About this article

Read time:

4 minutes

Category:

Opinion, PR in the press

Does a PR white wash really wash these days?

The Twitterverse and blogging sites were awash recently with scathing comments about US internet provider Comcast’s handling of a customer call. For those who haven’t heard, a customer (who also happens to be a tech journalist) called up to terminate his internet service. What followed was an epic fail in customer service – where the agent effectively refused to listen or process the termination request.

Unfortunately (or depending on your position) the journalist had the presence of mind to record the call and then utilised his thousands of twitter followers to share it with the world.

As the call began to circulate and it became evident that it was about to go viral, how did Comcast respond? Actually its response was PR textbook perfect – used widely in both consumer and B2B PR situations. So of course, that stopped the recording in its tracks and ensured a conciliatory tweet from the journalist acknowledging that he was perhaps a little harsh – right? Wrong; if anything, the apologetic tweet that aimed to take responsibility for the handling of the call did nothing to dampen the fervor and in fact further fueled the flames.

So what went wrong? If Comcast handled the crisis by the book, why wasn’t it able to bring the issue under control? Well there appears to be more than one factor at play here.

Firstly the tweet effectively laid responsibility firmly at the door of the call handler. While I believe this was probably unintentional, the wording of the tweet implies where the company thinks responsibility lies. This caused a further backlash as observers rightly added that the company’s training and process for incentivising its call centre handlers was more likely to blame. In this day and age, transparency and honesty is not just expected, it’s required.

However, the bigger issue here is that we now live in an era of ethical and responsible business. Over the past ten years consumers have become much more aware of the role that businesses play in society at large and want to believe that the companies they buy from reflect their own ethical and moral standards. And companies will be judged on this basis.

So how could Comcast have handled it better? It’s actually hard to say. Perhaps using a little more judgment in reading the situation and reacting specifically to it rather than applying a PR broadstroke might have helped. Direct dialogue with the customer would have hopefully done some damage limitation; but maybe combining these PR tactics with an open and honest review of its processes in line with a more ethical way of doing business could have gone a long way to minimising the impact of the now infamous telephone call. For front-line customer service reps it’s worth remembering that it’s not just the company who now has the ability to say ‘some calls maybe recorded for training purposes’.

Claire Lamb is a consultant at Skout. She’s worked in technology PR for 20 years and has survived more bubbles than Michael Jackson.

About this article

Read time:

4 minutes

Category:

Opinion, PR in the press

Sangria, sunglasses and self-evaluation

TikTok Advertising: Is It Worth the Investment for B2B Companies? (written by a Gen Z) 

Browse more blog posts

Posted on
byClaire Lamb
A few weeks ago, the entire Skout team visited the beautiful and historic city of Palma, Majorca for our annual kick off event. It’s been a long time in the planning (pre-pandemic to be precise) and the first time we’ve been abroad for a kick off to the new financial year. We’ve always found kick off meetings a great way...
Posted on
byHonor Williamson
TikTok is increasingly being used as a platform for B2B companies to implement their marketing strategy, aiding in brand exposure, lead generation and profile building. But, where does paid TikTok advertising come into play? Is it an effective tool to engage with B2B audiences, or is the ROI just not worth it?  If you’re the least bit social media savvy,...
Posted on
byClaire James
In May I was fortunate to be able to attend the recent UK Construction Week at Excel in London and see the strides forward an industry, that has become recognised as one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, is making in tackling the thorny issue of achieving Net Zero. In his keynote on day one, Lord Callanan, Under Secretary...
Posted on
byJames Weaver
In the world of B2B marketing, it is essential that you have a solid B2B marketing strategy in place to effectively connect with your target audience.
Posted on
byHonor Williamson
Why was PR your chosen career?  PR is all about storytelling, with so much opportunity for creativity and content creation. Since I’ve always loved writing and always had a big imagination, I thought that PR would be the ideal career to channel my creativity. I’m all about communication, and PR really allows you to foster meaningful relationships. I’m already learning...
Posted on
byJack Doyle
As a smaller business, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to sustainability. Sure, we all do our best to use the right recycling bin at home, and bring our re-usable coffee cups to work. But with serious pressures now mounting from the government – which pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 –...
Posted on
byLee Simpson
Another week, another round of mass layoffs in the tech sector. With Amazon (AWS) and Meta cutting thousands of jobs, and further layoffs at Salesforce and of course Twitter, it has felt a bit like the tech world has been imploding of late. This is of course concerning for us working in B2B tech PR, but more importantly for the...
Posted on
byJack Doyle
2023 is off to a strong start here at Skout.  Our business has continued to grow with the addition of some exciting new clients. With new clients, has come new hires, who we’ve also been excited to welcome on board the team. And if our recent win for Best Marketing and PR Consultancy at the PR Brilliance Awards is anything...
Posted on
bySkout team
Part time office administrator We’re looking for a bright, self-starting individual who likes job variety and has a mixture of strong organisational skills, basic financial experience and is an excellent communicator. If this is you, you could be just the right person to join our team. We’re a dedicated B2B marketing communications agency. We deliver brilliant PR for clients across...
Posted on
byClaire James
It’s estimated that over 100 billion WhatsApp messages are sent each day. Yet, with many people using the platform to communicate with colleagues, friends, and even clients, it’s easy to imagine how the lines between personal and professional can be blurred. Take the recent leaking of WhatsApp messages from Matt Hancock as an example. Private texts from the former health...

Send us a message

Download The B2B business relationship report

The B2B relationship renaissance – did digital kill it? The importance of relationships throughout the customer buying journey. Please complete the form below and receive a download link via email.