Social Customer Support: AT&T is doing it Right!

I have been an avid iPhone user almost since the day it came out. I just had to have one and it killed me that it took a week to get one when it first hit the market. I love everything about the iPhone except the fact that it has been hard to actually use it as a phone! To make matters worse it is almost impossible to use in my home but that is a network issue rather than an iPhone issue.

So recently AT&T sent me a letter offering me a FREE 3G Microcell, which is like a mini cellular tower for your home!  It connects to AT&T’s network via your existing broadband Internet service and is designed to support up to five simultaneous users in your home. I quickly asked my social network if it was worth it and I got a unanimous YES back from my Twitter and Facebook connections. So I decided to give it a try. The only issue … is it was impossible to get one! I tried every store in a 30 mile radius, first by showing up and then just by phone but it was sold out everywhere.

So I asked my local AT&T store to keep an eye out for a shipment for me and let me know when one comes in. I finally found one about a month and half later. So I asked them to hold it for me and promised to be in the store within the hour. When I showed up they took one look at my letter and informed me the promotion had just ended and that if I wanted one I would have to pay for it. I mumbled something underneath my breath and left the store.

On the way home I decided to share my customer experience with my social network …

And within 24 hours ATTSusan came to the rescue with a tweet asking for more information …

And with a few back and forth tweets we decided to communicate directly and bingo within 72 hours I had my new 3G Microcell courtesy of AT&T with special help from ATTSusan.  And best of all it makes my iPhone work really well in my house!

There is a customer service lesson in here for all B2C and B2B Marketers – this is the type of support customers are expecting today on the social web. I think a lot of B2C and B2B Marketers are listening but they tend to think that actual customer support is someone else’s job when in reality Marketers need to own customer support! It’s your most pure form of customer advocacy and lot easier and cheaper to save an existing customer than it is to do constant marketing campaigns to get new, ambivalent customer to sign up with your company! Bravo AT&T!

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