Many companies now use Twitter and Facebook to tell their story. Progressive learned the hard way how NOT to use social media.
In August, the brother of a car crash victim detailed his family's nightmare in a Tumblr post with the shocking title: "My Sister Paid Progressive Insurance to Defend Her Killer In Court."
Matt Fisher wrote on his Tumblr post about how his sister Katie died in a 2010 crash after another driver ran a red light. The driver was underinsured, and Fisher's family had to sue the driver for negligence to force Katie's insurance company, Progressive, to pay the difference.
Fisher said Progressive actively participated in the other driver's legal defense, while Progressive said it "participated in the trial procedures on our own behalf while Nationwide represented the other driver." His scathing post about the debacle quickly went viral and turned into a social media nightmare.
The tragic story turned into a dumb moment after Progressive repeatedly tweeted the same tone-deaf response. The gist: Progressive felt it "properly handled the claim within our contractual obligations."
Three days after the Tumblr post, Progressive said it reached a monetary settlement with the Fishers. But by that point, the company had already been lambasted for what consumers deemed to be an insensitive way to deal with a complaint. -- Julianne Pepitone
