If you’re a social media expert, which I must confess I am not, and you’re looking for a great case study of how NOT to use social media, Greyhound is a great place to start.
I started watching @greyhoundbus a few weeks ago, after a hellish trip to Providence. Like a lot of disgruntled customers, I went to see if they had a twitter account so I could rib them a bit and feel some vindication for having to sit in the new, but incredibly uncomfortable seats for three hours. I sent a message, it was never responded to (and my message was pretty harmless, to be honest).
Anyhow, I’m on a Greyhound bus right now, heading up to Providence, and I decided to go to Twitter and read what people usually send them. Sure enough, just as I suspected, while a lot of nice fluffy stuff exists, there are sooooo many customer complaints. And what does Greyhound do with them? They ignore them. Look for yourself. There are even customers complaining about not getting responses about their complaints. Let me recount some of the more hilarious Twitter messages that have been left regarding Greyhound:
“Relaxing on my @greyhoundbus (wrong handle last time) ride & reading my current book: ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ (was Tudors inspired). My @GreyhoundBus driver just asked, over speaker, if lady could do something to quiet her crying baby. Suggested using her finger. Rude.” ~@LvM
“My bus has been delayed “indefinitely”. Taking @GreyhoundBus is definitely the 7th circle of hell.” ~@ethidiumbromide
“Dear @GreyhoundBus WTF It’s bad enough that youre behind schedule but no TP and someone’s leftover poopoo in the toilet is really pushing it” ~@chriscloud
If you have a Greyhound complaint. don’t waste your breath. Just contact the Greyhound CEO. Harassing the guy who runs a company that hates their customers, offers no customer service, and the like, might help bring Greyhound into the real world where consumers have the power. Welcome to the interwebs baby!
(Disclaimer: I don’t actually recommend contacting the CEO at his home…and if you do, it’s not my fault…)
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Great article, Greyhound sucks donkey balls like Amtrak.