Comcast got all sorts of PR for using Twitter to calm down pissed off customers. Great. The issue is does it change the reality of making them happy?
Peter Hirshberg posts his exchange on Twitter with the vaunted leader in Twitter customer service:
“So in the space of a few tweets we’ve gone from the lofty possibility of customer service in the era of transparency to “Dude, don’t you know, phone service can suck. Just call my mom. Help in today’s world….””
Ours went out – 100% no service – with Verizon last week. 2 days to fix, during which time we realized we don’t need the land line. If my Luddite wife can get by without a land line, then the phone companies really are on the down side of the mountain.
I’ve posited for quite some time now (mostly in my own head) that there are a lot of companies with really bad products or services that are getting the benefit of the doubt because they are on Twitter.
Ok, all things being equal I would rather deal with a company with an active and engaging Twitter presence than one without. But I’m not going to let @companyX make up for consistently horrible experiences just because they’re “listening.” Do something – MAKE IT RIGHT. Talk is great, but talk is cheap if you can’t fix stuff.
Does it make customers happier? For a select few, yeah. Of course that’s a drop in the bucket for a company like Comcast with millions of customers but of all the people they piss off (surely lots), appeasing those who would otherwise be blogging, tweeting and generally moaning (let’s call them, er, influencers) is smart.
But on balance, I don’t think they’re putting huge dents in overall customer satisfaction. They’re getting to the squeaky wheels which has its own value.
Joseph Kingsbury, Text 100