Over this past week, I’ve had the misfortune dealing with cable (Comcast) being down and just today, my email being out (an issue with Network Solutions). Both times, I vented with 140 characters (or less) on Twitter. Of course, I had to use my Treo to whine about Comcast. But what happened in both cases really surprises me. Apparently these big corporations have their own “David G’s” out there with their own Twitter profiles and alerts set up to address issues brought up on the internet.
Here’s my Tweet:
pulling out my hair…network solutions email seems to be down…argh! No emails for me.
And the response I received minutes later.
netsolcares @mortgageporter Hi this is Gerry from Network Solutions. I’m sorry your having issues. If you’d like to contact me I’ll see what we can do
I just got off the phone (after holding for over 11 minutes) with Gerry @ Network Solutions and they narrowed down what my issue was (too technical for me to explain) and the good news is, everything is back up and working. And it’s the weekend. I’m amazed.
The Comcast response and issue was very similar. A “tweet” from me saying Comcast is out…no email or internet and this reply from “Comcast Scott” within moments
comcastscott @mortgageporter how often has this been happening? Can we help
Along with this one
comcastcares@mortgageporter Keep us updated
and
comcastscott @mortgageporter glad to help! Keep those tweets coming
By the way, if you have Twitter and you find your Comcast or Network Solutions services not working, you can always tweet these fella’s…they react quickly. I am impressed and would have never pictured large corporations utilizing social networking this way.
So for all of you who are not utilizing Twitter because you think it’s a fad, I encourage you to check it out. It is what ever you make it. I’ve found it to be real useful for communicating what I doing during the day, like providing live rate quotes, in a consultation, writing a blog post, etc. And I’ll post something “non-business” every once in a while like what I’m cooking up for dinner.
If you do sign up (it’s free and easy to do) please “follow me” or at very least, send me a tweet!
Hi Rhonda,
This is @shashib from Network Solutions. Thanks for mentioning us in this post. We are happy to listen to our customers in as many channels as possible.
Thanks for being a Network Solutions customer.
Shashi Bellamkonda
smedia@networksolutions.com
OMGosh I’m still having Comcast and Network solutions goo attention… this is so much better than being on hold forever! Seriously consider Twitter (not for whining) to add exposure to your business and as an element for added customer service.
I have Comcast as well and had a problem a couple weeks ago. I vented on Twitter and within minutes, @comcastcares (Frank) replied with, “How can I help?”. I told him the problem and within 20 minutes he had a technician AT MY HOUSE, who fixed the problem plus ran new cable from the pole to my house. That’s what I call great customer service, and I look at Comcast customer service with new-found respect. Without Twitter, I might have had to wait days for a response.
That’s exactly how I feel, The Harriman Team. I’m very pleased with the level of service I received from “venting” on Twitter…”twening” or “twhining”? geez.
Anyhow, I’m hoping that more RCG readers will see what a value Twitter is. At the RE Bar Camp in San Francisco, I heard a funny stat on Twitter….something along the lines of multiply your age times 10 (or 7? I can’t remember) and that’s how many days it will take you to “get” Twitter.
Shashi, my first url’s were w/Network Solutions…and since then emails… it’s really nice to see how quickly this was resolved. It rattles your nerves when a significant part of your business is based on email communications to have it gone…even on a weekend. thanks again!
That’s a great success story for Twitter. I enjoy reading Rhonda’s mortgage quotes throughout the day. I also enjoy subscribing to Tweets from newspapers like the the Seattle PI and the Wenatchee World – no need for cable news when you are getting tweets from the paper.
I’m still trying to make my Tweets relevant and interesting. I try and Tweet about great houses I see or “the word on the street”. So far it’s been more social networking than business, but I can see how the possibility is there.
@geordieromer
Geordie, I enjoy reading your tweets too and would recommend that fellow agents use you as an example. 🙂
Twitter is a great tool to show what you do for your clients. Just listed a property @ ….; @ open house; price reduction; @ escrow signing w/clients, etc. Especially if you have Twitter embedded on you website/blog.
I had a similiar experience recently where one of my sites was down and I was venting on Twitter. I have always been a big fan of Bluehost…and somewhat less happy with my Midphase experience. And the site that was down is on Midphase….so needless to say I was ranting about my down time.
But in minutes my site was back up (without even opening an online ticket from their Website). At the same time I received a tweet from @Midphase checking to make sure I was all good!
Now that’s customer service 2.0!
NikNik Customer Service 2.0 may have been a better title for this post! 😉
I had a similar experience when I twittered about being stuck on a ride in Disneyland during the earthquake. They twittered a reply within an hour wanting to ensure everything went smoothly for me. Amazing. I’m falling in love with Twitter all over again!
I would like to post a twitter complaint that I wish someone would scrub my floors and clean my windows…..I wonder if a housekeeping service will reply….Hmm.
Twitter sounds like it’s working great, but if you’re a consumer on the phone and you pay for a service (like with Comcast) one should be able to expect good, competent service without twittering …
Jillayne, I would give it a try–include your general area of where you reside–some savvy folks have “twitter alerts” set up just waiting to talk to you about your floor scrubbing and window cleaning needs. 😉
Twitter to the rescue again…and early on a Saturday morning. it appears that Network Solutions has done some upgrading (?) to their email system and therefore, it’s not cooperating w/Outlook. I just twittered @netsolcares and they’re working on it. WOW.
If you want to follow the debate tonight via Twitter use #debate08 in your comment (on Twitter) and check out http://www.search.twitter.com using #debate08 as your search.
I just learned how to do this today thanks to Pat Kitano. I’ve seen people use hashtags (#) with Twitter before…in fact, I’ve used them. I just didn’t know where the comments were being compiled at.
It’s pretty darn cool.