Recently I had an issue with a new Windows Phone 7 I ordered from Dell. I will spare the details of what exactly happened, but to get the issue resolved I started with their online chat support. 
Generally, using this tool across several different retailers over the years has proved to be useful and successful. In my situation they could not handle my inquiry and I was referred to their customer service line.
I called Dell’s customer service line and after several prompts, waiting on hold, I was finally connected with an individual in India. As you might expect, that did not go so well. Aside from the language barrier and understanding their accent vs. my Texan accent, to get my order resolved I would need to talk to another department, but at the time their system was down and they took my name and number for a call back. After waiting about an hour and a half and spending literally hours on the phone through this entire process I became desperate to ensure I receive my order before the Holidays.
So I took to Twitter. I had been doing periodic searches for my device under the #DellVenuePro hash tag on Twitter Search and had noticed a few Twitter responses from Dell. Mainly, (DellCares). So, I sent a mention (@) of my issue to DellCares and received a prompt response back. After a couple of tweets back and forth they requested a follow so I could Direct Message my order number. After a few days of conversing (Not due to any delay on their part, but just waiting on misc requests within Dell.) my issue was eventually resolved with almost minimum effort and time on my part. As of this afternoon, my phone should be delivered by the end of day today.
What makes Twitter such a useful tool for customer service? I think that by having a limited character count in your messages it forces a customer to convey their issue efficiently without all the fluff. There is not room to be mad or angry. On the flip side, a customer service team can quickly access the relevant information and probably even work on resolving multiple issues at the same time since there is not only one person on a chat box or on a phone line with a line behind them.
Another benefit is the hash tags (#). A company can quickly do a search for themselves and see what is being said. And in my case with AT&T, intervene directly to get an issue resolved. I casually Tweeted a comment regarding my excessive hold time on their customer service line and used the #ATT at the end. I was not expecting a response or anything, I was just ranting. Later on I noticed I received a mention from a customer service rep with AT&T to find out what I was on hold for and how they could resolve it for me. I had already taken care of it, but wow!
It appears that a new tool for customer service has spawned out of Twitter, and to me it has been a great tool and more importantly a time saver.
In addition to Dell and AT&T in my own experience I’m sure there are even more out there. So the next time bad service has you down, take to Twitter and see if that works out for you.
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