Week 3, Part 1 - Communicating with Businesses on Social Media
I have had difficulty communicating with several businesses, but one stands out in my mind. When I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile this past January, I was looking forward to saving money and having better cellular service. When I received a bill from AT&T in February, I assumed it was my final bill, prorated, so I paid it without hesitation. When I received a bill for the same amount the next month, I confirmed that I had paid it. This is where the trouble began.
I have to say, I was a little frustrated, but I was certain I could resolve it quickly. I had proof that the bill had been paid, so what could go wrong? I logged in to my online account with AT&T. When I opened the e-bill, I noticed that there was a charge for service on a tablet that had been canceled months prior to switching carriers. I started a chat session with a customer support rep (CSR), thinking this could be quickly resolved. Unfortunately, the CSR kept telling me the $86 charge was for service on the tablet. We went round and round as this person did not understand that I had canceled the service several months prior AND had record of it. Unfortunately, I was not able to resolve the matter online or via their social media platforms. It's been 8 months and I continue to receive the same bill, every month, after speaking with numerous supervisors and being told it's been 100% resolved.
It would be nice to say I had a good experience communicating with AT&T through social media, but that just wasn't in the cards for me. I did, however, have a great experience communicating with a mobile mechanic through Yelp. My son attends UCI and comes home every couple of weeks. I was outside one time he was leaving and I heard his brakes squeaking. Being a worrisome mom, I found a mobile mechanic in his area with excellent 5-star reviews.. I connected my son with the mechanic and let them schedule the appointment. After the work was done, my son told me what a great experience it was and appreciated the convenience of them coming to his apartment. I was happy to leave a 5-star review for the mobile mechanics. One of them replied and was grateful for the good review. I thanked him again for making it an easy process.
I have had quite a few customers leave feedback on my Yelp account. All but one are 5-star reviews. I make a point to "like" their review and/or leave a quick message thanking them. What I do find interesting is that I have 12 or more 5-star reviews that don't show up as "relevant" reviews. Yelp has some strange algorithm that is apparently smart enough to weed out irrelevant reviews.
About a year and a half ago, a lady called me, frantically inquiring about the margarita machine for her son's rehearsal dinner. I told her she had the wrong business. She told me the name of the person she spoke with. The man is the owner of a competitor business but often misrepresents himself as The Margarita Man, thus making people think they are making a reservation with MY business. Long story short, the lady ended up leaving a nasty review on MY Yelp account. I replied very professionally, reminding her that we had spoken and determined that she had called the wrong business. There's nothing I can do to remove the review, which is rather frustrating. This is an aspect of social media that is difficult to deal with - when something negative is incorrectly posted about you or your business and cannot be edited.
In the end, I think social media is an excellent tool to market a business, but it's wise to take some reviews "with a grain of salt." People are much more inclined to turn to social media to leave negative feedback than they are to leave positive.
I have to say, I was a little frustrated, but I was certain I could resolve it quickly. I had proof that the bill had been paid, so what could go wrong? I logged in to my online account with AT&T. When I opened the e-bill, I noticed that there was a charge for service on a tablet that had been canceled months prior to switching carriers. I started a chat session with a customer support rep (CSR), thinking this could be quickly resolved. Unfortunately, the CSR kept telling me the $86 charge was for service on the tablet. We went round and round as this person did not understand that I had canceled the service several months prior AND had record of it. Unfortunately, I was not able to resolve the matter online or via their social media platforms. It's been 8 months and I continue to receive the same bill, every month, after speaking with numerous supervisors and being told it's been 100% resolved.
It would be nice to say I had a good experience communicating with AT&T through social media, but that just wasn't in the cards for me. I did, however, have a great experience communicating with a mobile mechanic through Yelp. My son attends UCI and comes home every couple of weeks. I was outside one time he was leaving and I heard his brakes squeaking. Being a worrisome mom, I found a mobile mechanic in his area with excellent 5-star reviews.. I connected my son with the mechanic and let them schedule the appointment. After the work was done, my son told me what a great experience it was and appreciated the convenience of them coming to his apartment. I was happy to leave a 5-star review for the mobile mechanics. One of them replied and was grateful for the good review. I thanked him again for making it an easy process.
I have had quite a few customers leave feedback on my Yelp account. All but one are 5-star reviews. I make a point to "like" their review and/or leave a quick message thanking them. What I do find interesting is that I have 12 or more 5-star reviews that don't show up as "relevant" reviews. Yelp has some strange algorithm that is apparently smart enough to weed out irrelevant reviews.
About a year and a half ago, a lady called me, frantically inquiring about the margarita machine for her son's rehearsal dinner. I told her she had the wrong business. She told me the name of the person she spoke with. The man is the owner of a competitor business but often misrepresents himself as The Margarita Man, thus making people think they are making a reservation with MY business. Long story short, the lady ended up leaving a nasty review on MY Yelp account. I replied very professionally, reminding her that we had spoken and determined that she had called the wrong business. There's nothing I can do to remove the review, which is rather frustrating. This is an aspect of social media that is difficult to deal with - when something negative is incorrectly posted about you or your business and cannot be edited.
In the end, I think social media is an excellent tool to market a business, but it's wise to take some reviews "with a grain of salt." People are much more inclined to turn to social media to leave negative feedback than they are to leave positive.
Yelp is a serious way to make or break a company. its great you gave then credit where credit was due. a lot of people would only post a yelp review if they had a bad experience.
ReplyDeleteI love yelp but it I can see from your perspective that it does have some negative aspects. It's a shame that the lady wouldn't remove her yelp review or update it to reflect the error.
ReplyDeleteYelp is at the fingertips of so many people that I literally cant take it serious anymore when looking for a company or place to eat. People post negative reviews all the time to get free things or whatever, but have no idea the real impact and that if they reached out to the company they would more then likely get it resolved. In your case its just an unfortunate misunderstanding, that you should be able to remove and sucks that you cant! Im sorry!
ReplyDeleteMy family and I have had the same problems with billing from Tmobile and 21st century they charge you for mistakes they've made which is ridiculous! You find a lot of crazy things on Yelp but people really need to watch what they say to the wrong people !
ReplyDelete