Update me

Well naturally it's time to update the old blog when I receive yet another RTS from Telstra, yeap, number 32 but this time I actually have received a response from Telstra.

RTS No 32

I love Social Media and I am particularly fond of Twitter probably because of its immediacy and it's ability to allow me direct contact with people/companies/brands once thought of as untouchable.

Over the weekend, I was in a Twitter discussion (with some people I have never met but talk to often) about the Sydney Yellow and White pages. It appears that many of us are becoming more environmentally aware and have pro-actively taken steps to cancel the books being delivered to our homes (you can too if you'd like, just click here) however unsurprisingly, many of us still received the fat books on our doorsteps.
Then, someone made the suggestion that we contact Telstra for answers:

But to my surprise, within seconds, a little tweet appeared on my screen from none other than, yeap you guessed it, the very people who have been ignore me all these years:

I nearly fell of my chair. If we were shooting my life movie at that point in time, I am sure they would have dropped the background, heated up the spotlight over me and Hallelujah would be belting out the speakers as they zoom in for a close up of my jaw dropping to the floor.....
OK, maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but I do believe I did say that words "Well, f@#k me?!"

Naturally, my response came swiftly "Please make these letter stop" and inserted the myriad of photographs I had taken before sending each of the letters back over the last year". I honestly thought that would be the end of it but it wasn't:

So I filled out the form as instructed but remained sceptical that it would go no where.
I was wrong. Within the hour, this email arrived in my inbox:

Dear Hayley,

Thanks for taking the time to email the social media team. My name is Matt and I will be helping you out today.

I've looked into this matter for you Hayley and have found a way to prevent these letters from being sent to you. In saying that, you may still receive one more letter as it could possibly be on its way but after that you should not receive any more.

I can't apologise enough for the inconvenience this has caused Hayley however I am glad I was able to resolve the matter for you. If you have any other questions or queries please don't hesitate to reply to this email.

I should also let you know that because you have emailed us you may receive a survey in regards to the customer service I have provided to you today. This survey is by no means compulsory however if you do choose to complete it I would like to let you know that it is a direct reflection of the customer service I have provided to you today and has nothing to do with any of your previous experiences with Telstra.

Kind regards,


Matt Dunn
Social Media Team
www.telstra.com


I do believe that I may have been in a little bit of shock. All these years of frustration, of feeling ignored, of feeling as though the people I pay thousands of dollars to each year never gave a crap suddenly lifted off my shoulders.....and just like that, I went from brand 'hater' to brand 'liker'....and all it took was a someone to answer me.

Customer Service is the cheapest form of marketing that you can undertake. There is no point spending lots of money on fancy ads and expensive point of sale items if your attitude is wrong and your staff are rude.

Ironically, it took the new media platforms to reach an old man like Telstra when the traditional methods had failed. I am impressed that they responded so quickly and I am impressed that they followed through with their response and solved the problem. They are a massive giant whom I now picture to be more like the BFG than Godzilla.  Believe me when I say that if they can do, so can you.

So, that's that then. Fingers crossed I don't receive anymore!

Now, to find a new quest to tackle.......