This isn't really a “lean” story, but the idea of customer focus strikes me here. As a company, how do you handle things when customers can so openly communicate with each other on the internet? Customers were complaining about Dell on a webpage paid for by Dell and hosted on Dell's own servers.
Dell cut off that message board. Isn't that genie already out of the bottle though? Won't another non-Dell-sponsored message board pop up?
Rather than cutting off the information, shouldn't Dell focus instead on improving quality and improving their processes that frustrate people? Dell says they want customers to communicate directly with them, instead of using the message boards. But many people will give up while waiting on hold.
Dell is probably losing a potentially priceless source of customer feedback here.
Does Toyota have a similar online complaint board, either sponsored or independent? Should they? What do you think? Click comments to participate.
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