http://gethuman.com/Facebook/news_301/rss http://gethuman.com/Facebook/news_301/rss http://gethuman.com/images/gethuman-hands50.gif http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_23319.html Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:45:49 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_23302.html Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:21:15 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_23297.html Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:48:23 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_23257.html Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:08:05 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_23252.html Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:06:54 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_23051.html Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:57:01 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_22978.html Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:18:12 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_22672.html Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:14:50 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_22274.html Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:58:31 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_22271.html Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:04:09 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_22181.html Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:07:39 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_22140.html Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:37:52 +0000 http://gethuman.com/blog/Facebook__Companies_Better_Pay_Attention_291.html Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:53:48 +0000 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. ]]> http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_21927.html Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:55:13 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_21838.html Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:11:25 +0000 http://gethuman.com/Facebook/customer-review_21766.html Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:31:50 +0000 http://gethuman.com/blog/Facebook__Being_Sued_For_Bad_Customer_Service__211.html Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:50:13 +0000 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. ]]> http://gethuman.com/blog/Facebook__Practice_What_You_Preach_Please_190.html Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:54:13 +0000 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. ]]> http://gethuman.com/blog/Facebook__Maybe_This_Will_Get_Them_To_Pay_Attention_186.html Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:59:01 +0000 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. ]]> http://gethuman.com/blog/Facebook___1_Billion_Valuation_and_the_Worst_Customer_Service_160.html Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:43:59 +0000 GetHuman.com users already know, Facebook, despite all the rave reviews and the $1 billion valuation, recently came in last for customer service for social media and e-business companies. In the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index, Facebook received a score of 64 out of 100, on par with the airlines and the cable companies...the worst offenders of poor customer service. While the poor score is no surpirse to readers of this space, the company that conducted the survey, ForSee Results, was able to not only inform the company of it's poor result, but they were also able to get a quote from the company. That's no small feat for any person who has ever tried to get an answer from Facebook.

According to the unnamed Facebook representative, when asked for a response to the company's poor result, he claimed "We haven't reviewed the survey methodology in detail, but clearly we have room to improve. Building a simple, useful service is the best way to earn and sustain the trust people put in us. That's why we spend so much of our time and energy focused on improving the products we offer and introducing new ones. We look forward to the next survey." Um, hey buddy, room to improve? How about not adding new applications or improving the existing ones and oh I don't know, adding a phone number that people can call when they need an answer? Right now Facebook has canned online responses where customers can choose to solve their problem from a list of frequently asked questions. Unfortunately, if the answer is not in one of the drop down menus and you need to contact the company, you are out of luck. One of the biggest complaints we get is about a lack of response from Facebook.

The good news is that the company is becoming more aware that while the current valuation is nice, in a company where the product is driven by people, if those people are unsatisfied, they will go elsewhere. Clearly the current setup in the customer service department is not working for Facebook, so hopefully now that the company is more aware, they'll begin focusing on the customers needs and will clean up what is one of the worst customer service departments that we recieve requests and complaints about. As we've seen in other fields, companies are becoming more aware of the impact of effective customer service, and are choosing to invest more money in them to retain happy customers, and for a while it appeared that Facebook just did not care. Hopefully this is the dawning of a new day for the company.

To read more about the recent survey,