In the social media era you just can’t skimp on customer service. If you do it’ll come back to bite you in the search results.
I won’t go into too much detail (and I promise not to do many more of these posts) but I’ve had yet another maddening and very negative customer service experience this morning with Virgin Mobile. Just the latest in a string of bad customer care experiences, they think my daughter has a “replacement phone” that she never received from them. They keep threatening to cut off my daughter’s service until she returns the phone.
She keeps getting texts (“send it back or we’ll cut off your service”). I keep calling and retelling the story: her phone was stolen, we bought a new phone, we didn’t get one from you. “Oh, we’re sorry,” they say. They quickly explain that they’re going to take care of it — but it doesn’t happen. We’re now 6 or 7 calls into the problem.
This morning I was talking to someone in “corporate escalation” who was eager to get me off the phone and kept telling me why she couldn’t help me. Her attitude and efforts were perfunctory at best. I then got on the phone with her supervisor who kept saying he was sorry, doing and saying little else. I got so mad I went into my “don’t you realize that your poor customer service will hurt your brand in the end” spiel.
But because he wasn’t a marketing person, he didn’t care what might happen to Virgin’s brand. #Disconnect, #Fail.
As I was talking to them I searched on “virginmobile” and “virgin mobile.” For both formulations of the query my post Marketing-Customer Care Divide: VirginMobile Edition is now on page one of Google. For “virginmobile” it’s the sixth organic result.
I asked the supervisor if he was in front of a computer and intended to show him the search result. He proceeded to explain to me that he couldn’t go to websites outside Virgin’s secure system . . . blah, blah, blah. Clearly there’s no coordination between marketing and customer care at this company.
This very scenario was the subject of one of the panels we put on at C3, about how bad service and reputation information will eventually show up in search results and taint the brand:
Shaping the Conversation: Search, Reputation and P2P
Consumers searching on brand or product names often find sites, blogs or forums that outrank the brands and which are often fiercely critical. This challenge has been around for years, so have “listening tools” to monitor these online conversations. The panel will discuss how marketers and support organizations can go beyond simply “listening” to third party discussions and actually intervene and shape the conversation about their products and services.
Speakers:
- Barbara Coll, CEO, WebMama
- Wendy Lea, CEO, Get Satisfaction
- Simon Hayhurst, Senior Vice President of Promote Marketing, Autonomy
- Ben Straley, CEO, Meteor Solutions
Now I’m a living case study.
I told the supervisor as I got off the phone with him that I would probably go on and write another post that would be indexed; and that as I and others exposed these negative experiences they would ultimately reflect on Virgin’s brand and its ability to acquire customers. He probably thought I was a lunatic and didn’t get what I was talking about. After all it’s Sunday for cryin’ out loud.
He repeated that he was “sorry” but didn’t really seem to care.
In case you need it, Virgin’s US corporate escalation number is 866-553-9810. However I would recommend against getting involved with them in the first place.
And now for a video with a catchy tune that expresses my frustration with Virgin, Cee-Lo Green’s song “F**k You.” Parents strongly cautioned.
February 20th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
hi greg,
don’t know if you saw this, but this prank they played on a belgian telco with bad customer service. might cheer up your day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxXlDyTD7wo
cheers.
dietrich.
February 20th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Thanks. I think I heard about it but hadn’t seen any video.
February 21st, 2011 at 12:54 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Greg Sterling, Greg Sterling and shoppetweets, SMBinfo. SMBinfo said: VirginMobile’s Customer Service Reeks, My Complaints Starting to Rank http://ow.ly/1bqbT3 [...]
February 21st, 2011 at 9:18 pm
Well you are just one step short of a viral hit.
February 21st, 2011 at 9:22 pm
I have to write a song now and make a YouTube video.
February 21st, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Cee-Lo has already done that for you…
The question now is how long before a major company gets the “pleasure” of having their unfavorable brand experience mashed up into his video and then shared with one million of their closest YouTube friends.
While a Sterling Cee-Lo VirginMobile Youtube mashup might be a stretch, it will only be a matter of time before someone uses Cee-Lo’s performance as a platform for voicing their dissatisfaction with a major brand.
February 21st, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Yep.
February 21st, 2011 at 10:16 pm
Do you think the video could be used instead to build brand awareness in a neutral or favorable light?
February 21st, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Probably not.
March 3rd, 2011 at 5:59 am
[...] been complaining about VirginMobile customer service over the past several weeks, based on an ongoing problem with [...]
May 10th, 2011 at 1:45 am
“In case you need it, Virgin’s US corporate escalation number is 866-553-9810. However I would recommend against getting involved with them in the first place.” This number has been disconnected. Any other Escalation Department number that you are aware of??
May 17th, 2011 at 1:39 am
I had many a problem with the ability to receive text messages on (3) phones: Wife, Son #1 and son # 2. I called and emailed tech support over 20 times within 30 days. After I threatened a class action law suit against Virgin Mobile, I was able to call the “Real Virgin Mobile Tech Support”. This is known as Tier 3 support. This number is definitely not published and is as follows: 1-855-250-5271. I called this number and on the 2nd ring I was connected with support. They immediately resolved my issue by sending out (3) new Samsung intercept phones. We received them today and all 3 up and running with no issues now. The tech support rep told me not to bother to call the typical support number as they truly wont resolve most issues. So please go ahead and use this number: 1-855-250-5271 and get that level of supoport that we all expect from a company.
July 21st, 2011 at 12:54 am
I found your website after dealing with the idiotic customer service at 888-322-1122. After shouting for several minutes that I wanted to talk to someone who could actually help me, I talked to a “supervisor” who was no help at all. The customer service people at that number blamed me for my issue, even though I had nothing to do with it.
I called 1-855-250-5271 expecting the same type of treatment; However, I was pleasantly surprised to be quickly assisted by a knowledgeable person. She was able to answer my questions, found the reason to my issue, and was able to resolve the situation.
The “other” service reps claimed there was no way to resolve my issue. I told them that could not be true and asked for an escalation, but according the the “supervisor” named Vanessa, she was the highest person to whom I could speak….. What a joke.
August 24th, 2011 at 4:21 am
I just spent the last 24 hours on the phone with virgin mobile trying to port my number form cricket to them and i have gotten the worst service i have ever gotten in my life. From being transfered to thousands of people and then hung up on by managers, this is horible and my phone is still not working. I dont know what else to do, i’ve already lost service with my other company since the port process was finished on thier end and yet my phone still has not been turned on. Does anyone know a number to contact corprate offices, is so please help!
August 30th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Like others commenting on this page, I called the “outsourced” VM Support line—twice actually—about a problem that prevented me from making and receiving calls (specifically, a recorded message when calling out: “Your account is not authorized to call this number” and a rapid busy signal for callers). The techs were polite enough, but they could do nothing other than re-activate my phone, which did not fix the problem. They entered a trouble ticket and said that someone from the corporate team would call me within 72 hours.
When I didn’t hear from anyone after 3 days, I called the 855-250-5271 number Eric (above) provided (thanks!) and I got through to corporate escalations. The person who answered said I had reached the wrong area, but she transferred me to someone who was able to fix my problem in under two minutes.
I was very close to cancelling my service, so the take-away here for Virgin Mobile is: Qualified support techs satisfy customers and ensure an ongoing revenue stream!
September 6th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
hey i have tryed all of those “esclations” numbers and none of them seem to be a valid number anymore.. i keep getting a messege that if i dont send my old phone back i wont have any service.. well thats all fine except i have no clue as to what the adress is i send it to.. any help here?
December 4th, 2011 at 1:48 am
Many have had the same problems virgin mobile is the worst compant ever richard branson the owner of vm and also virgin airlines does nothing to care about the customers that fill his pockets all he cares about is filling his bank account there phones and equipment they claim are made by samsung are nothing but garbage at least once a month I have problems with something or the other. They also steal their customers money by customers purchasing ringtones and things then when their services messes up the only will reimburse up to 9 dollars thus pocketing the money customers have alredy spent to purchase those things.. I hope evry single person that has ever delt with virgin mobile will continue to post complaints any where they can.. and to richard branson I hope your company looses all its business then maybe you’ll realize how to treat the people that supply the money for you to buy islands and things…. you suck as a business owner and as a rightouse person..
January 3rd, 2012 at 9:09 pm
After over a month customer service calls and email trying to resolve an issued re a defective phone I’ve decided to sue in small claims court.
Can someone provide an officers name and agent to accept process in California for Virgin Mobile USA DBA Virgin Mobile Web Reston VA.
Once adjudicated I’ll make info available for other victims.
Thanks in advance.
March 6th, 2012 at 6:06 pm
I am using Virgin Mobile Canada and I have the same experience for the last 1 week. I was even told that I have called their customer care enough times and I shouldn’t be calling them again from tomorrow. Wowwww.. maybe they are facing bandwidth issues. The representatives seems to tell you what they think is right and would not care about your problems. I wanted to get to the complaints team and they did transfer. After I explained the whole scenario, the person said, you need to talk to the complaints team.. So, who were you, Additional Information team?? And after he said he will transfer the call, the call is dropped. That was after a long 55 minutes conversation. I would strongly recommend not to use Virgin Mobile if you expect a better customer service.
April 24th, 2012 at 1:17 am
I had virgin for my first cell, I never had any trouble with them. Now all grown up, I was with Sprint for 7 yrs, then went to Tmobile because I wanted the htc hd2 (what a mistake, Tmobile is horrible). I decided after my 2 yr contract with tmobile I would give Virgin a try again, so my daughter and I bought 2 optmus v phones, and took the 45.00 a month plan. We have been on it for 2 months now and LOVE it!! unlimited web, data, email, msgs and 1200 minutes.. I am sure you all have had unpleasant experiences with Virgin’s customer service they are just like all the other customer service reps at several carriers.. try Tmobile customer service — then you wil know you have it good with Virgin. for the money they are the best! when I ended my 2 yr contract with Tmobile they were going to charge me a FULL months service fee even though I used about a week. One rep was yelling at me to contact legal! I did some research and found out that if you had a contract in place prior to July 2010 they cannot legally charge you a months service, I called Tmobile and told them that, they replied they are not allowed to divulge that info to customers. I was given the pro reated charge and if I had not done the research they would have charged me a full month. So, once again… we are lucky we have Virgin, with the low fees and unlimited plans!! BTW I work for an atty in Florida, I do NOT work for Virgin. just saying