There have been some well documented and high profile mistakes recently using Facebook, such as the woman who was conned out of £2,500 on Facebook and the offensive shirt sold by Sports Direct which was paraded on Facebook, but now PC World and Currys are in the thick of another Facebook faux pas. It seems that a Facebook group frequented by current and former staff of the two stores, owned by DSG, has been used to poke fun at and ridicule the customers of the two stores.
Former and current staff of Currys and PC World have been posting offensive threads on the group, using very colourful language to describe the customers they have served.
As a result of the offensive comments posted by Currys and PC World employees, the parent group DSG is to investigate the Facebook group. DSG stated:
We have clear guidelines for staff and will investigate any alleged abuse of customers. Delivering excellent customer service is at the forefront of everything we do, so we are very disappointed a small number of our colleagues have made these comments on a social networking website. We will take the necessary action with any staff found to be acting inappropriately.
While DSG claim that a ‘small number’ of their colleagues have been involved, the Facebook group actually has around 3,000 members. Some of the offensive forum threads created in the group are titled:
Really Stupid Customers!
Some customers are really really stupid
There is even a thread dedicated to ways staff can chat up customers, where one employee went into details about he successfully pursued a female customer on MySpace by using details she gave when he sold her a product.
This is a PR nightmare for Currys and PC World, and one that could have been avoided. The Facebook group isn’t an official group for staff, instead it’s an unofficial group with no moderation. Rather than having your staff posting comments on unofficial pages and groups on social networking websites, if you create an official page for your company and request that your employees join you and they know that the page represents your company and is monitored.
Use social networking, don’t be a victim of it as PC World and Currys have been.
