Racing UK fail its customers on Twitter
According to a November survey by NMIncite, customers who receive a quick and effective response on social media are three times (71%) more likely to recommend the brand, compared to just 19% who will still recommend the brand if they don’t receive a response. Yet, there are businesses who don’t respond to customers at all. My latest example of poor use of Twitter comes from my own experience with @Racing_UK, although I’m not the only viewer whose issues have been ignored by the UK Horse Racing TV Broadcaster.
As a subscriber to Racing UK, you can watch the channel on 3 devices (more, if you pay a supplement) with the Anywhere service. I choose to watch on TV, mobile phone and iPad. For some reason, the iPad wouldn’t broadcast RUK, as it’s also known, and displayed an error message stating it wasn’t a authorised device, even though the website confirmed it was.
So, I tweeted:
@racing_uk Hi there. Trying to view Live TV on iPad which I setup at Christmas but App states device not registered. Advice please?
— JP (@JPFestival) January 22, 2014
I’ve since resolved the issue following great helpful advice from Mike Webb @cretangift. whose requests for help were ignored by RUK. Mike’s requests for help were also ignored but we weren’t the only ones.
@JPFestival @Racing_UK I’ve had same issue. Phoned CS last week and was promised a call back from IT or some such, which hasn’t happened!
— Brian Cruickshank (@bricruickshank) January 22, 2014
@JPFestival @Racing_UK same here. Did free trial at end November and seen nothing yet but debited each month. 2 emails and a call and nowt
— Joe Chambers (@chambers2_joe) January 22, 2014
@JPFestival @bricruickshank @Racing_UK I have the same issue! Emailed yesterday.
— Cathryn Fry (@CathrynFry) January 22, 2014
It’s good social media and customer services practice for a business to listen on Twitter to answer questions and help resolve any issues. In this case, Racing UK were listening but choose to ignore its customers, which has to fall into the category of a Twitter and customer services ‘fail’.
Whilst seemingly not having the time or resources to respond to customers, @Racing_UK did find the time to publicise itself to potential new ones by retweeting a message mentioning its Everywhere service.
Wonder how many funny looks i’ll get at the gym by watching Kempton on my phone using @Racing_UK anywhere whilst on the treadmill…
— ‘Little’ Sammy B (@SportMadTwit) January 23, 2014
The above experience would suggest that it’s Racing UK policy to use Twitter for Social Media Marketing but not for customer services but the two are closely linked and this policy could well affect their acquisition and retention of customers. Social Media is a two way communication channel; shouting and not listening is not to be recommended.
To add salt to the wound, @Gregor31, another customer with the same issue, informs me that monthly subscriptions are going up by £1.70 from March.
Have you experienced poor customer services on social media? Let me know in the Comments below.
Update on 27/1/2014: Great to hear the following in an email from RUK today: ”Going forward we will look into replying to tweets in a more timely fashion.”
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About Jonathan Pollinger
Follow @intranetfutureJonathan helps people, businesses and charities use Social Media.
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