We recently did an interview with iBurst's Head of Customer Service regarding his use of a blog for customer care.

iBurst now has their work cut out for them in South Africa, and Cape Town in particular, according this article from MyBroadband. Read the bottom of the article where it states what happened to the i-Burst blog since the article was written.

In his latest post Ed, our customer service hero, has had to move quickly to save some face, but has failed to apologise or explain what became of the 127 previous comments that appear to have vanished.

I had a feeling this was going to be tough when he declared "this blog is for customer complaints and issues". This is not generally what blogs worldwide do and there is an expectation of regular posting and reply from the blog owner. The technical structure of the iBurst blog also needs improving as there is no archive section. Alternatively, maybe he ought to think about a forum as many of the complaints are repeated by other iBurst users.

Unfortunately, Ed has justified why organisations/marketers sometimes fear blogs. However, imagine he had done nothing to address these numerous issues.

Just giving the consumers a voice probably gets you 5 out of 10 immediately. Showing them you care gets you 7 out of ten. Solving their problem in good time should get you a 9 at the very least. Starting a blog and ignoring their comments will bring you right back to zero though!

We know it's difficult Ed, but keep going. iBurst have made the bold move to engage their customers. Pioneers must expect teething problems. You will be taking some stick, but you need to uphold that commitment to engagement. Keep listening to customers and tweaking the process.

It's still much, much more than the majority of organisations like this one are doing in South Africa.