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Facebook Fanpage Fail (FFF): HTC Singapore Fans Revolt

Fanpage hell has no fury like an ignored fan scorned with canned messages and HTC Singapore fans are showing it at the HTC Singapore Facebook Fan Page.

Fans at the HTC Singapore Facebook Fan Page thought that the fan page would be a revenue for them to address issues with their HTC mobile phones. It seems that HTC Singapore chose not to handle the issues and allowed it to create a a public impression that the brand were ignoring their fans.

The heat from Singapore fans may have been too hot for HTC Singapore to handle that they decided it was best to update on their status that HTC Singapore is no longer supporting the fan page but fans can still check the page for promotions and updates.

Also note from the screenshot below that HTC Singapore removed the status update bar on their fan page to prevents from posting comments.

However, kudos for HTC Singapore for not deleting the negative comments but if you go through the page, you immediately get a sense that HTC Singapore didn’t care about their customers at all.

Perception is reality as I was once told.

image

This, of course, resulted in more scorned and ignored fans.

Wrote Damien Yeong, “they are saying that they gonna "WASH HANDS" on the page and no longer interested interacting with the users.”

Wrote Lee Chee Wee, “Funny that HTC Singapore is "no longer supporting" this page but still expects people to stay and watch this page for promotions.
Perhaps this page is merely a space for them to push sales rather than connect with users. Bah!”

Wrote Timothy Jonathan, “Wow, this is really bad. I've seen the myriad complaints all over the place, but nary an actual response from HTC that doesn't sound anything trite or rehashed. HTC, I would suggest you go back to the drawing board with regards to the CS experience. Prioritizing the interests of your existing customers is paramount.”

Would you want to buy a phone that would rather sell than connect to your customers?

Whenever a client comes to me to start a Fan Page, especially if it is a brand fan page, my first questions are if the client is ready to see the page as a touch-point for existing customers to share their problems and queries and if they have the resource to do so.

If not, my suggestion would be not to start that fan page. This may mean I might lose a client, but I always feel it is better to warn them than to go in just for the money.

There are also ways to deal with online complains and the best way is to deal it offline.

My suggestion to HTC Singapore would be to get the fan to email to a person in the CS department and ensure that the query is addressed.

From the looks of it, HTC Singapore decided to use the Fan Page more of a mouth piece as opposed to a medium to connect with their fans. This is not a reason for you to go social.

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Comments

Jon said…
Great post, may it serve as a warning for those not fully prepared for the bare-all transparency of social media.
May 14, 2010 at 12:19 PM
Aaron Koh said…
Thanks Jon!

At least now I can show an example to clients what happen when you don't put in resources into your social media campaign to make it 2 way.
May 14, 2010 at 12:23 PM
Akanksha said…
Aaron, interesting post. Consumers today have too many choices, too many good choices. This just won't do. I wonder if the page was an initiative by HTC's PR agency ?
May 14, 2010 at 3:47 PM
Akanksha said…
Aaron, interesting example. Consumers today have too many choices. Good choices. Companies need to start committing to social interaction - and be ready to face the can of worms it sometimes open. Was this an initiative by their PR agency ?
May 14, 2010 at 3:48 PM
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