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Social networking for business, a double-edged sword

Businesses are increasingly latching on to the benefits of using social media as a way of promoting their brands and their products.

Almost every where you look now you'll see twitter feeds and FaceBook pages operated by broadcasters, publishers, retailers, etc. These savvy businesses have worked out that online promotion can be a lot cheaper than more traditional forms of advertising and they also allow you to reach those who are perhaps turning their back on traditional media.

It's quite common now for retailers to announce new products or special deals via Twitter and those companies which provide high levels of customer satisfaction can build an enviable list of testimonials via their FaceBook pages.

However, this is a double-edged sword and sometimes, all that twitters is not gold.

Today I'll tell you all about my less than stunning experience with the large retailer Noel Leeming.

A few weeks ago, the old sheila decided to cash in her FlyBuys points and get herself a digital camera. The online FlyBuys catalog showed a suitably modest camera that she could "just" afford so she went online, moused, clicked and typed to claim her reward.

What followed should have been a fairly simple process...

Visit a nearby Noel Leeming store, present the FlyBuys card, walk out with the product.

Unfortunately, the store didn't have the camera in stock.

Now these cameras come in three colours and although they had a black one, they didn't have the red that the old sheila had arbitrarily chosen online.

No worries she thought -- I'll have a black one instead because you do have those -- right?

No, sorry, can't do.

I should point out that she'd driven an hour to get to the Noel Leeming store because we don't have one here in Tokoroa. It would appear that because of something as silly as colour, she would be unable to walk out with her camera and Noel Leeming weren't interested in offering any latitude.

The store said "don't worry, we'll order-in a red one and courier it to you.

Okay, a fair enough solution one might think -- so the old sheila gave them our address and came home.

Weeks passed and no courier, no camera. I was about to ring Noel Leeming last week to try and find out what was wrong when they called me.

"Sorry sir, the courier (CourierPost) was unable to deliver your camera so it has been returned to us" I was told.

Now that was rather odd because there'd been someone home every day and several other items (prezzies from family for the old sheila's birthday) had been delivered by courier during that period.

The guy on the other end of the phone asked me to confirm the address and I did.

"Okay" he said, "we'll send it out again".

"Hey, just send it to our PO Box" I requested. "That way there's no chance of us missing the courier and I know that CourierPost can deliver to PO Boxes".

"Can't do, it's already gone back out" I was told -- which seemed a little odd, since he was only now ringing to confirm the address. I also found it odd that there had been no card in my mailbox indicating that the courier had been and could not deliver the package.

Several more days pass and still no sign of a courier or the camera -- so the old sheila rings Noel Leeming for an update.

Yes it had been resent. Yes we ought to have got it by now we were told

Since it had been sent by courier, I asked for a tracking number. The nice young girl from Noel Leeming offered me two numbers but on typing them into the CourierPost system I found that neither of them were valid. She agreed that this was a little odd.

She said she'd try to track down our package and call me back.

An hour or two later I got a call.

It seems that on both occasions, our package had been sent to the wrong address - even though we'd given them the correct address twice and the guy who'd rung previously from Noel Leeming had confirmed our correct address as the one to which the package was being sent.

So as of yesterday, the camera was with the Rural Delivery people and would eventually be returned to Noel Leeming.

By this stage I have to admit to being a little frustrated and asked the girl if, to short-circuit all this stuffing around, she could organise another camera to be sent directly to our PO Box.

"Noel Leeming doesn't send items to Post Office boxes" she told me.

At this stage I realised I was banging my head against a wall of shoddy systems, poor management and bad policy. In frustration, I thanked the nice girl who, to her credit, had done a marvelous job but was hog-tied by the systems under which she had to work and the incompetence of others, and said goodbye. I also mentioned that at least now I had something to write my column about today.

The girl had done all she could -- now it was just a case of waiting.

I had little hope of seeing a hasty resolution to this situation which was disappointing, especially given that the old sheila has had a hard time of late and was really looking forward to getting her first-ever camera.

As I was about to close the browser window from which I'd obtained the Noel Leeming phone number, I noticed their FaceBook logo and decided to just share my thoughts on the matter with those who might be interested.

I posted a gripe on the Noel Leeming FaceBook page, expressing my frustration and dissatisfaction with the service I'd received.

Within minutes, Noel Leeming had replied to my FaceBook posting and I also received a phone call advising me that they would indeed be sending another phone by overnight courier as I had requested (albeit not to my PO Box).

So far I've not seen the camera but I'm hoping that this time they've got the address right.

I find it intensely interesting that when dealing one-on-one with a customer there is only so much that can be done, policy and procedure limiting the ability to resolve a customer-support issue to a huge extent.

However, post something on a company's social media presence and they'll move heaven and earth to put things right. Suddenly, nothing is too much trouble.

All those companies out there who see social networking as a cheap way to promote themselves and their products ought to be aware that it only works effectively if you do have happy customers. Just as good testimonials posted to a facebook page are great for business, so it is that unhappy customers can undo much of that good work.

Top marks to Noel Leeming for responding with the speed they did and (if the camera does finally turn up), top marks for the resolution.

However, maximum marks are awarded to the internet. It's the most powerful tool that consumers have in the 21st century.

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