Twitter Challenge at Carphone Warehouse
Paul Harvey Marketing Coach
I was away over the weekend with the toys business and did not get time to blog a follow up to the Carphone Warehouse (CPW) post. Following the post I put this following comment on twitter to see what would happen.
“Carphone Warehouse on Twitter http://tinyurl.com/lrvrqv I wonder if they are really listening.”
Marktet_that Wed 19th 15:53″
Rebecca Holms replied within minutes (below) her profile reads “I work as part of the HLC Complaints team within CPW. I am here to help!”
@Market_that - We are indeed 
becksatcarphone Wed 19th 16:00
@Market_that http://ow.ly/kzSX becksatcarphone Wed 19th 16:01
The second tweet Becks sent is the link to the PR interview on the CPW use of twitter and social media.
I had another follow up from Guy Stephens his profile reads “Customer Knowledge manager at Carphone Warehouse trying to understand how social media can enhance the online help and support customer experience”
”@Market_that Hi there, I wrk 4 Carphone Warehouse. Let me assure you there are lots of real people behind the pictures tweeting away” @guyatcarphone Wed 19th 16:39
You can read the full interview on how they are using the medium
http://blog.immediatefuture.co.uk/how-the-carphone-warehouse-uses-twitter-for-customer-service/
This is a fantastic use of social media with so many Iphone users on twitter it makes perfect sense for CPW to be here listening to the chatter and helping where they can. When I did a Twitter search on CPW I found a shocking amount of negative comments and disgruntled customers, they are hacked off and twittering how they feel. It became clear that being on twitter for CPW was not an option.
It is good to see them using the medium to engage with and solve the problems
@Tamsinator Hi, I work for Carphone Warehouse, sorry to learn of your frustrations, can I help in any way?
There is no better way to improve a business than to hear the complaints and act on them. It is clear that twitter is a great barometer for this. Boy have they got their work cut out, I was surprised they had the time to react to my joke but I guess it was a nice change from the barrage of bad feeling that is being generated by the poor customer service stories.
Here are a few of the tweets in the stream I have tried to find a balance
“Carphone Warehouse very helpfull over last couple of days. Would recommend them.”
“once again my plan to look at getting an iphone today was thwarted by the lack of staff in o2 and carphone warehouse in town”
“Had the worst lunchtime arguing with Carphone Warehouse. Their customer service is joke. So angry. Still no Blackberry after 4 months!”
“Raging at horror that is Carphone Warehouse and One Stop Phone Shop. May turn to terrorism”
“My new and useless 5800 is now at the mercy of some cretins at the Carphone Warehouse.May God have mercy on its broken soul.”
“@guy1067 how’s it going at carphone warehouse what’s ur take on twitter now that u guys have been using it for a while now?”
Funnily enough, I very nearly went into my carphone warehouse this morning…Mostly wanted to check out gorgeous Adonis working there…But
@Kimberleyxjx ahh no can do, i refuse to shop at Carphone Warehouse after an 8 month disagreement, it got sorted through twitter haha!
That last tweet I picked up this morning proves it is working for them
Good luck Twitter Guys at CPW
