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I think Twitter was born because we all just needed a place to vent about things.
I regularly complain about anything and everything on Twitter. Waiting in line, traffic, service at restaurants, my internet connection crapping out, my baby not sleeping — you name it, I’ve probably complained about it at least once in 7,000 tweets.
Lately I’ve been making a point to search for a company’s Twitter handle before I tweet about them. In my opinion, Tweeting directly at them gives me a better chance of being heard than not adding their handle at all, and if nothing else happens, I’ve drawn attention to it.
Case in point: You’re all up-to-date on my cell phone drama. And yes, I’ve tweeted about that NUMEROUS times, going back months. At the beginning of the most recent meltdown, I tweeted the following:
Samsung responded right away by asking me some details about the phone and where I’d gotten my replacement phone. The manager of the account offered to take a look at the phone for me and send the service request link. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go without a phone because we don’t have a home phone, but the fact they offered was pretty darn cool.
Fast forward a few weeks to the Loaner Phone debacle. I tweeted this:
Of course, Sprint didn’t respond because they sort of suck at customer service (both online and through the stores).
But that single Tweet was re-tweeted by someone with over 1000 followers and re-tweeted again by some of her followers. By the time that tweet trickled out of the Twitter stream, it had the potential to be read by thousands of current Sprint customers and future Sprint customers — who might not become customers because of what they read.
Ok, that’s a long-shot. I’m not Heather Armstrong and neither are any of you. None of us are getting any free washers out of a Twitter rant. What I’m saying is that if a company is on Twitter, they have opened themselves up to these types of messages and it’s in their best interest to respond.
Many times I’m not even asking for them to do anything. I just want them to listen. I want them to be accountable for the products they sell.
Here is an example of a company who does it right.
I had three Restaurant.com certificates worth $10 each for a restaurant that closed. I was able to trade them in for credit on the Restaurant.com website but it would only allow me to trade in $10 at a time instead of using all $30. There weren’t any restaurants I was interested in that offered $10 certificates, so I tweeted:
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Twitter: NaynaDub
I couldn’t agree more! I tweet companies all the time – for good & bad. I also checkin on foursquare, which helps sometimes with service as well. We are in a really bad situation right now with a car company and my husband and I have considered tweeting them (he has a bigger following than I do) to see if it helps as well.
Elena recently posted..Mommy Knows Best
Twitter: ckohler215
I love that you wrote this bloog! Its so true (Most) companies DO listen. I am the girl at the resturant who usually always fills out the comment card or will always tell all of my friends about something I experianced (good & bad). Im glad you’ve had some good luck with responding companies
Christine recently posted..Im sorry!!!
Yes, I’ve mentioned a couple things, and they absolutely listened and made it right.
I’ve actually never tweeted companies directly. But I definitely am going to now. @chickfila GET IN MY BELL-AH.
Bill recently posted..Gulag-Vlog 1
I’m not sure why complaining to them on Twitter makes me anxious. I’ve definitely seen a lot of people get some good things as a result. I am a big complaint letter writer. Recently I realized I needed to also be a “good job” letter writer. For example, we had a great waitress a few years ago at my husband’s birthday party. She kept separate tabs (for 30 people), she let us take over couches and other areas usually reserved for those playing pool, she kept all the orders straight, she gave us some drinks on the house. She was just awesome and I wrote a letter telling her restaurant so. I didn’t hear back, but I hope she got something for her awesomeness. And if not, she gets recognition. But in the past I’ve gotten free movie tickets and restaurant gift cards when I’ve complained, so I can see how this would work. Just putting it out there so publicly makes me squeamish.
StephanieinSuburbia recently posted..It Amounted to a Hill of Beans
Twitter: AndiRRT
Love this. We had to do a paper for one of my business classes just last week on the topic of social media in business and the opportunities for both negative and positive outcomes!
Andrea recently posted..A Mom’s Life Reduced to This
Twitter: mytimeasmom
Spring sucks for not responding to your Tweets.
I always try and use the company’s Twitter handle when I tweet about them. Chipotle always responds to me. AT&T never does.
Jessica recently posted..A Weekend with the Family
I tweet companies all the time and I agree with you re: @Sprint! I complained about them changing their Premier Customer loyalty program and never got a response.
Twitter: SaidKristin
This is a really great post, Amanda. I’ll admit I’ve never considered using Twitter to vent about product issues, mainly because I don’t like to seem whiny and negative. But you’ve proven that when tweeted right, this can really work in both the consumer and brand’s favor. Win-win! Ah, the power of social media.
Kristin @ What She Said recently posted..Eat of the Week- A New Series and a Good Burger
Did I ever tell you the joy your story of the non-erased contacts/texts gave me and my husband? We laughed about that forever, I swear.
Anyway, I’m so glad you mentioned this and I need to remember to do more of it myself!
Hey this is a great post–very informative. I never thought about doing that, but it makes sense. I have a few companies I’d like to give a piece of my mind.
Rach (DonutsMama) recently posted..Pretty Poppies
That is awesome that they worked with you so quickly! Yay for restaurant.com and Sprint… yea, they suck big time.
I’ve used a companies Twitter handle many times when I’ve shared info whether it’s good or bad. I do it so they know what people have to say about them… it’s important that they know and even better if they do something because then it tells me that they’re really listening and care.
I seriously think this is so awesome. I tweeted to Land’s End about their lack of inventory. Since they are doing this big swimsuit confidence media blitz I figured that they would replenish their stock more often. So, I tweeted them about it. They did respond, not with the answer that I hoped, but they said to call their customer service department and they will help me find an alternative. Felt good hearing back from them so quickly.
Jayme (Random Blogette) recently posted..Happy Birthday To The Woman Who Gave Birth To Awesomeness!
i completely agree with you! i should complain to companies more often!
tara recently posted..wedding abcs- m – z
Why did restaurant.com try to screw you over?
Well, I just thought they did. I thought they weren’t going to let me use my gift certificates the way I wanted to use them!
Twitter: mycrazybusylife
I complained once that with as much money as I spent at Target, the least they could do was follow me back. And they did.
Natalie recently posted..Memorial Day Recap
Twitter: MamaWantsThis
Well, now I’m going to totally tweet companies directly. Just to see what they’ll do (or don’t)
Alison@Mama Wants This recently posted..VlogTalk- The most annoying toy EVER
Twitter: holly1067
I have complained about Comcast and gotten the problem solved within hours!
Holly recently posted..The C word
Twitter: jmomiller
That’s so awesome that they got back to you and at least offered to help. I completely agree! I’m going to start tweeting the companies now!
Crazy Shenanigans recently posted..Busy Weekend Into a Manic Monday
I’m kinda new to twitter and for a long time I did not understand at all what could be the utility of such a service. Seeing an article with examples like that brought much more clarity to my mind. It’s amazing what impact you can have via writing just a few lines, isn’t it?
Wow. Nice. I didn’t know that actually worked. I guess on twitter then know tons of people could potentially be seeing the tweets so they have to fix the sitch pretty fast before damage is done.
JM recently posted..My Homemade Birthday Present Streak Continues
It’s funny that I’m reading about this now because Brooke Kingston is on Twitter complaining about her Crapberry and Verizon and she has tagged both companies in her tweets. She said it’s not really helping. Which is surprising because Verizon *usually* has ahmazing customer service. But I completely agree and say keep up the good work! It takes 2 minutes to look up the Twitter handle but it could make a huge difference in the end!
[...] thing to do).Friday: We went to St. Augustine for the day with the specific plan of using a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate to the Florida Cracker Cafe I bought last year and never used. We left the house around noon, after [...]