urn:uuid:9290bba6-9c44-ada2-f522-d70bf40dc20d http://gethuman.com/Facebook/news_301/atom http://gethuman.com/images/gethuman-hands50.gif urn:uuid:bcef4d03-cff4-3de3-ccaa-0405506e9279 2012-05-23T23:22:21+00:00

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urn:uuid:f517efb8-64bf-ed14-d8f6-4fcc72637363 2012-02-24T16:36:21+00:00

What small business owner doesn't get a barrage of mailings daily from companies like Comcast Business class offering to add a phone line for the low low price of $25 per month? Does Facebook want me to forward that information to them? Heck, we here at GetHuman would even buy them a cellphone if we knew they'd answer it and help users seeking customer service. Don't get us wrong, the new Help tab is a step in the right direction because it shows the company is aware of it's public perception of having bad/confusing customer service, but how about we take some of that money raised in the IPO, not even $1 billion of it, but part of it, and open a call center. When people's personal information is put in a public setting and is possibly being compromised, customers want the comfort of talking to a live person for personal assurance that everything is going to be alright. That comfort quite frankly can't be found in any online FAQ section. Come on Facebook, throw us a bone and use some of that money raised from the equity offering and open a call center. It's the right thing to do.

For more on the Facebook Help tab, click here.]]>

urn:uuid:6b64db8f-4c76-bcfb-81f8-3920bf67f2ec 2011-11-29T15:53:48+00:00

GetHuman.com starting today. Not only is there a new look, but we've added an app for you Android users, have added hundreds of new callback numbers courtesy of our friends at LucyPhone and have added online chat functionality for hundreds of companies. Take a look and let us know what you think!

Secondly, I came across this article in Forbes that I wanted pass along. A company called Conversocial recently ran a survey of companies that use Facebook for customer service, and it found that while many companies are in fact on the social media site, not many of them are using it effectively when it comes to customer service. Companies such as Costco and Kroger didn't even respond to complaints, while Safeway excelled at responding to complaints. On the one hand we should applaud these companies for getting up to speed with the times and creating social media pages for customer service, however, they need to make sure they are actually servicing customers. Otherwise it's no different than the horrible IVR phone systems, and long wait times trying to get an email response. Companies need to be careful with opening these pages because if they don't monitor their own pages, they are allowing themselves to be criticized in a very public forum. Now more than ever consumers are empowered in places like Facebook (and GetHuman.com) because it gives them a place to voice their opinions in a large public setting. Had bad service? Take it to Facebook, or Twitter or Google+. No matter where you take it, people are going to see it. It's not just enough for companies like Macy's and Sears to just have the pages. They need to make sure they have dedicated staff on site, ready to promptly respond to customer service requests. Otherwise they are opening themselves up for public ridicule.

It's a terrific read. Click here to read the whole thing. ]]>

urn:uuid:7f505795-745a-cf3b-9fd3-31756bb9ab46 2011-01-28T15:50:13+00:00

Facebook about their account, askin why it has been disabled. It happens a fair amount each month, and we get a glimpse of the frustration that users who are unknowingly locked out of their account experience. Well one man has decided that the actions by Facebook were so egregious that he's suing the company for $500,000. A Muslim man from New York claims the company locked him out of his account due to racism, and that efforts to contact the company by phone or email have failed to produce a reason for the account being locked, as well as have failed to help turn his account back on. Some of you reading this may be nodding your head in agreement with him, some of you (like us) wonder where he justifies asking for a number of $500,000 from a company that provides a free service, and some of you may be shaking your head asking how someone can place THAT much importance on a website. Instead of getting into any politics of what is right or wrong, or what consists racism or not (honestly, we don't know Facebook's side of the story, so better to leave it alone for now) we're going to toe the company (GetHuman.com) line and say hopefully this brings attention to the matter for the company recently valued at $50 billion.

The chances of the lawsuit actually making it to court, or even being settled for that matter are so microscopic that it's almost not worth considering. However, it does raise the issue once again that Facebook, for all the good things that it has brought to people (close your eyes Winklevoss twins), is a company with huge flaws when it comes to customer service. While the company has obviously reached the "too big too fail" mark and is by no means in any fear of ever going out of business because of shoddy operations, stories like this one continue to pop every day, yet the company turns its shoulder on the very people that make the site what it is. There has to be a change for the company, or as we've seen in this capitalistic society, some company will eventually find a better way to do business than Facebook, and will surpass the internet giant. Honestly, how's that Myspace page working out for you? Just like how Facebook put that company out of business, if they keep continuing to provide poor customer service, they'll continue to leave the door open, albeit slightly, for another company to emerge and surpass them. That's not a good business plan.

For more on the lawsuit, Click here. ]]>

urn:uuid:753a5590-6348-1a17-be7a-db15256a22de 2010-10-28T13:54:13+00:00

CNN.com detailing a panel discussion with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explaining his company's stance on customer service. Many people complain about the lack of customer service from Facebook and the panel discussion sheds a little light into why it's so frustratingly bad. According to the Zuckerberg, Facebook employs 100 customer service representatives whose sole purpose is to help locked out users sign back into the online service. With over 200 million users, that means each customer service representative at Facebook has to monitor or help over 2 million users...each. Can't find the answer to your question in their horrible online canned response system? Good luck. I'm sure the Facebook employee will jump at the chance to helping you, just wait for a while because he has 2 million other questions to answer first.

Where is gets a little tricky is in Zuckerberg's comments about whether customers using a free service should be able to get solid customer service. According to the CEO, "Whether the service is paid or not, it's in our interests to make sure that we give everyone a great experience and make it so that they can use the site," Zuckerberg said. "So if they're having a hard time doing something, we want to enable them to do that. We want to do it with quick turnaround." What's interesting is while Facebook is a free service, the company is making millions of dollars from advertising revenue and could easily employ more than 100 people to help answer your questions. Ever notice those ads on the side of your profile page? Think it's strange they line up EXACTLY with your personal interests? That's because Facebook is getting paid by advertising firms to have that space. So spare me the talk about how you want to give everyone a great experience with your site. You should really just tell us how the more users you get, the more advertising dollars you get...dollars that apparently aren't being used to hire more workers. You want to give us a good customer experience? Pay for a phone line so people can have their customer service questions answered.

For more on the CNN.com article, click here. ]]>

urn:uuid:88cd260c-4adb-ef41-932f-75704b7d3b90 2010-10-18T14:59:01+00:00

Facebook, there's a new story in today's Wall Street Journal that might finally be the straw to break the camel's back. Months after a controversy where the company admitted that user information was accidentally leaked to advertising firms, the company again has found another breach of privacy information. Despite claiming to have fixed the problem in an effort to reassure customers they were handling the problem, the Wall Street Journal found several more breaches of customer information through some of the most popular applications on Facebook. Users of some of the popular applications by Zynga and LOLapps Media may have had their user ID's leaked to an advertising firm named RapLeaf which apparently was able to use the information gained to build target demographics based on the user profiles, and was able to create cookies that would pop up on the internet browsers based on that user information.

Hopefully this is the last straw for Facebook. One of the biggest complaints we get here at GetHuman.com is how the company has zero customer service and gives off the perception that it doesn't care about it's customers. Despite having millions of users, the perception is that the firm has become so big and so popular, so fast, that they are happy resting on their laurels and not focusing on the people who make their company what it is, the customers. Well Facebook can't keep having major information breaches and customer service issues much longer without finally acknowledging the lack of service, and hopefully fixing it. The company currently only has a Frequently Asked Questions page for it's customer service, and the page often does not give the answer customers need, or it offers email addresses that never lead to answers. With multiple major information leaks in the past couple of months, it's time for the company to step up and pay some people to start answering the phones over there. You just can't keep have a billion dollar company that constantly trips over it's own feet and doesn't invest in a customer service department. That's just bad business.

For more on the Wall Street Journal article, click this link. ]]>