Customer Service on Social Media – What NOT to Do

21
Jun 2012

Remember my episode with Birchbox several months ago? Fortunately, Birchbox graciously reached out to me and we resolved the issue, but today my  social media customer service (or lackthereof) saga continues, this time with an up-and-coming company called Everlane.

Everlane touts to “create the finest luxury accessories and essentials under $100”, attributing their affordable prices to their smart manufacturing techniques –like cutting out the middleman– and by only operating online. Their clean, minimalistic website boasts a variety of basic fashion pieces for men and women, all at very reasonable prices.

I finally had a chance to place my order with Everlane last week. I love basics, so the prospect of getting high-quality v-necks at affordable prices was exciting. So exciting, in fact, that I could hardly wait for my order to arrive (c’mon, you know you stalk your postman for your Amazon.com orders, too). To my chagrin however, I couldn’t find any sort of order tracking on Everlane’s website.

Here’s when things really went downhill: I decided to reach out to Everlane on Twitter, asking simply if there were any available ways to track orders. I checked back later, but found no reply, which was when I noticed that I was not yet following @Everlane. But when I proceeded to do so, Twitter informed me that @Everlane had blocked me.

Twitter is notoriously buggy, so hoping that this was all a fluke, I decided to experiment; I asked my boyfriend to tweet @Everlane the same question, and then we waited for @Everlane’s move. Next thing you know, Everlane blocks my boyfriend, too.

Seriously, was my question that offensive to you, Everlane?

Annoyed, I resorted to private messaging Everlane’s Facebook (because I was certain that had I posted on their wall, they would have banned me from their page, too) with the same question. The good news is that Everlane responded (finally!).  The bad? Well, you can take a look at the answer yourself:

 

 

Sigh. For one, terse response, much? And two, I’m well aware you have an email address, Everlane, but had I really wanted to go that route (which I probably should have, in hindsight..) I would have done so already. There’s a reason why platforms like Twitter and Facebook exist—to get companies like you to be more social.

Apparently, Everlane not only skimps on their manufacturing middleman, but also on customer service too.

Everlane, I love your website and your concept, but who the heck is running your social media? Why would you even have a Twitter account if people can’t reach out to you, or worse, if you prohibit people from contacting you at all? And would it kill you to sound a little nicer when messaging your customers?

And finally, is there any way to track my orders from your site?!

 

 

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