Cindy Ronzoni

DirecTV made me a happy customer today

Do you have a twitter account?

If you don’t, this post today may change your mind, because the best device out there right now, hands down, for customer service is twitter. And to back up my words, here’s a real-life case study that happened to me this morning.

I was starting out the day by paying bills and when I opened my DirecTV notice I saw an increase. Yup, DirecTV had a cost of living increase on my bill. It went from $109 to $115. I had been paying for the premier service and hence, I knew that I was paying for a higher priced package. But, now that I am in transition, every penny counts so I knew it was time to change packages.

So I called the 800 phone number to DirecTV and got a nice enough, but non-understanding drone. She read and re-read me my options and didn’t hear a word I said. All she could offer me was a $10 discount for 12 months or $20 off for six – and then after that period of time it would jump back again to the $115 package. Even though I have been a loyal customer since I became a home owner in 1999, it didn’t matter. DirecTV was not budging one inch even after I asked to speak to her supervisor, Shauna, a resolution specialist. Shauna was an exact copy of the first one. Just read me my rights.

Now, I did tell the sales reps that I am a cable executive and know how this end of the business works. I also added that I was an industry blogger and that I know several executives at the company (which is the truth). I didn’t tell them this to leverage a better deal, but mostly to warn them that I would probably blog about this. They didn’t seem to care. So the conversation ended with me telling them that I wanted to talk to someone else at DirecTV who would care that I have been a loyal customer. Shauna replied that there was no one else for me to talk to at DirecTV. I said I’d call someone at its El Segundo Headquarters and bid her good day.

I was a bit furious so I got on twitter and starting asking if anyone else had similar problems. And then after a clear moment of thought, I searched for DirecTV on twitter and realized that they had an account. So I sent them a tweet.

Here’s how it played out.