Lovell Communications Inc.

It’s true that Twitter can be an effective means for businesses to communicate with their customers. But recently Horizon Realty Group gave us a good example of why caution should be taken when a customer complaint hits Web 2.0.

According to The Washington Post, Amanda Bonnen, a Chicago resident living in an apartment building managed by Horizon Realty Group, had enough of the cleanliness and maintenance issues of her apartment building and took her voice to Twitter. Bonnen, who allegedly had a mold problem in her apartment that was not receiving the attention she believed it deserved, Tweeted her dissatisfaction:  “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment is bad for you? Horizon Realty thinks it’s okay.”

These two cents from Bonnen, which were read by her whopping 20 followers, sparked, get this, a defamation lawsuit by Horizon Realty for $50,000 plus court costs, according to ChicagoNow.

A lawsuit? Really? Does this seem like a complete overreaction to anyone else?

To top it off, Jeff Michael, whose family runs Horizon Realty was quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times saying, “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization.”

Ouch!

Now, I am not an apartment manager and obviously situations arise that require tough decision making, but it seems to me they could have handled this situation a bit differently. According to the Sun-Times, Mr. Michael claims his company “has a good reputation it wants to preserve.” If Horizon Realty wanted to preserve its good reputation, the company should have first contacted Bonnen and addressed her concerns personally, in addition to establishing itself on Twitter and addressing her followers directly. This would have been simple and could have demonstrated to Bonnen and her 20 followers that Horizon Realty takes seriously the concerns of its customers.

Since Marian Wang, a writer for a Chicago-area legal blog owned by the Chicago Tribune, broke this story it quickly grew legs and ran all over the country. An issue that could have been resolved quickly and quietly has since been picked up by ABC, WGN, CBS, The Associated Press, The San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and Huffington Post. Horizon Realty’s tarnished image has now been seen by the entire country, doing considerably more damage than did Bonnen’s original tweet.

Horizon has since released a press release which can be seen here, but was it too late? Has the damage already been done?