Comments on: 5 Twitter Customer Service Fails

By: Nathan

Nathan — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:01:31 +0000

I think it is important to have access to your customers. Used properly social networking site like this can provide great insight as to what you do good and what you can improve upon from a business standpoint.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:00:28 +0000

Having instant feedback can be helpful and hurtful. You have the chance to be accessibile to your customers but if you are unresponsive and don't act upon it, it can be very bad from a public relations standpoint.

By: Misty Faucheux

Misty Faucheux — Fri, 28 May 2010 22:45:53 +0000

I completely agree. You need to be responsive to customer complaints. The feedback is definitely valuable.

By: Amber

Amber — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:22:29 +0000

I have had some great customer service experiences on Twitter. Once, I was asking what other people thought about Ecover dishwasher tabs, and @EcoverUS got in touch with me and offered me a free box. Win! And on another occasion I mentioned I was waiting for my local auto club to come fix my flat tire and the auto club @BCAA got in touch with me directly via Twitter. Both interactions impressed me immensely.

But I have also had very negative experiences on Twitter, largely with smaller businesses. More than a few small businesses have done the follow / un-follow / re-follow / re-un-follow game with me. So. Unprofessional. I like to support local small businesses, and when they follow me on Twitter I will follow them back and try to engage. When they start playing these games, though, I am left with a bad taste and I feel disinclined to EVER buy from them. It’s highly disappointing.

By: Angie

Angie — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:57:55 +0000

I had great costumer service from Zappos on twitter. They even gave me some sweet VIP stuff! LL Bean on the other hand only responded with a phone number when I asked for help on a return.

By: Angela

Angela — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:01:24 +0000

Recently I watched AC Moore’s tweet with another follower about an issue she had with their customer service and some supplies she had needed a long time ago. Unfortunatley they weren’t able to get her the supplies BUT they went out of their way to make an attempt, communicate with her publicly in tweets and were very gracious. This bumped up AC Moore’s in my book even though they couldn’t fulfill all the wishes of my fellow follower.

More companies need to follow that trend!

By: Morgan Gaking

Morgan Gaking — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:09:20 +0000

I was in an accident last summer (not my fault) and I was having issues with Nationwide, who was the other guys insurance company. I tweeted my frustration, and within 24 hours, I had an @ from one of their reps asking me to please email him with the issue. I did and actually got the agent I was having trouble with fired. I’m still in love with Geico, but I do think a little more of Nationwide now because they actually took the initiative to contact me and look into the issue.

By: Kate Tribe

Kate Tribe — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:53:31 +0000

Hi Kelby,

Enjoyed your post.

You might also be interested in this story of Twitter customer service win for @DDsD: http://www.pointlessreally.com/?p=102

@katetribe

By: Angela England (@AngEngland)

Angela England (@AngEngland) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:37:19 +0000

I was panicking about my Sprint wireless card being bent and broken before Type-A-Mom. Yes, the card was old but I was afraid it wouldn’t work by the time the conference rolled around and my upgrade was not planned until the end of October. 6 weeks after the conference.

I felt frustrated – my options were pay full price 6 weeks before the end of my contract or go to conference without internet. I tweeted my frustration and someone from Sprint contacted me right away. Asked for my email.

They EMAILED me and helped me get a wireless card before the conference. They even called a few days later and asked me if it came in time, etc.

Angela <

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:16:33 +0000

I recently went to NYC with a group of moms from my area for the Martha Stewart show. (that’s a whole other story!)

I had contacted several hotels via twitter, and several contacted myself or another person in our group who was helping arrange details.

In 4 cases the hotels promised us free wifi, great rates, etc. but when I followed up they disappeared.

I found a great deal at Holiday Inn. They were accommodating, gave us a $99 rate and free wifi and breakfast (which was an actual breakfast!).

While there we went to another hotel for an event, and I bumped into their twitter guy. He said something like, “you should have stayed here!,” and I responded that one of our party had reached out to him after he responded to a tweet, and heard nothing back. In fact, she said she tried more than once.

He didn’t have much to say about that! I had to laugh at the idea that it was a social media conscious hotel, since they never responded!