The Most Expensive Customer Complaint Is The One You Ignore
Forrester, Friday, May 8th, 2026
Organizations that ignore customer complaints risk significant indirect costs including brand damage, customer churn, and employee burnout.
The article examines the JetBlue 2026 fare increase complaint to illustrate how poor complaint management can escalate into major business crises. While organizations typically track direct complaint costs like refunds and agent time, the greater damage comes from indirect impacts such as customer churn, brand damage, and employee burnout that rarely appear on dashboards.
Effective complaint management should shift from viewing complaints as routine service issues to recognizing them as high-risk moments that reveal deeper systemic failures. Leading companies transform complaint management into a strategic CX capability that repairs relationships, redesigns experiences, and reduces business risk rather than simply trying to minimize complaint volumes.