A common refrain here at Consumerist that we try to promote is “kill’em with kindness.” Shouting, writing angry emails in all caps and generally freaking out at customer service representatives are all tactics guaranteed to make your quest for a positive resolution a lot harder. And as one company’s social media rep writes in to explain to Consumerist, often complaining customers aren’t doing anything to help her help them. [More]
Help Us Help You: One Company’s Social Media Rep Explains How To Get Complaints Resolved
By March 5, 2013
Dish Says CBS Made Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco Delete Tweet About Hopper DVR
By February 28, 2013
Denny’s Wants To Be Like All The Cool Companies, Pretends To Get Hacked
By February 20, 2013
With all of the prominent companies getting Twitter-hacked this week, it was only a matter of time before some plucky young firm decided to pretend to get hacked so they could look as prominent as Burger King or Cadillac and soak up all of the free publicity. It happened yesterday, and that plucky go-getter of a company is…Denny’s. [More]
Jeep Targeted By Twitter Hackers Claiming Cadillac Now Has The Keys To The Company
By February 19, 2013
UPDATE: We reached out to Jeep for comment and received the following from a spokesman regarding the Twitter hack: “We’re aware of the issue and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible.” [More]
No, McDonald’s Did Not Buy Burger King Because “The Whopper Flopped”
By February 19, 2013
You can’t believe everything you read on Twitter, even if it’s on the official account of a company like say, Burger King. Proving that anything on the Internet can be futzed with, someone took over Burger King’s Twitter account yesterday and announced that the chain had been sold to McDonald’s because “the Whopper flopped.” [More]
Twitter Feeds For 1-800 Flowers, FTD Are Apologizing More Than Boyfriends Who Screwed Up Valentine’s Day
By February 15, 2013
We’ve shown you some Valentine’s Day disasters from one floral delivery service, and we’re sorting through the many photos sent in by angry customers of other companies. But if you want to see just how peeved customers are, look no further than the Twitter feeds for FTD and 1-800 Flowers. [More]
Now You Can Buy Stuff With A Tweet: Amex’s Twitter Sync Turns Hashtags Into Cashtags
By February 12, 2013
Last year American Express launched its “Amex Sync” integration, where customers could link up their credit cards to Twitter and get discounts on certain items by way of special offers sent out on the social network. And now the two companies are turning hashtags into dollar signs with a joint venture that allows users to buy certain items simply by hashtagging tweets. [More]
My Web Host Bought Me A Domino’s Pizza Just Because I Asked
By February 11, 2013
Glen is a web developer in Northern Ireland. He recently switched back to using a web-hosting company he’d left about a year before. And when the provider asked if it could help with anything else and Glen jokingly requested a pizza, he was in for a surprise. [More]
Vine’s New Age Restriction Notice Ignores The Fact That Liars Can Also Click “OK”
By February 6, 2013
As we noted before, Twitter’s new Vine app has a little bit of a porn problem. As in, it’s all too easy to find six-second pornographic videos, despite the company’s best efforts to make that content hard to find. The service got in some hot water a few days after it launched, when a hardcore porn video popped up on users’ home feeds, and since then it’s been scrambling to assure the public it’s clean, honest. [More]
Twitter Admits To Hack, Data For 250,000 Users Accessed
By February 1, 2013
Here’s a great way to end the week. Twitter confirmed this afternoon that it was recently the victim of attacks that appear to have user information for around 250,000 in the hands of hackers. [More]
Not That You’d Regret Anything, But Unlike Email, You Can Unsend Twitter Direct Messages
By February 1, 2013
It’s late, you’ve just gotten out of a vigorous, cocktail-fueled round of validation with your friends (“There’s nothing wrong with you, he’s just immature!”) and you’re feeling communicative. A few bleep blop taps of the phone later and you’ve just sent a direct message on Twitter to that guy you were sorta seeing saying things you instantly regret. All is not lost, however. [More]
Twitter’s Vine Video App Isn’t Even A Week Old & Already It Has A Porn Problem
By January 28, 2013
It’s just a baby app, but already Twitter’s video-sharing service Vine is coming under fire for having a bit of a hardcore pornography problem. Vine launched last Thursday, touting the ability to allow iPhone and iPod Touch users to take six second videos and then share them with others. As with any social media, sex is going to well, pop up. But putting a hardcore pornography video in users’ home feeds as an “editor’s pick,” well… that’s not good. [More]
Can You Get Away With Complaining About Your Job Online? Maybe, Says NLRB
By January 22, 2013
Any number of people have gone online to vent their exhaustion after a particularly tough day at work. But where do you draw the line between innocuous, “What a day!” posts and statements that could actually get you fired from your job? And what about valid gripes with working conditions? [More]
List Of Companies With Worst Customer Service Scores Is Full Of Familiar Names
By January 8, 2013
Bank of America, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Delta, Charter, American Airlines — these are just a few of the all-too-familiar companies sitting comfortably in the back of the pack in terms of customer service for 2012. [More]
Library Of Congress Amassing Billions Of Tweets For Researchers Wondering If You Liked That Movie
By January 7, 2013
Unless you’ve set your Twitter account to private, every time you ponder the meaning of a vapid celebrity’s fame or tweet about how much you love your new Spanx, those missives are public. If you only have say, 47 followers those tweets might not seem very public, but hey, maybe the Library of Congress is reading anyway. [More]
Should You Feel Guilty After Receiving Amazing Customer Service?
By December 28, 2012
We’ve long been advocates of using Twitter for customer service when the regular channels of customer service don’t work. There’s something about the combination of pithy microblog updates and public posting that some companies have done very well, and that others have been unable to manage. Others are giving up on the platform entirely.If you can get help via Twitter, that turns you into a VIP, and that made Lindsay Robertson of The Awl uncomfortable after she used Twitter to complain to Home Depot about her backordered air conditioner. [More]
Twitterers Use Starbucks’ #Spreadthecheer Campaign Against Coffee Company
By December 18, 2012
So the folks at Starbucks UK thought they could ask people on Twitter to use the #spreadthecheer hashtag and have their happy holiday messages displayed on a big public video screen. The people at Starbucks have apparently never used the Internet. [More]
Lidl On The Hook For $260K In Christmas Chicken Dinners After Twitter Campaign Goes Viral
By December 12, 2012
Winner, winner, so very many chicken dinners for Lidl to hand out in Belgium. The discount retailer is on the hook for about $260,000 worth of Christmas chicken dinners, after it offered to trade five four-course meals in exchange for every dedicated hash tag on Twitter. So this is either a resounding success or… or Lidl will not call it anything but a success. [More]
