Picture this… you’ve just lost a member of your family and you’re grieving. The last thing you need is insensitivity from one of your service providers. This is exactly what happened recently to one family. Broadband provider, Virgin Media, sent a bill of £63.89 to a deceased man as well as adding fines for late payment, not aware that he had passed away.
The man’s son-in-law decided to post a photo of the bill on Facebook with the aim of getting Virgin Media’s attention. And boy did it do just that! Since then it has gone viral, not only on Facebook but also across other social media channels. On Facebook alone it has been shared more than 53,000 times! Virgin Media made a public apology for the mistake and then took to resolving the sensitive issue offline.
So what can brands learn from this?
Regardless of whether you personally feel that your business has done anything wrong, always apologise and offer a solution where appropriate. This is backed by an article from the BBC which reported that, according to social media experts, it is a reminder of the importance of responding quickly and publicly to complaints made on social networks. It doesn’t take much nowadays for one post on social media to potentially impact a brand’s reputation thanks to the power of sharing or retweeting content. In order to keep on top of this, you need to know what social channels to be present on. A lot of brands prioritise Twitter, but this is a prime example of when that may not always be the best idea.
For more top tips on how to deal with negative comments about your brand, take a look at one of our previous blogs on crisis management.