8 ms·

Very well handled. Facts, gestures of good will, and straight-forwardness. Call me crazy, but I tend to think issues like this ultimately serve, if handled wel

by aroman 13y ago

Very well handled. Facts, gestures of good will, and straight-forwardness. Call me crazy, but I tend to think issues like this ultimately serve, if handled well, to improve a company's public standing. Though I suppose that depends on how one defines "well"...

jkestner 13y ago
You're not crazy. I've found that a small customer service interaction early on (regardless of fault) helps solidify a good first impression. Not that I intentionally create problems...
michaelrbock 13y ago
This isn't crazy at all, in fact it's been proven to be true. The Marriott hotel chain found that guests who had something bad happen during their stay but which the Marriott fixed were actually more likely to return than those who had nothing bad happen at all. Source: www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-48540174/how-customer-complaints-can-improve-business/
- smackfu 13y ago
  Reminds me a bit of people who say "Apple is the best! My phone died but they replaced it on the spot."
- mikeash 13y ago
  Thinking about it, it makes sense to me. Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody experiences bad luck. If you only experience good times with a company, then you have no idea how they respond to bad times. They might be great, or they might be awful. You just have no idea. If you experience a problem with a company, then you know how they respond to problems. If they do poorly, you'll avoid them. But if they do well, you now know that they handle problems well. The time then comes to choose a company for something. Which do you choose: an unknown, or a company that you know handles problems well?
zaidf 13y ago
Call me crazy, but I tend to think issues like this ultimately serve, if handled well, to improve a company's public standing. I royally screwed up the embed script testing for our very first customer resulting in their entire site not functioning and a panicking customer on the other end. I ended up writing a 3 page post-martem and apology. We debated a bit internally to be as open as I'd been, essentially admitting basic sloppiness on my part and promising to learn from the mistake if given a chance. Fast forward 7 months, the same customer(originally acquired from a cold call) recently introduced us--without asking--to one of the top seed funds locally.
- agilebyte 13y ago
  Happened to me. I made an SQL update without specifying the conditions on a live database (project running, surprise surprise, late). Our team has sent some flowers and chocolates too. I am going to do the same thing next time I screw up, and I will. These days it is too much about the electronic and not enough of the "physical" in my mind.
stinky613 13y ago
In 1982 some nutjob went around to supermarkets and pharmacies and put potassium cyanide in Tylenol bottles. Johnson & Johnson responded by issuing a recall for ALL Tylenol products nationwide. This incident is anecdotally credited with having directly led to those paper or foil seals on over-the-counter pill bottles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders
- BHSPitMonkey 13y ago
  Wow. That is utterly tragic and horrifying.
  - HNLogInShit 13y ago
    How is it tragic?
- erichurkman 13y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders is the link in case anyone has not heard of the case.
- colkassad 13y ago
  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that also lead to the seals we see today on a wide variety of products.
RobSpectre 13y ago
Thank you very much for that - our work is still not done. Through the night we have identified what we believe to be the root cause and have reconstructed the timeline that produced the incident. We still owe you a full technical post mortem of the incident and we are responding to all the servicing fee reimbursement requests at help@twilio.com. Deeply appreciate your support - more to come.
benjamincburns 13y ago
Replace the word "company" in "a company's public standing" with "well-established startup that's already known for good service" and I 100% agree. If Twilio's overall service wasn't excellent, people wouldn't be nearly as willing to view this from the positive angle. If Twilio weren't a startup - if it were, say, SalesForce.com - this also would hurt more than it would help. Fortunately, Twilio seems to know this. They're absolutely in no way resting on their existing positive reputation. Even though they've earned the trust and respect of so many customers, they're still treating each and every customer as if they must still continue to earn their trust and respect. Word of advice to Twilio execs: when this is all done and over with give your PR people a bonus and/or a raise. They did a fantastic job here in a nearly impossible situation, and I'm sure the recruiters are circling like sharks.
- RobSpectre 13y ago
  Truthfully? Our PR guy is on his honeymoon. Not kidding. Glad to hear you got the information you needed when you needed it - still a lot of work to do to resolve this to our customers' complete satisfaction. We'll get it done.
  - benjamincburns 13y ago
    Ha! Maybe I should've said "give the people who are handling PR for this..."
  - Volscio 13y ago
    After reading some of the comments posted on the blog, just wanted to give you a shout-out for your having to put up with douchey comments and responding in a humble fashion to them. Can't be easy. :)

by aroman 13y ago

jkestner 13y ago

You're not crazy. I've found that a small customer service interaction early on (regardless of fault) helps solidify a good first impression. Not that I intentionally create problems...

michaelrbock 13y ago

This isn't crazy at all, in fact it's been proven to be true. The Marriott hotel chain found that guests who had something bad happen during their stay but which the Marriott fixed were actually more likely to return than those who had nothing bad happen at all. Source: www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-48540174/how-customer-complaints-can-improve-business/

smackfu 13y ago
Reminds me a bit of people who say "Apple is the best! My phone died but they replaced it on the spot."
mikeash 13y ago
Thinking about it, it makes sense to me. Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody experiences bad luck. If you only experience good times with a company, then you have no idea how they respond to bad times. They might be great, or they might be awful. You just have no idea. If you experience a problem with a company, then you know how they respond to problems. If they do poorly, you'll avoid them. But if they do well, you now know that they handle problems well. The time then comes to choose a company for something. Which do you choose: an unknown, or a company that you know handles problems well?

zaidf 13y ago

Call me crazy, but I tend to think issues like this ultimately serve, if handled well, to improve a company's public standing. I royally screwed up the embed script testing for our very first customer resulting in their entire site not functioning and a panicking customer on the other end. I ended up writing a 3 page post-martem and apology. We debated a bit internally to be as open as I'd been, essentially admitting basic sloppiness on my part and promising to learn from the mistake if given a chance. Fast forward 7 months, the same customer(originally acquired from a cold call) recently introduced us--without asking--to one of the top seed funds locally.

agilebyte 13y ago
Happened to me. I made an SQL update without specifying the conditions on a live database (project running, surprise surprise, late). Our team has sent some flowers and chocolates too. I am going to do the same thing next time I screw up, and I will. These days it is too much about the electronic and not enough of the "physical" in my mind.

stinky613 13y ago

In 1982 some nutjob went around to supermarkets and pharmacies and put potassium cyanide in Tylenol bottles. Johnson & Johnson responded by issuing a recall for ALL Tylenol products nationwide. This incident is anecdotally credited with having directly led to those paper or foil seals on over-the-counter pill bottles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders

BHSPitMonkey 13y ago
Wow. That is utterly tragic and horrifying.
- HNLogInShit 13y ago
  How is it tragic?
erichurkman 13y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders is the link in case anyone has not heard of the case.
colkassad 13y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that also lead to the seals we see today on a wide variety of products.

RobSpectre 13y ago

Thank you very much for that - our work is still not done. Through the night we have identified what we believe to be the root cause and have reconstructed the timeline that produced the incident. We still owe you a full technical post mortem of the incident and we are responding to all the servicing fee reimbursement requests at help@twilio.com. Deeply appreciate your support - more to come.

benjamincburns 13y ago

Replace the word "company" in "a company's public standing" with "well-established startup that's already known for good service" and I 100% agree. If Twilio's overall service wasn't excellent, people wouldn't be nearly as willing to view this from the positive angle. If Twilio weren't a startup - if it were, say, SalesForce.com - this also would hurt more than it would help. Fortunately, Twilio seems to know this. They're absolutely in no way resting on their existing positive reputation. Even though they've earned the trust and respect of so many customers, they're still treating each and every customer as if they must still continue to earn their trust and respect. Word of advice to Twilio execs: when this is all done and over with give your PR people a bonus and/or a raise. They did a fantastic job here in a nearly impossible situation, and I'm sure the recruiters are circling like sharks.

RobSpectre 13y ago
Truthfully? Our PR guy is on his honeymoon. Not kidding. Glad to hear you got the information you needed when you needed it - still a lot of work to do to resolve this to our customers' complete satisfaction. We'll get it done.
- benjamincburns 13y ago
  Ha! Maybe I should've said "give the people who are handling PR for this..."
- Volscio 13y ago
  After reading some of the comments posted on the blog, just wanted to give you a shout-out for your having to put up with douchey comments and responding in a humble fashion to them. Can't be easy. :)