Yes, I know so many people are on linkedin (an online business networking social media tool)…so many people are connected, and that is great.  I hope that it changes how people do business.  I hope that it turns the business world upside down with the social media/networking capabilities!

But here is one of my biggest problems with these start ups and many other small businesses.  In order for any business to grow, you have to make the customer happy.  You have to make any process easy whether it be signing up, changing a password, or changing your service.

Well, guess what?  Linkedin has made signing up very easy but when it comes to tweaking your subscription package, they make life very difficult.  First, you can’t downgrade your account online (even though you can upgrade, change your password, enhance your profile….).  There is no 800 number to call…all you can do is send an email and hope for the best.  I made my request through an online cust. svc. email and it took about 24 hours for a response.  The response that came back claimed they were cancelling my subscription.  That was it…no futher explanation from Loretta at Linkedin.

This is not what I asked for!!  I sent a reply email and again no repsonse so I went back online to go through their cust. svc. email.  I got an email back which said that they were not able to do downgrades.  They had to cancel my subscription and then I would have to sign up again and pick the package I wanted.

Reid Hoffman, CEO, Allen Blue, VP Product Strategy, Keith Rabois VP Business and Corp Dev and other Linkedin staff…I thought the scare tactics went out when social media came in!!  Don’t tell me that you can’t do what I ask cause that is just stupid with the technology you have involved in your service. 

What is apparent to me is that Linkedin doesn’t care about their customers and their needs.  What is my motivation to sign up again…I can’t get anyone on the phone, they don’t respond in a timely manner, they lie and say they can’t do something they can do.  I am no longer a strong advocate for Linkedin.com!

As I have stated before, high quality customer service needs to be the new marketing tool (especially for linkedin).  The best way to maintain and get new customers is by listening and acting wisely.  Just ask Dell who is trying harder at customer service!  Just ask the Creative Concepts clients!