I had a personal experience this past week that I thought wonderfully demonstrates the power of social media. I hope that businesses will read this post and think twice about how they can easily repair circumstances just like the one I am about to SHARE.

I am currently using the third new Blackberry in the past year. In each instance of all three Blackberry’s I have had – there has been a malfunction – which precipitated the change. I am definitely not a technophile who needs the newest and greatest phone. It takes me that long to learn how to use all the functions and by the time I do that – I never want to change.

In the instance of the last Blackberry I received – within a week of using it, I recognized it was definitely not working properly. It was dropping calls, using all the bars of battery before the end of the day, I heard  echoing while talking on the phone, and others said I was always breaking up and was using a HUGE amount of data – that surpassed the data plan that I had – with the phone carrier I was using. I called several times over the next few weeks to try and get this rectified. I was dealing with a manager who felt he should trouble shoot options rather than just provide me a new phone so I went along with it. First he wanted me to get a new battery, which my local dealer did not have. I should pay for the new battery and they would credit my bill. Then I was asked to call tech support who then told me reload the software on the phone and remove all of the apps and not use them. I use Twitter and Facebook on my phone, as well as email and texting – but was and still do not do much internet browsing. Still – after all this  -the same problems continue. A month later I no longer hear back from the manager I was dealing with. He stops taking my calls and emails. I call back technical support explain this to them yet again and tada….he officially claims my phone is defective. Yes Defective I said. They then offer me a replacement – a refurbished phone. Not a new one that I was to pay $186.00 for – but rather – a refurbished phone – that as I had experienced with the phone before this one – that may once again not work. I refused the refurbished phone and demanded they provide me with a new phone and since I had such a history of difficulty with blackberry’s I ask, as per the suggestion of the last tech support person from their company for an iphone.

I am then sent to their customer relations department. A manager  calls me and says they have given me everything and on page 2 of my contract is says it is now 30 days past the time when the phone can be replaced new….. as it is now6 days past the one month deadline of replacing the phone to which they dragged out with trouble shooting as I have a phone record and list of people I spoke to with dates and employees during this 30 day period – does not count. I forgot to mention that my original contract with them was renewed with the phone for another 3 years.. By selling me a phone on March 15, 2010 they gave me a special price reduction of $50.00 of the cost of the phone to resign a 3 year contract with them.

She tells me how they gave me so much. Some extra minutes they offer all their new customers. I am a current customer who did make a renewed commitment to them and I am going to have to pay them $186.00 for  new phone that does not work or take another with problems that likely won’t work either. Better yet she tells me that either I do this and pay them as per my contract or pay that and an additional $490.00 to get out of the contract and that is all she can do. I tell this is outrageous, I am very disappointed in her behavior towards me and that of this company. I am so exasperated.

I take to Twitter and Facebook and start to post my frustration and disgust for this company. Here is where social media becomes spectacular. One of my Facebook friends tells me he now only uses a company – that indirectly interfaces with all of the phone companies- in order to allow the customer to select the plan and phone that works best for them. They even have a plan that allows you to pay a small fee to cover the cost – that if a phone does not work – they will replace it. Not with a refurbished one but rather a new one. I have not personally met this friend on Facebook but we exchange emails and he gives me a contact name and number. I call his reference and go see her immediately. She is kind and helpful and provides options. She immediately suggests that I call the carrier and ask to send the phone back and have my contract reversed so that I can extricate myself from my outstanding contract and then start fresh with a new company, a new plan and YES a new phone Which is all that I wanted in the first place – a new phone that works.

I call the company back with a cooler head and do just this. It turns out that my original contract ends on June 15, 2010. Such luck – it will not cost me really anything and I am free. Yippy! For this major company, they have now lost me as a customer and I have shared this experience on my Twitter page with 1250+ followers and 1500+  people I follow along with hundreds of my friends on Facebook page. I am sure their are others who had the same experience as I did and can now have a resource to go. As I write this I have not received an email or call of apology or how can we make this better from this carrier.

Imagine for the cost of $200.00 to provide me with a new phone and my happiness as a customer – they would  have received a monthly payment of approx. $100.00 a month or more for 3 years and the possibility of me upgrading my phone in that time and renewing yet another contract. That is $4320.00 just in cell phone use not counting a phone upgrade.  Instead I will now not go back, have used my social media community to vent about this experience using their company name – which could have impact on others who may second guess using this company.

Better yet I am meeting face to face with this new friend who from Facebook – took the time to support me and help me find an answer to a problem – that a very large company should have been well equipped and eager to do.

Not sure when businesses will take notice – but the power is no longer in their hands. They are still big and YES have lots of customers but the times are changing. Here in Canada their are 2 new mobile carriers who are offering amazing deals. The monopoly of Rogers and Bell are now changing and they can no longer  ignore customers like me. The power of social media has the ability to build positive experiences that can reverberate out into the market place and can be used as a tool to avert issues management situations like mine. I hope they are listening and taking to heart – that a little extra time on creating, connecting and cultivating their customer relationships – in conjunction with that ole saying ” the customer ALWAYS comes first” may be the real key to their marketing success. Hope they are listening!

Best Nicole

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Other Stuff. Tagged: BELL, BLACKBERRY, Facebook, FOLLOWERS, FRIEND, IPHONE, NICOLE MCKINNEY, ROGERS, SHARE, TECHNOPHILE, TEXTING, TWITTER, WWW.BCADGROUP.COM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.