Social Media is a big buzzword these days, just as Web 2.0 was in 2004 or ecommerce in the 90’s. I joined Twitter not long ago and found out that a lot of big corporations have now embarked in the social media speedtrain (Dell and Belkin for instance). Obviously a lot of these companies have heard of Dell’s success story and don’t want to miss out on this opportunity even though they might not really understand what they’re getting into. Belkin learned that the hard way.
I have had the opportunity to experience AT&T’s take on social media recently. Let me tell you what happened.
My good friend Celine is now living in Brooklyn, NYC (she previously was in Montreal, Canada). She got there sometime in October, work visa in hand and ready to start working at HUGE. Upon her arrival she got herself an iPhone from AT&T. She got the phone but learned soon afterwards that she would have to spit out an extra 500$ in order to cover the contract’s fees for non-US residents. She realized there was no way she could afford to keep that phone and decided to send it back.
Seems like it’s always easier to purchase something than to return it.
At the beginning of November 08, AT&T agreed to take the phone back and cancel her contract. She was told her reimbursement would be issued within 3 weeks.
Mid-January came knocking fast and Celine found herself still waiting for her money. She started making repeated calls to AT&T’s customer service department – this is when AT&T’s true take on customer service started to show. One call, one agent, one response. Always different. I have been working in call centers for a while myself and really most of the time you’re just clueless as to what to answer to customers. You are provided with a guide or scripts written in a Q&A fashion and asked to stick to it. If someone’s question is off the script (which happens frequently), you’re on your own. Better be as vague as possible while getting rid of the call A.S.A.P. so your stats don’t get screwed. This is definitely not encouraging agents in offering the service expected by customers, but it does answer the company’s need for efficient call stats.
That’s exactly what AT&T does in its call centers.
Back to Celine’s story. February came knocking and still no refund was to be seen. Pissed off, angry and disillusioned by AT&T’s lack of customer service quality, Celine emptied up her rage to me in a flaming gmail chat. To help her out with the matter, I did a search on AT&T in Twitter. I found out that:
1- People don’t seem to appreciate AT&T much.
2- AT&T has some folks twittering for them.
I contacted @sethbloom on Twitter and told him about Celine’s story. He asked me her contact number and passed that information along to an AT&T customer service agent, saying she would contact her shortly. I was actually quite surprised to experience some humanity and efficiency from such a big corporation. Could Twitter redefine the way we communicate with companies?
Well, maybe.
Indeed, Celine got the call from the customer service agent. She recall her as being slightly agressive and seemed to be annoyed by the call. The agent promised the money would come within the end of the week. She also told her she would get only half of the amount she was expecting to get back. That had never been mentioned to her before. The worst though is that AT&T NEVER apologized for its behavior or the quality of its service. I don’t even know if this can be called damage control since Celine is still pissed off and still won’t ever do business with AT&T again. They missed out on an opportunity to redeem themselves.
Celine has a bitter AT&T aftertaste stuck in her throat.
Social media is not going to save your company. Instead it is a first step towards improving the dialogue with your customers. In AT&T’s case, I think their Twitter team is doing a great job in reaching out to people. The problem lies somewhere else: it feels as if their social media effort is not carried through the company, the customer service department and Twitter team being two independent entities.
It’s one thing to reach to your customers, but once you got them in the house, don’t greet them with shards of glass.
A few weeks ago I did business with a store called Composition. It’s well worth having a look at their website – they carry some lovely design items and their web interface is original and fun to navigate.
They also have incredible customer service.
I dealt with Samuel. He sent me numerous emails with shipment updates, offers for help and shopping advices. He even sent a handwritten note alongside a gift I was sending to my friend! Talk about great service.
These folks know how to make their customers feel special and human. I’ve been telling friends and relatives about Composition, will probably tweet about them, and now I’m posting about my positive experience shopping at their store.
Social media alone won’t save your company. Your humanity, desire for an honest and meaningful dialogue, modesty and sense of caring will. Social media is one step in that direction.
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yes! at&t has terrible customer care. they billed me for calls i never made, never sent me an invoice or a bill home for the money they deduced off my deposit, returned my deposit money after 4 months, when the sails person in their store promised me the money after 2 weeks. Instead at&t sent me a bill after 2 weeks claiming i owe them the deposit amount!
thanks frankie for this post.
and their social media strategy is never gonna help them, because as you said: the problem is somewhere else, in the core of their big fat corp.