Long title, huh? Well, there's a reason I included "Social Media Customer Service" as opposed to "Customer Service" standing alone. But I'll get to that in a bit. The holidays are a time of family, friends, yada yada yada, but what happens when those shoes don't come on time? Or that playhouse that will take you a week to build incorrectly gets double charged on your account? How do these holiday debacles genuinely get resolved...and with a smile on the customer's face? It's hard, but it can be done.
So I had sidelined my Christmas shopping day after day after day..whoops. Who doesn't, right? I knew what I was ordering though (baby converse shoes for my niece) and knew I would be going straight to Zappos to knock it out in about five minutes. I went to the Zappos link my sister had given me and nothing. Got an always friendly "Internal Error" message. So I immediately went to the Zappos brand page and said "I need help!" Below is the customer service magic that ensued...
My initial cry for help
Their response, plus another community member chiming in with some holiday cheer
Them actually helping me with real info, not company lines
My mind blown + them being awesome + another question from me
Boom, them hitting back with more real help - please note that this is not fake help
Holiday high-fives all around
The next time you have a customer problem with a brand, go to them and let them know. Don't complain repetitively because nothing gets accomplished with that mindset on either end. Trust me, not all Community Managers respond to you dropping a hundred F-bombs. Come as a customer who is on an honest search for a solution. If you take this attitude, then a solution can typically be reached. Not always, but most of the time.
And the reason I chose "Social Media Customer Service" over just "Customer Service" is because this is the number one line of brand communication today. It's not hard, when you call a customer service line you are only one on one. But when you take to the social airwaves (in a respectful and mature manner), your inquiry is seen my hundreds of thousands - it's hard to throw company lines at that.
Have you had any social media customer service blunders recently? If so, how did they turn out?