I Blogged about them and two hours later the apology came. That’s how!

You may remember a post I did recently venting about the Orange Brand (my phone provider). I was not happy, to cut a long story short, and after 3 months of unhappiness I wrote a Post about it.

Within two hours I received a phone call from their Executive Team (Jennie) and things were sorted.

To be fair to Jennie she didn’t try to make any excuses. She listened to my issues and did her best to rectify them. This is an important point. I’m currently reading Platform, by Michael Hyatt, and he discusses exactly this. How Brands should take responsibility, fix things, and not make excuses. To be fair to Jennie and her team, this is what she did.

The entire process took less than 48 hours. If I had received this service in the first place, Orange would still have a happy customer.

I want to summarise what Jennie did:

• She listened
• She made no excuses
• She went away and fixed things
• She didn’t promise anything, but assured a swift response
• She sorted out my money problem
• She went beyond and offered further compensation

Now, first things first, I’m still leaving Orange. Jennie went above and beyond, and if I want, I’m sure I could get a highly discounted – or possibly even free – handset.

However, this goes against what I stand for. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. My values are more important than a free phone.

So Orange will still lose me as a customer come September

An Improved Process

Orange have lost me as a customer, but Jennie wanted to fix things for the future. I only hope she succeeds, because Orange could learn a lot from my scenario and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

It might require:

• Training staff differently
• A new process
• Giving staff more freedom to fix issues
• A tighter monitoring system

The point is, they can stop this from happening again. I truly hope they do because it would be a shame to see this happen again and again.

What The True Lesson Is

Now to the real point of this post. True, I want to give Orange their dues. I wrote a Blog complaining and it’s only fair I follow it up when they fix things. The true message to take from this, though, is:

We Live In A Social World

My Pre-Post experience was 3 months of phone calls, emails and venting

My Post-Post experience was less than 48 hours and 2 phone calls

Is it a coincidence I got the phone call two hours after my Blog Post went live? Come on, the world doesn’t work like that. No, I wrote something that was read by hundreds, potentially thousands, and that’s what made Orange take action.

The entire situation proved my fix was an easy one. It took less than 48 hours, so why did I spend 3 months getting nowhere?

What You Can Do

I spent 3 months trying and failing because they under valued me. I don’t know the exact thought process, but somewhere within Orange there’s this feeling of “the customer is always going to be there”

They won’t like to hear this, but it’s true. They take their customers for granted.

You can make sure this doesn’t happen. You can take charge and make sure your customers, whoever they are, remain happy and on board. The Internet makes bad news spread fast, which is bad, but it also gives the opportunity for you to take charge…Instantly!

Orange Reacted to a problem (albeit 3 months late)

You can be Proactive, if you choose

Being Proactive is good by the way. Listen to your customers, understand their true value (both in terms of money and emotional value), and monitor what’s happening. Seriously, is it that hard to monitor Twitter, Google Alerts and what not? The answer is NO, it’s remarkably easy

Be Proactive, that’s what a 21st Century Brand does.

Turndog Millionaire – @turndog_million

Have you had an experience with a Brand so bad that it’s caused you to leave?