In the past, if you were unhappy with a company’s customer service, you had to write a strongly worded letter to said company expressing your extreme displeasure.
This could perhaps be followed up with a phone call should your letter of complaint not be replied to in a prompt and satisfactory manner.
As a child I once wrote to a producer of readymade meals explaining to them that my miserly portion looked absolutely nothing like how the meal was depicted on its packaging. The letter was accompanied by a photo of the dish and, in due course, I received an apologetic letter and a voucher for another readymade meal that also looked nothing like the photo on the packaging – but such is the way of the world.
Now, though, with the rise of social media, any company worth its salt has a Facebook account, Twitter account etc. The accounts are essentially used as free marketing tools and as a means of better communicating with customers or potential customers.
What really grinds my gears, though, is when you visit one of these pages and it is filled with disgruntled people deliberately attempting to be vindictive and trying to ensure whatever company they are unhappy with loses custom.
The response from the company’s social media representative is always the same: Please contact our customer service department to discuss the matter further.
Of course, that’s exactly what any sensible person with a brain in their skull would do. The fact is, company accounts on social media networks are full of trolls. These people may have good cause to be unhappy, but they are trolls nonetheless.
I also hate it when people go on cinema Facebook accounts to ask what films are showing or what times the films are on. Look on their website for goodness sake! That’s what it exists for!
The recent story about Hasan Syed, who paid for a promoted Tweet to slag off British Airways, has well and truly ground my gears. His tweet read: "Don’t fly @BritishAirways. Their customer service is horrendous."
Excuse me, pal, we’ll fly with whoever we want, thanks very much! Oh my goodness, I don’t think I have any gears left.
Get a life, trolls, and write a strongly worded letter to customer service like the rest of us.
