How Twitter Saved Qwest a Customer

For 3 days, I was unable to access my FTP server on GoDaddy and I was starting to panic.  I begrudgingly reached for the phone and dialed their support number (a toll number at that). After a 15 minute wait and a 45 minute phone call, it was determined that the problem either was on my end or with my ISP. GoDaddy’s suggestion “contact your ISP”.

My first step was to send an email, explaining the complexity of my problem, to Qwest’s email support. After several hours of not hearing back, not even an automated email saying “we received your request”, I decided I would give the Qwest call center an opportunity to resolve my issue.

“Thank you for calling Qwest. We are experiencing a large call volume at this time. You estimated wait time is MORE THAN TEN MINUTES.”

5 Minutes Later (must be said in the Sponge Bob voice over voice).

“Thank you for calling Qwest. We are experiecing a large call volume at this time. You estimated wait time is LESS  THAN TEN MINUTES.”

5 Minutes Later (must be said in the Sponge Bob voice over voice).

“Thank you for calling Qwest. We are experiecing a large call volume at this time. You estimated wait time is MORE THAN TEN MINUTES.”

After finally reaching an agent, I spent at least 15 minutes trying to explain what FTP was.

Jason: I can’t access my GoDaddy FTP account. I can access it from work but not from home on the Qwest network. GoDaddy suggested I call you.

Qwest: Ok Jason. I want to assure you we will get your issue reconfigured (I think he meant to say “resolved”) shortly.

Jason: Fantastic.

Qwest: Jason, can you see web pages?

Jason: Ahhhh, Yeah, I like web pages but my problem is with FTP.

Qwest: Ok, so you are saying you have a problem with FPP. Let me configure (I think he meant to say “confer”) with my colleagues. {hold music} Ok, Jason, we don’t support FPP, that is why you are seeing this problem.

Jason: F-T-P

Qwest: Ok, let me reconfigure with one of my colleagues.

This went back and forth for over an hour and which point I was told that if I can see web pages the Qwest DSL service is working properly and I would need to hire a local computer technician to solve my problem.

I was at my wits end and decided I would give Qwest one last chance before I canceled my service and looked for a new ISP. I have had good luck resolving Omniture issues with their world-class support via Twitter so I thought Twitter might be the answer in this case as well. I found Qwest’s Twitter account:

Through this Tweet, I was quickly introduced to a top-level engineer at Qwest, who spent 2 hours with me, reconfiguring my network setup, going above & beyond his job to ensure that my network was configured for optimal performance. Not only did he fix the issue I was having accessing my FTP account, he also increased my network speed by 40% with a few modifications.

Did this one support incident have any impact to Qwest’s bottom line? I doubt it. I’m just a small customer, but this one event had a huge impact on my view of Qwest. Not only did I decide to stay with Qwest, at least for 6 more months, I now have a very positive story about how Twitter saved Qwest a customer that I’m more than happy to share with whomever will listen.

As an analyst, I found myself thinking, how would I measure this? How could I attribute the use of Twitter as a support tool to a customer’s lifetime value? I don’t have the answers but I do know that companies who are using social media tools in innovative ways (see also: other than lame PR and marketing efforts) are getting a huge jump on their competition. Companies that are using social media to push PR or who are not using social media at all, will find themselves playing catchup for a long time to come.