Last week, before leaving for a long weekend in Las Vegas, I impulsively tweeted a message about my husband being stuck in a ditch. I said: “Snowy Wisconsin – husband is in the ditch and AAA says the tow truck ‘won’t come’ – huh?”
I was feeling a little panicky at the time – had lots to do before being able to leave for the drive to the airport – in the snowstorm! – and was very worried he wasn’t going to make our rescheduled, and much earlier, departure time. So, maybe in hindsight, I wouldn’t/shouldn’t have “called out” a specific company by name. Probably poor form.
But, I definitely didn’t expect them to follow up with me.
I tweeted that message on Jan. 6 at 10:36 a.m. At 1:23 on Jan. 11, I received a notice that AAA was “following me” on Twitter. Interesting – and a little creepy.
But, it gets creepier. On Jan. 12 around noon, they left me a voicemail message about my “complaint #XXX.” Wow! What complaint? I didn’t file a complaint and wasn’t planning to file a complaint.
I don’t know what to think. On the one hand, I was impressed by the Twitter follow. It suggested that they’re obviously paying attention and have processes in place to connect with those they find via social media who might be disgruntled.
On the other hand, the follow-up voicemail seems a bit too aggressive. And now I kind of feel like they’re watching me. Which is a little creepy…
But, despite the somewhat unsettling feeling this leaves me with, it also suggests some important “lessons learned” – for me, and potentially for others:
- Businesses that are concerned about what others are saying about them online would be wise to monitor the keywords that will alert them to these postings. Quite clearly AAA is monitoring “AAA”!
- If you do this, and find someone has said something negative about you, maybe consider connecting first through social media and then taking the conversation offline is the person is interested. I’m not sure tracking down their phone number and calling them is such a good idea…
- You’ve heard this before, but I’ll say it again. Think twice about what you post online. They’re watching us!
Interested in hearing from others’ about their experiences – on either side of the customer service experience.
