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Recently, we had a major technical problem with one of our vendors. As soon as we noticed the issue, I contacted customer service to figure out what was going on and when it would be fixed. That’s who you call when you have a problem… right?

When I called customer service, I spoke with John (I’m changing names to protect the innocent). John wasn’t even aware of the problem, and I’m pretty sure he thought I was off my rocker there for a minute. After giving him specific, irrefutable evidence that the problem did in fact exist, John said he would look into it and get back to me when he had more information.

Well, he did get back to me… several hours later… to say, “I have an update on the issue. After speaking with [so-and-so], I found out that [another department] is aware of this and is looking into it. You will receive further update once additional information is provided to us.”

Come again? Probably the least informative update I’ve ever gotten. So, I called Sally, our account manager at the company and left her a voicemail to stress the urgency of the matter.

The next day, I hadn’t heard a peep. I called customer service again (no news there) and called Sally again (voicemail… again). Couldn’t someone tell me something?

Frustrated, exasperated and fast-approaching infuriated, I turned to Twitter. My tweet wasn’t vicious or nasty, but within seconds, I got a direct message from the company.

Frustrated, exasperated and fast-approaching infuriated, I turned to Twitter. My tweet wasn’t vicious or nasty, but within seconds, I got a direct message from the company. And a few minutes later, I got a call from the Manager of Technical Support telling me that the issue had been resolved and apologizing for the lack of communication. He also gave me his direct line in case of a similar situation in the future.

I found a new love for Twitter that day. I am thoroughly convinced that had I not twittered about it, the problem would not have been taken care of so quickly.

You can use Twitter to not only serve your clients better but also protect your reputation.  Are there people like me who are frustrated with somebody at your company?  Will you know it in time to help them and save a relationship?  Twitter is real-time.  You can bet I won’t wait so long to put it out there next time.

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