Why I Love Twitter

For work recently, I had to find some replacement parts for a customer's barbecue.  After some legwork I was able to find the required part numbers, and I assured our customer we would have them ordered and delivered to her.  It wasn't a smooth process but it all worked out... I'll let the email thread below speak for itself:

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From: James
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 11:32 AM
Subject: Parts for Broil King Signet 20

Hello,

I need to order the following parts for a Broil King Signet 20 (9865-54):

10184-E78 DOOR - TOP CAP – LEFT

10184-E76 DOOR - BOTTOM CAP – LEFT

10184-E79 DOOR - TOP CAP - RIGHT

10184-E77 DOOR - BOTTOM CAP – RIGHT

What is the best way to place the order?

James

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From: Gordon
Sent: July 13, 2011 11:51 AM
Subject: RE: Parts for Broil King Signet 20

James,

The best way to order these parts is through us over the phone, simply call in at 1-800-265-2150 and talk to a representative in our office here. I created a file for you with the part numbers you provided, so simply reference your name and the information should come up and the rep you talk to can help you from there. I hope this helps!

Gordon 
Customer Service Representative

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From: James
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: Parts for Broil King Signet 20

Gordon,

Thanks for getting back to me.  I tried calling but was stuck on hold longer than I cared to wait, which was what prompted me to send the email.  I also found Broil King on Twitter, and have talked to Rich through that channel.  He has taken care of the order, so you can cancel the file you set up for me.

As a customer service rep myself, I must say I’m not impressed with the phone delays Broil King is having, and am even less impressed that it took nine days for anybody to respond to my email.  Please let the powers that be know that I’m very impressed with Rich and the service he provided via Twitter though.

Regards,

James

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UPDATE: (at 3:48 PM, same day)

From: Gordon
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 1:36 PM
Subject: Re: Parts for Broil King Signet 20

James,

I’ve just been in contact with Emilie who I understand just left you a message asking if you had given your address to either Rich or myself. Emilie is taking care of sending out your parts but doesn’t have your address to send them to. If you could either call her back or just shoot me one last email and then we can take care of everything for you. I apologize for any delay and confusion and hope to help get this resolved as soon as we can. Thanks for understanding.

Gordon

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From: James
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 3:19 PM
Subject: Re: Parts for Broil King Signet 20

Gordon,

I got Emilie’s message – yes, I had provided my address to Rich and he was going to send the parts to me.  As I said, Rich has taken care of the order, so you can cancel the file you set up for me.  I don’t want to seem rude, but didn’t you or Emilie communicate with Rich before replying to & phoning me?

James

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From: Gordon
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: Parts for Broil King Signet 20

James,

We’re sorry there was this mixup, because Rich works separately from us in the customer service department it can get somewhat convoluted exchanging information when customers contact us through our several different inlets. We’re glad that this was able to be resolved however and hope these parts work well for you! Thanks, and sorry once again!

[emphasis added]

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Commentary: I appreciated the apology, but the inference within it is very unfortunate.  I refused to wait on hold for 40 minutes to reach an agent, and when I had no response to my email a day later, I decided to use Twitter to try to reach somebody.  But how am I to blame for their lack of internal communication?  Do I even need to be told that?  Businesses really underestimate the power of a simple, "We messed up and we're sorry."  Besides, I don't need to hear the root causes of your confusion - that's for your managers to know.

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Update: July 20/11 - I've received the parts I ordered - twice as many as I ordered, actually, but since they sent them no charge I can't complain about that from a financial point of view (although their accountants probably can).  The real kicker is that the replacement parts all broke during transport - even the surplus ones.  That's right: the parts I ordered to replace broken ones were broken as well.  I think there's an issue with quality of the plastic used, but they were also poorly packaged, which is obviously what caused the damage.

Again though, Broil King's Twitter guy, Rich, came to my rescue.  I sent him a video showing the damage and he replied that he'd personally package a new set of parts and send them again.


It's not uncommon in the modern world to find products that break easily.  And it's not uncommon to find companies too bound up in policies to provide decent customer service.  For all the failings I encountered in Broil King's phone & email support team, I was impressed enough with their Twitter guy that I haven't lost confidence in the brand itself.  That's a valuable lesson for any company to learn - one person can make a world of difference, plus or minus, for your brand's image.  I only hope Broil King is smart enough to recognize the asset they have in Rich and that they compensate him well and start to clone him.
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