One Small Day On Twitter

Image via CrunchBase

I gets a text from the bank that likes to say 'flibble' telling me YouSendIt has billed my card for $49.95. I am not best pleased at this as it's the first I hear of the matter.

I'd signed up to their premium service last year when I had some big files to share, but the company has since  standardised on another platform and so I have no need for the long-forgotten YouSendIt.

I nipped off to their site to undo this transaction only to find that I can only cancel my subscription at the end of the current cycle (ie 2014) or immediately. But cancelling walks you through screens of 'please don't go' and says nothing about refunding my card. In fact, clicking on the 'cancelling and refunds' link takes you to a video that shows you how to cancel. And that's it. Nothing about refunds at all.

Comments are enabled on the page, which has a number of wailing voices threatening dire threats about their refunds. And no sign of an answer. I am man in front of a very big wall indeed and there's no sign of a human anywhere.

Contact Us gives you a sales number and a location map. No email addy. I wander around the site for a while and eventually lodge a support ticket, but I've got the message by now. My money's a-goner.

Disconsolately, I fire a tweet into the ether:

I get the feeling getting a refund from YouSendIt of the sum billed without notifying me is going to be a long and wearisome task...

Imagine my surprise to get a response from YouSendIt's social media community manager, Kathleen: "Not at all - I'll help you out, can you DM me your email?"

Within minutes my support ticket was answered with reference to Kathleen's conversation with me and an assurance my refund was being processed.

It was smooth, neat and assured customer service and once again a reminder you can't outsource customer service on Twitter as effectively as managing it with in-house smarts and direct access to the CRM. What I found interesting was that it was only necessitated by the fact the renewal system and the website had both failed me. Tell me before you bill me and give me the option of not renewing or give me a 7-day opt-out window on the site. The answer to my problem could - and should - have easily been automated and the need for an intervention in the first place averted.

IMHO.