OH while in NYC last week:
Snooty lady (who, clearly, is not as rich as the rest of her family or she wouldn’t be staying in the cheapest hotel in the West Village): “You can either charge me nothing or get me your manager.”
Hotel Front Desk: “Here’s my manager.”
Snooty Lady: “I come from a very Powerful Family and most of them are not as nice as me… we are members of Sotheby’s… and you do not want to upset us.” And then she said something about a mouse or rat…
Unfortunately, I wasn’t around for the conclusion to this customer service debacle, but I couldn’t get the phrase out of my head: “Powerful Family.“ While I’m sure a person’s last name may still carry some weight in certain Ivy League schools, I’m not sure that it’s worth throwing around as a threat. With 300 million+ Americans and 151,167 different last names I don’t think the “ Kennedy’s” are as recognizable as they once were. Furthermore, this lady was surrounded by social media mavens (who were attending the Wired Store Opening) whose Twitter handles certainly carried infinitely more weight than the threats of her Powerful Family.
Unlike a family name that relies on a history of several people acting a certain way or consistently attaining certain levels of success, you can’t borrow social media fame. Social Media usernames are unique and every individual must build his own fame. I don’t think it would work to say, “My sister’s brother-in-law is Chris Brogan and if you don’t refund me…”
With that in mind, here’s…
3 Tips on using social media for better customer service
1. Let Social Media be your Guide. Frequent places that have a positive social media following/reputation. Not only will this minimize your risks of having a bad experience, but chances are, if they’ve got a solid social media reputation, then they are more likely to understand the importance of keeping a good reputation. Also, letting them know that their history of positive reviews led you to choose their establishment will further engrain the importance of positive peer reviews.
2. Leverage their Motivation. Before you start with the threats, give people an opportunity to make things right. If you appear disgruntled beyond repair then they have no motivation to “make things right” as it will still result in them losing money and getting a bad review.
3. Go Public. If you’re unable to speak with a decision-maker or they fail to “make things right,” start posting your negative reviews. If you’re still interested in some sort of reconciliation, make sure your posts allude to the ball being in their court: “I sent a letter, but I’m still waiting for a response from….” This will empower the person who finds this post to try and win back your good graces.
Armed with these tips, what if the “Powerful Family” conversation had gone like this instead?
“I found out about your hotel through Yelp where you have a bunch of great reviews. Unfortunately, the incident with the mice left me a little disappointed. Before I leave you a bad review I wanted to give you an opportunity to….”
So, do you throw your Social Media weight around when you don’t get proper customer service? Has it worked? Would you be willing to forgo a legitimate bad review in exchange for comp’ed services?
P.S. If your last name is “Schwarzenegger” don’t bother with social media threats – anybody who’s seen Commando knows not to mess with Schwarzenegger’s family.
P.P.S. the hotel was The Jane and I would definitely recommend it (I didn’t see any mice).
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s a slippery slope. Yes, I’ve leveraged my own clout when things went bad. Really, really bad. There wasn’t much to be done about it, and I did it more out of anger than any hope for recourse. Still, I’d be lying if I didn’t say if felt — still does — satisfying to see the negative reviews pile up.
Your question about comping services in exchange for not posting a bad review is interesting, Trouble is, I don’t see how it would work. I’d never threaten to FLEX MAH MUSCLE unless they made it right. I have no trouble complaining about bad service as it happens in the hopes it will change. But to level a threat after-the-fact smells a lot like extortion. Not my style.
And if they made it right, I’d probably not complain. Rather, I’d likely use the incident as a teaching tool for the power of Good.
I agree- I don’t think I could be silenced by a bribe, but if they were legitimately interested in “making things right,” than I would probably forgo the bad review in good faith that they learned their lesson OR my review would focus on their positive response to a bad experience.
For me this applies more to goods than services. Not that it doesn’t apply to services, it does, but I find myself reviewing products more.
For example…
The movie Bruno was heavily advertised online. When it was released in theaters, it had a much higher turnout Friday than it did Saturday. That’s never really happened before to a big studio production, they at least get the full opening weekend until the box office drops. The dramatic fall from Friday to Saturday is attributed to Twitter users railing Bruno. The studios thought social media would be their best friend and put a lot of their eggs in that basket. Didn’t turn out so great for them.