Here is something you may not be aware of. Large corporations regularly monitor the prominent social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) as part of their effort to maintain a positive image. When someone posts a message that includes the company name, someone at the corporate office is notified virtually immediately.
I have read about this before, but never had a chance to actually experience it until this past week.
I shipped a laptop to a customer in Georgia. If you have purchased a laptop from me and you are out of state, you know that I take great care in packaging. I use a new box. I wrap the laptop itself in bubble wrap, then place it on a layer of styrofoam peanuts in the large box. Then I fill the rest of the space with peanuts so everything is packed tightly, and seal up the box with packaging tape. I shipped it through UPS and insured it for $300.
A few days later, I get a call from my customer – the packaged was damaged in transit, and the laptop screen does not work. What a pain! Well, these things happen and that’s why I got the insurance.
So, I put in a claim with UPS that day. Someone from UPS picked up the laptop and the damaged box from my customer as part of their investigation.
A few days later, I got a call from the UPS person in charge of the claim. He said that the claim was being denied. I was obviously surprised at this. When I inquired why, he said that the reason given was “insufficient packaging”. We went back and forth a bit, but there is no arguing with a large, bureaucratic organization. There’s just nothing you can do.
Or is there?
After that phone conversation, I logged on to my Twitter account (if you use Twitter, you can follow me here). This is what I posted:
Here is the fun part: within 10 minutes of my posting that, I got a call from one of the “senior” claim investigators at UPS. She was calling to advise me that they had looked more closely at the claim, and determined that it was a valid claim after all. So the denial was overturned and the insurance claim was approved.
Something handy to remember when you are hitting a brick wall with a large organization. Can’t guarantee it will work every time, but it’s worth a try.
