Opinion Hashtag,better service

In Gurgaon last month,a restaurant trended amongst Twitter users for an entire day for all the wrong reasons. A group of pub-goers accused it of overcharging and misbehaving with them during a Sunday brunch,and blogged about it with photos and minutiae. Within hours,the blog went viral with tweets and Facebook shares,as hundreds of Indians censured the restaurant managers and owners over the incident. Today,any online search for the restaurant by name throws up dozens of references to that nasty incident.

In a country where customer service has traditionally been pathetic,even non-existent,customers are finding a new platform to vent their complaints: social media. For those daunted by the lack of response to traditional customer service tools such as emails or call centre complaints,Twitter and Facebook offer a new channel to voice grievances. With smartphones becoming ubiquitous,fuming customers are just an instant away from making known their displeasure over faulty service and poor products.

Even politicians are getting proactive on social media. In Bangalore,independent MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar has launched an initiative where citizens can ask him questions on Facebook and Twitter that he can address on their behalf in Parliament during the monsoon session,which begins on August 5. “Pl ask FinMin what in the world will it take to standardise the weight/shape/colour of 50p,rs 1,2,5,10 coins!” one citizen tweeted. Another asked,“What’s the govt version about Netaji’s disappearance? So many commissions enquired n so many years elapsed”. Clearly,voting is no longer the only mechanism for citizens to demand accountability from the government.

“Social media has transformed the citizen-government relationship into a more direct one — and one that elicits a necessarily more responsive government,” Chandrasekhar said. Citizens are increasingly taking to social media to engage with the government,he said.

Social media may be just another channel for consumers to complain,but it is fast becoming the most effective channel. An irate person’s Facebook rant or tweet is public,in full view of fellow customers and potential patrons. Companies cannot control or curate the type of feedback. Even when companies try to revert to the traditional channels by fobbing off tweets and Facebook posts with “Give us your number and we will call you”,customers see right through the ploy. In the process,the company leaves not just the customer dissatisfied,but also those watching.

When government-owned utilities begin to address consumer complaints on social media,it is evident that customer service is going through a transformational change. In Bangalore,power supplier BESCOM receives an average of 4,000 complaints daily through various channels. However,customers carping on its Facebook page get much quicker responses than those merely logging in a phone complaint. BESCOM’s team vigorously responds to social media complaints. On occasion,Facebook complainers have been floored by direct responses from the BESCOM MD.

Social media is turning into an active,effective customer service channel for brands as well as customers,said Ashok Lalla,global head of digital marketing at Infosys. “There have been cases of instant redress of complaints by airlines and restaurants that picked up feedback from their social media stream,” he said. Social media makes brands vulnerable to instant criticism that can spread rapidly and that makes them more reactive,he said.

Public humiliation seems to hurt businesses and companies,big and small,a lot more than individual ranting on emails and over the phone,said the Bangalore-based author,who did not want to be named. Whether about delayed delivery by an online retailer or a faulty telephone line,social media has become her weapon of choice in the fight against dreadful customer service.

saritha.rai@expressindia.com