Social Media Becomes Customer Service.... Is this the way it's going?
Ah yes folks, it’s that time of the week again! Time for a well, timely little anecdote. So here we go! Cybergirl’s boyfriend (read ‘date’) is a rather nice young man who scoured the web for the perfect birthday present for his beloved mother. What could he get her that would really improve her quality of life? No, not pearls, no not a bottle of champagne swiftly necked in ten minutes, but what about a lovely new Dell computer complete with Windows 8? Wouldn’t that just be the loveliest present to mark a significant birthday? Bien Sur! Absolutement! Definitely!
So off ‘the date’ goes on Saturday morning – all the way to the UPS delivery office in Kilburn to retrieve said parcel, and, after much negotiating (and a rather tricky interchange with UPS – no a photocopy of your passport is definitely not allowed) he finally gets the Dell computer home (nicely wrapped up in it’s big cardboard box). Mum appears, spying the huge parcel with glee (yes it’s present hand over time!) She turns it over, rattles the box (just a little!) and then tears through the brown parcel tape with the nearest knife to hand. And what does she find? A computer that doesn’t work - a computer stuck on the Dell page – not even Windows 8, (no shiny happy birthday experience either).
So what does ‘the date’ do given that it’s a Saturday night and Dell do not have a customer service line open ready and waiting to fix the problem...? He goes on Facebook of course, and there, hopeful that the power of social media will prevail, he uploads a video of the Dell computer doing, well absolutely nothing at all. Now here’s the interesting part.... What happens in the minutes that follow? Well not only does ‘the date’ get a very swift email from UPS apologizing for his rough treatment (yes he mentioned that too), but the next morning Dell send one message requesting the serial number of said computer. Now that was Sunday, we are now (at the time of writing) Wednesday, and what was happened? Again, Absolutely (drumroll) nothing at all.... So much for the power of social media... Now I know I haven’t always been the greatest advocate of Apple and their corporate behaviour, but at least they have a shop you can walk into if something goes wrong, and a lovely Genius bar attendant to wipe your tears away and assure you that your problem will be swiftly dealt with. When customers are reduced to tracking down Facebook Pages in order to get a response from technology companies, well something has gone very wrong in the area of customer service. Dell – I’m sorry to name and shame, but you won’t be on Cybergirl’s Christmas list come 2013.
Just for posterity, here's the link to the video in question:
Over and out.
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