional payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars. How’d the project end? The lawsuit says that Accenture’s site code was so defective it ultimately had to be scrapped, and the company “never delivered a functional website or mobile app.” Hertz is seeking a full refund plus additional repair and design costs, a demand Accenture says is “without merit.” BTW how many cars do you need to rent online to cover $32M large?
(Source: The Hustle)
3. Marriott Moves into Airbnb Territory
Marriott is pushing more heavily into home-sharing, confident that its combination of luxury properties and loyalty points can lure travelers away from rivals like Airbnb. The world’s biggest hotel company will start taking reservations this week for 2K homes in 100 markets in the US, Europe, and Latin America. It plans to expand its Homes and Villas program to other locations. For its part, Airbnb is encroaching further into hotels. On Monday, the San Francisco-based company said it’s working with a New York real estate developer to establish a 10-story hotel with 200 suites in Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. The suites will only be available through Airbnb’s website. What’s next for Airbnb? The company, which plans to go public but hasn’t made clear when, also acquired Hotel Tonight, a last-minute booking service, in March.
(Source: AP News)