Jun 14 2010
People bitch. Pardon the language but we do. All of us in some form or other, bitch. Or whine. Or complain.
If you have a product expect to hear more bitching than the average bear. It's going to happen. And with social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook being so popular, a lot of it will be voiced online. I don't care how great your product is, people will bitch. It's how you react to it that makes all the difference.
My recent experience with Comcast
Comcast is bitched about all the time; on- and off-line. Such a big target means a lot of shots will be taken at it. Like I did not too long ago.
I'm a huge football (soccer) fan and a supporter of the Portland Timbers, whose match a few weeks back, like many of their matches, was streamed live on their site. My Internet connection had been a bit sketchy the days leading up to this particular match, but I didn't bother looking into it any further. Trying to watch live video with a less than good Internet connection is frustrating at best. But I suffered through it.
At some point during the match though, I posted on Twitter that I was frustrated (both with the Timbers and my Internet connection) and stated, "I blame Comcast." Within the hour I received a reply to that tweet from a Comcast rep.
To make a long story short, that rep looked at my account, recommended a tech come out and even scheduled it for me a couple days later. The tech came out, switched out my seriously old modem and I've had much better speeds sense.
My point? I could have been ignored or I could have been blamed for my issue. Instead, Comcast took the proactive route and made an effort to satisfy a customer.
A not so great experience
Compare the comcast story to this. Again on Twitter I whined about a particular company (who will remain nameless) who sells a particular type of software. I was pissed off and irritated and frustrated that my posting to their support forums (for a paid product) got me nothing but a message about high volumes of support requests and that someone would eventually get to mine. I had seen this at least once before for another support question and never did get an answer.
So this time I tweeted that the only person who ever posts these messages pisses me off. That's all. I didn't insult this person. Nor did I call this person names. I'm sure said person is nice and all but it was me venting just like I did with Comcast. Admittedly, maybe it was a poor choice of words, but how many people choose their words carefully when venting? And it probably didn't help that I was having a really bad day. Hey, I don't know about you, but I'm not perfect.
The difference between this incident and the Comcast one, however, is that this small company decided that instead of trying to help me (there must be a reason I bitched right?), they'd instead tell me to grow up. And then in my reply in which I tried to diffuse the situation by explaining my venting, I was then asked if I yell at Wal-mart greeters too.*
That is a major missed opportunity. If I had a bitter taste before this, it's worse now. Because of one employee's poor interaction with me, I will avoid that company as much as possible. Instead, this person could have easily asked why and figured out a way to improve.
Customer service
We customers can often be a real pain in the you-know-what. And having been on the receiving end of that more than my share of times (in an actual customer service department), I know it can be difficult to keep your calm. But if and when you can, you'll end up surprising most customers who are primarily just frustrated and venting. And with that surprise you just may change opinions or at least keep the situation from escalating.
In the end, regardless of service or product, it's all about good customer service.
*The answer to that, by the way, is no. Because 1) I don't shop at Wal-mart (I have my reasons) and 2) if I asked the greeter for help on something specific I'm sure I'd get a decent answer.