Rogers Sponsored Tweets on Twitter Fails (Much Like Their Customer Service)

For those who live in Canada, you will know that the mobile world is dominated by either Rogers or Bell. For customers, it’s a choice between the lesser of two evils. Talk to anyone and they have their horror stories about both Bell and Rogers. Through informal discussions (and multiple painful experiences), I would have to say that Rogers is universally hated by my friends and family. This is why I take great pleasure in noting that their Sponsored Tweets campaign on Twitter didn’t do so well (via iPhone in Canada). This is similar to the Sponsored Tweets that McDonalds tried and failed to do successfully, too. Lesson: Mega corporations have lots of detractors – be careful how you use social media.

Rogers is trying to promote a new service, which I won’t name, since I don’t want them to get TOO much free press. People started using the hashtag #Rogers1Number (okay, I had to name the service) to post complaints about Rogers. People discussed about leaving for Bell, Internet prices, faulty charges (I can relate to this!), and so on. Amazingly, Rogers responded to the backlash! The campaign lives on:

“…As you’ll read today in the Toronto Star and elsewhere, our campaign to promote the #Rogers1Number hashtag is being used as an opportunity for customers to highlight any number of concerns or complaints about Rogers.

But you know what? We’re okay with that. We’re in social media to listen, not just to talk. So we’re reading all the comments and helping as many customers as possible. We’ve been listening to customer feedback in social media for years and have made many changes to our products and services as a result.”

Rogers doesn’t specify that the changes they have made are positive though. Customer service? Still terrible. So, if you hate Rogers, use #Rogers1Number and let them know how you feel. And then look into Telus or Wind or Virgin or someone else and get a bill that isn’t wrong every month.