Customer Service Has Gone Social (and we know it)

We all have one of those stories. A customer service experience that was so terrible, or hilarious, that it results in the classic “go-to story” that we keep in our back pocket.

One of those, “Oh ya? Well let me tell you what happened to me!!,” tales you can pull out whenever one-upmanship is required.

The best one I’ve heard of late came from my nephew Andrew, and his “Case of the Lost Luggage.”

Andrew is a young exec living the dream in Toronto currently doing business development for TVO. It’s a very cool job, and one that requires a wee bit of travel and a trip late in 2013 didn’t go so well:

Dear ___ ____,

I wasn’t even that mad at you when you lost my luggage today. I understand that happens sometimes. I’m #%&*, however, that you have failed to give me any indication that you even recognize that you did, you know, lose all my stuff or that you will ever return it to me.

You don’t return my emails or my calls. You have made no contact with me and your representative at the airport didn’t provide any help whatsoever (in fact, she said your airline has lost a lot of bags recently, so she’s not even going to bother calling on my behalf because the baggage division isn’t answering its phone anyway).

This is all pretty abysmal. You’re being a total @#%* right now.

Sincerely,

Andrew

A fine letter, except Andrew didn’t simply send it to the airline in question. Instead he posted on his social networks. Now, Andrew is a pretty typical Gen Y guy, well connected and super tech savvy, especially when it comes to social media. There Andrew is pretty much in the upper .0001%. (His previous gig was running the social media channels for Toronto Live Magazine.)

He posted it on Facebook and Twitter where he has huge followings, and as a result, a few weeks later:

I complained when ____ ______ did wrong. Now I feel compelled to give them credit when they did right. I received an email from the CEO last night giving me an additional $400 for a roundtrip flight. Long overdue, but nice to see the company take some responsibility.

It is nice to see. It’s also the reality of the hyper-connected world we all live in, where complaining publicly results in, well, results. Just a few years ago customer service issues were essentially between you and whoever you where having issues with.

No longer. Now, you have the power because you can go public.

Worldline is well aware of this, and in fact, we’re thrilled by it. Our embrace of social media channels, like our Facebook page (You can Like us Here if you want to) and Twitter feed (Check it out Here), allows our customers to provide instant feedback on the service we’re providing and gives us to chance to get on their problem fast, and therefore eliminating the possibility that it becomes a tale of woe for them to share.

Not only is it good business, it is simply the right thing to do.

Andrew’s airline came around to that realization – eventually. They discovered, finally, who they were up against – a customer they had to respect. In our case, that’s how we want to treat all of our customers – all the time. We strive to set ourselves apart from the rest by providing the type of customer service that makes folks want to come back and to bring their friends with them as well.

That’s what our mission statement is all about: Beyond Telecom.

SEWTWCH

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