While many previous rude employees have made themselves all too easy to track (as in the case of employees ranting about customers at a supermarket chain, on facebook, using their own IDs or the famous Domino Pizza video-making eejits who videod themselves contaminating food) this one is, quite sensibly, hiding behind a false ID.
This is a very unhappy First Capital Connect employee. Who says they are fed up of hearing all the moans from customers. Who realises this twitter account may get them some flack. But who wants to vent back. And who doesn't care about the consequences (except that he cares enough not to associate his real identity with the account... not quite so ballsy as the rhetoric then).See below.
I scored out the name initially because, I thought - 'don't feed the troll'. I'm a First Capital Connect paying passenger. I'd felt the wrath (ah hem) of his sarcasm and decided not to respond. Instead I alerted First Capital Connect to the potential for PR disaster they were facing (Ninety10group.com is, afterall, in the business of monitoring and responding - as key tools of our strategic development for orgs - ad over).
This guy is stirring up rows with customers - which just generates more and more negative sentiment for @firstcc (as they are on twitter).
But having given this some thought, I'd recommend the best way to deal with him would be to publicly engage (rather than go on an internal witch hunt). And that means paying him (possibly her) some attention.
The name is also quite telling about his attitude. It is @paxhater (should you wish to observe) - pax being the term the people logistics industry uses for us pesky paying customer livestock.
So this guy hates the people who pay his wages. Nice.
But back to the topic in hand. What should First Capital Connect do about this?
My suggestion, engage - have an open dialogue. Publicly challenge his attitude to customer service and demonstrate a better way. Your more positive employees should be encouraged to do likewise - to see their role as customer service too, to also respond to customer complaints - with help and sympathy instead of bile and abuse. You have to hope FCC have more positive people it could empower to engage with customers compared to this (hopefully) rare misanthrope.
This is a formula for success EVEN if the account is actually not from an employee, but from a disgruntled customer attempting to make @firstcc and its staff look even worse (always a possibility).
Listening, really listening, to what your customers tell you delivers way to improve the service for all parties. Better service equals less complaints equals less disgruntled employees.
But of course if First CC was listening it would already have picked this up. If First CC was responding to that listening, it would already be empowering staff to respond to customer complaints via twitter and other online channels (@BTCare is doing it, Honda Europe (a Ninety10group client) is monitoring and responding and learning too.)
I have one nagging doubt about the account. It follows just one account - the one that ReTweets any complaint that references @Firstcc. If you're fed up of hearing moans from customers, why actively seek them - and only them - out? Particularly if you are really just a regular employee... I have my theories about that. You will have your own.
I'm quite happy to share mine with FirstCC, just as soon as they respond...
I do understand how some FCC staff may get frustrated given the level of abuse the company can sometimes get on Twitter for things that are 100% out of their control - from problems down to Network Rail, to rolling stock that they're given by the Department for Transport or those trains being run to a timetable that is also planned by others. However, it's a slippery slope to go down if you want to vent that anger in public.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it should be First Capital Connect sticking up for itself in public, in an official capacity? Sometimes all people want is an explanation, and when people see that a company is actually responding it does help reduce the number of outrageous, possibly even totally made up, rants that are posted by people hiding behind a keyboard (or smartphone).
To be fair, the company does answer questions on its online forum at http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/Main.php?iCmsPageId=78 - with the next one taking place shortly. Maybe someone should ask them on there why they don't take the likes of Twitter and Facebook more seriously.
Twitter as a channel for complaint is only going to grow, what I think is interesting is if it continues, or in a lot of cases actually starts to be an effective tool for this purpose.
ReplyDeleteI’m not actually talking about the organisations here, but the people who complain.
Twitter seems to take away the usual English reserve and indeed common sense.
I inwardly groan whenever I see the almost mandatory capitalised #FAIL tag. It’s like a sport to show off ‘sticking it to the man’ If I feel this way, you can bet that’s how people working for these companies feel and this results in the likes of #paxhater…
Complain by all means but be constructive, hone your 140 characters to do it with wit, style or even just inform, stop the attitude and you may get somewhere quicker.
The couple mins I’ve been writing this, there have been 900+ additional uses of the #FAIL tag… think I might start an auto retweet #HaYourFAILfailed