27 Jul 10 Ask And Ye Shall Receive: Complain on Twitter

I first noticed how effective a Twitter complaint could be some time ago.  I was casually discussing a problem I was having with a WordPress plugin ‘SezWho‘.  To be honest, I wasn’t terribly fair; I tweeted something along the lines of “this plugin sucks” when in actual fact, the problem was most likely caused by conflict with some other plugin and not really a problem with SezWho at all.  I was surprised that within hours of making my comment, SezWho contacted me via Twitter and went out of their way to resolve the problem.  I apologised to them for jumping to conclusions and I was very pleased and impressed by their diligence and professionalism.

Many companies now have a social media presence.  If you have a complaint, you can easily find their social media profile and complain to them directly.  Just Google “so and so on Twitter” or “so and so on Facebook” and you’ll find the company you’re looking for very quickly.  Don’t make the mistake I inadvertently did: do a little research before you complain to make sure the problem is actually the fault of the company in question.

Dealing with complaints on social networking sites has become an important public relations exercise.  Many companies employ a ‘social networking team’ to deal with such complaints.  Dealing with a problem positively can turn bad publicity into good and an angry customer can change from a bad mouther to a singer of praises.  As is usually the case, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and if you are dissatisfied you might as well get some grease. For example:

Prior to a recent trip to the USA, I rang Telstra to arrange international roaming access on my mobile phone.  When I made my request, the consultant’s first response was “Look, I really don’t know what I’m doing here…” This, needless to say did not fill me with confidence, so I clearly repeated my request: “I would like to set up international roaming access on my mobile phone, is that possible?” Yes, I was told, then put on hold for 15 minutes.  When the consultant came back, she said “The balance of your account is $Blah, is there anything else I can help you with?” I said: for a start, that can’t be right: I pay my account by direct deposit, and secondly, that is NOT what I asked.  I very clearly and calmly repeated my request, whereupon I was put on hold for another 10 minutes.  When the consultant returned, she said: “Sorry, what was your question again?”.  (I’m really not making this up; I know it sounds like an Abbott and Costello routine).  After repeating my request yet again, I was finally told “Okay, it has been done.” “Are you sure?” “Yes…”

Imagine my surprise on arriving at my destination that I had no access on my cell phone.  I was unable to contact my wife and was delayed at the airport for sometime.  I finally managed to find a pay phone so I could arrange to be picked up at my final destination.  Poor service and incompetent sales staff are nothing new I know.  This exchange was just so absurd I just can’t help but relate it.

I was, understandably I think, very annoyed by this problem.  I googled ‘Telstra on Twitter’ and found this account: http://twitter.com/telstra I logged into Twitter and tweeted my complaint.  I received an almost instant response from ‘Carly’ from the Telstra ‘social media team’ who just about bent over backwards to ensure that my service was restored, credits were added to my account and was told via email that “I have forwarded feedback on for the consultant who you spoke with for further coaching”.  I’m not really sure that further coaching is what the employee in question really needs; by this stage having her hung, drawn and quartered was about the only thing that would have really satisfied me.  Despite my frustration, my twitter complaint was fruitful and I am at least to some extent satisfied.

An increasing number of online complaints have gone hand in hand with companies establishing a social media presence.  Dealing with complaints in this setting has become imperative.  Dealing with online complaints has become so labour intensive that companies like Zendesk are offering automated tools for dealing with Twitter complaints.  There isn’t much point in being active on social networks if most of what your customers have to say about you is negative.  Unlike complaints made by mail or phone, social media complaints have a potential audience of millions.  Here the notion that any publicity is good publicity definitely does not apply.

So go ahead, if you are unhappy with a service, whinge, whine and bitch on Twitter or the social network of your choice.  You will be pleasantly surprised by the response you get.

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Tags: Facebook, Google, SezWho, Social media, Social network, Social network service, Telstra, twitter