Scripting News: No support on Twitter please. (Scripting News)
Ted C. Howard
· 1 month ago
Twitter can be a good starting place, but the conversation needs to move somewhere else to be useful. I had such an experience with Blue Cross: After a frustrating time on the phone, I vented to twitter. Soon after, @BCBSTX had replied me. We exchanged a few DMs where I got a phone number (to a real person), and was able to get my problem resolved.
dave
· 1 month ago
Yes, that works. Tweeting "Comcast sucks!" is likely to get you a "Wazzup" from one of their support people.
DanielDD
· 1 month ago
Exactly. Two things: First it allows pro-active customer service (a la Dave here) and second it is far faster at getting responses than through a Helpline - for long winded requirements the goal here is not to deliver the whole customer service resolution vai 140ch but rather to point them in the right direction via link or contact info. It's amazing how much better people react when they feel like the wheels are in motion and they're being acknowledged. @danieldarling
michellegreer
· 1 month ago
I don't think you can provide tech support in twitter, but you can play a company's "point guard" if you will. Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out where you should take a problem when dealing with a big company and someone on Twitter can direct you to the right place as well as follow up to see that your issue was resolved.
tnorthcutt
· 1 month ago
Agreed - twitter makes for an easy way to both ask a company for help, and get help from other people on that issue (especially if the company isn't listening). Not a problem if they then direct you to a different channel.
Michael E. Rubin
· 1 month ago
One of the amazing things that Twitter has done is that it has put human faces on faceless corporations. Sending e-mail promises the return of a form letter (most of the time), and navigating through the twists and turns of a modern-day call center menu is infuriating (again, most of the time). Nowadays, when I have a problem that needs support, I like the fact that I can shoot up a proverbial flare (tweet) and I will get a personalized response. Comcast, Dell, UPS, Home Depot and many others are proving that it can be done and done well.
Disclosure: I help companies do this for a living, so of course I have a vested interest here. None of the BigCo's I mentioned are clients, and this is my own opinion.
Garrett LeSage
· 1 month ago
Often, support on Twitter is probably not a great idea. However, sometimes it can actually work.
For instance: a few bugs in SUSE Studio (http://susestudio.com/) have been pointed out, fixed, and responded to exclusively via @susestudio on Twitter. Of course, sometimes, off-twitter contact is necessary via IRC, email, keeping track of issues in bugzilla, etc.
Overall, we've found Twitter to be a great way to have two-way conversations with people using our site — and sometimes that does include support too.
Sheldon McGee
· 1 month ago
I think the char limit of twitter means that some things can get asked and answered more quickly than if the medium was email.
paulmwatson
· 1 month ago
Just wanted to reinforce the "it's a good place to start support" opinion. Also, look at Aardvark (Vark.com) which uses IM, email and Twitter to ask questions and get communites to answer them. It kicks off via Twitter for me but is resolved via IM or email.
James Mowery
· 1 month ago
I have had a few exchanges about Nambu, a Mac Twitter client. I have reported several issues and my experiences with the person/team via Twitter. It has resulted in extremely fast exchanges, and the author of the application even pushed out an update within mere minutes after I inquired and I was able to provide feedback almost instantly.
So, I do think Twitter can be a viable option for support when the problem is relatively simple. But if your issue is a very technical one, then forget it. Maybe notify the company via Twitter to raise awareness that there is a support ticket in the queue or something of that manner.
However, I have been very pleased. It's also nice to see companies like Sony on Twitter actively seeking opinions about their products. Sure, it is more marketing than anything, but it still makes the consumers feel more involved, and that is a good thing.
All Comments
from one of their support people.
Two things: First it allows pro-active customer service (a la Dave here) and second it is far faster at getting responses than through a Helpline - for long winded requirements the goal here is not to deliver the whole customer service resolution vai 140ch but rather to point them in the right direction via link or contact info. It's amazing how much better people react when they feel like the wheels are in motion and they're being acknowledged.
@danieldarling
Disclosure: I help companies do this for a living, so of course I have a vested interest here. None of the BigCo's I mentioned are clients, and this is my own opinion.
For instance: a few bugs in SUSE Studio (http://susestudio.com/) have been pointed out, fixed, and responded to exclusively via @susestudio on Twitter. Of course, sometimes, off-twitter contact is necessary via IRC, email, keeping track of issues in bugzilla, etc.
Overall, we've found Twitter to be a great way to have two-way conversations with people using our site — and sometimes that does include support too.
So, I do think Twitter can be a viable option for support when the problem is relatively simple. But if your issue is a very technical one, then forget it. Maybe notify the company via Twitter to raise awareness that there is a support ticket in the queue or something of that manner.
However, I have been very pleased. It's also nice to see companies like Sony on Twitter actively seeking opinions about their products. Sure, it is more marketing than anything, but it still makes the consumers feel more involved, and that is a good thing.