Anatomy of a Successful Customer Service Event Handled Via Social Media

I hate having to call or email a company for my customer service needs. It's so slow. It takes too much time. And there's just too great a chance something will be lost in the translation, that the call will be dropped, that an error of omission or commission will occur.

Social Customer Service to the Rescue!

So more and more lately. My first avenue for trying to solve product and service issues is to rely on assistance from Google. But sometimes there’s no option – or at least no quicker option – than to reach out for help. In the last couple years, instead of picking up the phone, getting in a queue and waiting for God knows how long, I’ve relied on Twitter as my second level for resolving my customer service needs. For the majority of these cases, I’ve had a great experience.

Here’s how one recent social media customer service interaction worked out very well for me:

Background
I was unable to get a HP Officejet Pro 8610 Multi-function printer/scanner/fax device connected to a new laptop running Windows 10. I spent over an hour late in the day futzing with it to no avail.

Right before I shut own my PC I tweeted the following:

@HPSupport Pulled all my hair out tonight trying for 90 mins to get 8610 printer working on Win 10. What gives? Obvious BS software issue.

— Steve Sisko (@ShimCode) March 16, 2017

Response
When I got back online in the morning I found the following two tweets from Anoop of @HPSupport:

@ShimCode Hey Steve, I'd be glad to help! Are you still facing issues? Is it the first time you are tying to set it up? Do you get any...1/2

— HP Support (@HPSupport) March 16, 2017

@ShimCode error? Please tell me more about the issue. Reply in a direct message by clicking this link https://t.co/a2xkfCJw4B. ^Anoop 2/2

— HP Support (@HPSupport) March 16, 2017

Moving to Direct Messages
So I moved the conversation to Twitter’s Direct Messaging modality and responded with the following:

Service Provider’s Response
Anoop of @HPSupport then DM’d me with the following details (which I'll just paste here since I'm having a challenge placing images with Blogspots crappy image handling)

Thanks for the info! I'll do my best to assist you. I guess you are connecting it wirelessly?

Let's follow these steps:

1) Go to Control panel – Programs and feature – Select all the HP HP Officejet Pro 8610 printer entries and uninstall them.

2) Now go to Control panel – Devices and printer – Select all the printer entries and remove the device.

3) Then press the "windows key" + "r" to get the "Run" window open - Type "printui.exe /s" and press enter.

4) Under print server properties, go to drivers - remove any entry there as well.

5) Again, go to run window, type – “c:/programdata” – Go to Hewlett Packard folder, remove any printer related folders & files.

6) Restart the computer.

7) Now install the full feature software for the printer: https://t.co/2DhJjWIVAQ

Let me know how it goes. :)

Anoop- HP Social Media Tech Support

Self-Service In Action!

So I followed the exact steps that Anoop of @HPSupport provided. I was able to cut and paste salient instructions so as to speed up the fix and remove any potential issues caused with fat fingers. And I was able to just click on the software install via FTP noted in Step 7.

Know what? It worked! So I sent Anoop a direct message thanking her for her help (I assume Anoop was a female. Apologies if not)

Anoop kindly replied:

Closure and Happy Customer!

The entire customer service experience was almost enjoyable to me; for the following reasons:

1. I didn’t have to call anyone and waste my time on hold.

2. I was able to fix the issue on my own timeline - not feeling rushed while on the phone with a support person.

3. I didn’t have to tie up someone at HP (it’s important that we all at least try to consider the impact of our own needs on others)

4. I was able to receive explicit instructions in digital format that essentially obviated any issue either side of the support transaction may have had with issues of clarity and interpretation.

5. There was a record of the entire support transaction. Tracking details of a customer service interaction is important stuff that helps improve support capabilities for everyone. These details even allowed me to write this post!

Post-Mortem Too!
The next day I got a survey from @HPSupport asking me about my experience. I was happy to respond in the affirmative and I imagine my response may have helped HP validate that social customer service is something they need to keep doing.

Thank you Anoop and @HPSupport!