When Being a #WhineyTweeter Pays Off

By Audrey Savins

I’m what my coworkers call a #whineytweeter. If I am not completely satisfied with the customer service, then I will likely send a disgruntled tweet tagging the company who has done me the disservice.

Office Depot is my go to place for supplies for the office—not because they have an outstanding selection or great customer service, but because they are located conveniently on my way to work. One morning I was particularly annoyed with their attitude towards me. The woman at the counter greeted me by asking for my phone number instead saying “hello” or “how are you?” After checking me out, she proceeded to toss the bag across the counter instead of placing it in my hands. And of course, she didn’t bother to thank me for my business. When I got to the office, I decided to show them: I was going to tweet about them.

Much to my surprise, they actually tweeted me back just hours later:

I emailed the address that was given, and a few days later I received a response from the corporate office asking for more details about the location and my experience and profusely apologized. I later received another email from the store manager also apologizing. Office Depot took their poor customer service so seriously that they ended up sending two $25 gift cards to me (one from the corporate office, and once from the local store).

When I made the trip back into Office Depot for the first time since my tweet, TWO employees eagerly asked me how I was doing and if I needed help finding anything as soon as I walked in the door. So not only was I compensated for the lack of service, but things actually changed in the store.

Tweeting is an effective way for customers to have their complaints heard, because, well, it’s sort of embarrassing for the company. If your tweets are set to public, then anyone who is doing a search for a specific company can see your complaints. And, if the company is smart, then they are monitoring what people are saying about their brand, so they should also want to publicly make it right.

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