Facebook's mounting customer service crisis
There are some things that are nice to wake up to. The smell of bacon, for example. On Thursday morning, however, I woke up to something a little less pleasant: an in-box full of e-mails from Facebook members whose accounts are still inaccessible. Some were more or less on the verge of, well, panic.
Earlier this week, we wrote about Facebook's acknowledgment that some members could not access their accounts for several days, instead receiving a "down for maintenance" error. At the time, a Facebook representative explained that it was a "technical issue with one of our databases" and estimated that it would be resolved within 24 hours. It's unclear how many accounts have been affected.
But a resolution of the problem doesn't seem to have occurred, judging by the e-mails that were still showing up in my in-box well into Thursday morning. I sent another request to Facebook to find out more.
"We are continuing to work on the extended maintenance issue that is restricting some users from accessing their accounts," a statement e-mailed by a Facebook representative explained. "No accounts have been compromised during this process, and access will be restored as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience."
Reader e-mails indicated quite a bit of frustration.
"I lost my job back in March and have been using this site as a networking tool," one reader's e-mail said. "It's frustrating that it's been down for so long."
Some were paranoid that their accounts had been deleted and all their contacts lost. And many of the e-mails cited unresponsiveness on Facebook's part despite multiple customer service complaints. Third-party customer service forum Get Satisfaction was filled with chatter about Facebook login and access problems, including at least one threat of a class-action lawsuit.
"Accounts are still down as of this Thursday morning," another e-mail read. "Facebook has been completely non responsive to its users. My account has been down with site maintenance issues since Saturday. I have sent over 20 requests to FB and joined help user groups looking for answers."
From yet another e-mail: "So far Facebook has been largely unresponsive to my emails, saying that this issue can't be reported as a security issue. It seems absurd to me that Facebook customers have no way to directly contact Facebook regarding problems."
With over 300 million active users around the world, we shouldn't expect Facebook to be able to respond to every inquiry it receives. And Facebook is a free product, so it arguably doesn't have a customer service obligation on par with your cable company or the Web site where you bought your last pair of shoes. But this is still a real problem for the social network, which has become so ingrained in culture and communication that for some people it's replaced the address book, the e-mail client, and the personal Web site. Many of the e-mails I received came from people who say that Facebook is their primary method of communication with far-flung family and friends. Others said it's crucial to how they do business.
Here's something else: Facebook doesn't offer a way for members to export their contact information into an address-book format, something that took center stage when blogger Robert Scoble had his Facebook account temporarily banned after testing a script that would export his contacts' information to Plaxo. Even now that Facebook has launched its Facebook Connect login product, there still is no easy way to access your contacts offline. The current account-access snafu indicates that this is a big void.
At the very least, Facebook could make some kind of mass message available explaining what exactly the problem is and reassuring people that inaccessible accounts have not been permanently deleted (assuming that's the case)--something easier to find and more detailed than the brief statement now posted to its company "fan page." On a more long-term level, this seems like a big red flag that Facebook needs to streamline its customer service operations somehow so that this sort of hysteria can be prevented.
A way to export basic contact information for offline access--phone numbers, e-mail addresses, instant-message screen names--wouldn't be bad either.
This post was updated at 10:41 a.m. PT with comment from Facebook.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
YOUR data is the entire worth of THEIR company. Don't plan on them making it easy to access any time soon.
This real issue is that this failure does not reflect well on Facebook's ability to run a high-quality, reliable service, the type of service that advertisers and consumers desire.
The most interesting thing about these sort of episodes is the company's management reaction. As far as I can tell, it is pretty much stony silence (which is what I'd expect from Zuckerberg & Co.).
Time will only tell what sort of long-term damage this episode has on Facebook, but they need to realize that Facebook, while big in the United States, is small potatoes in many other markets and the tide could easily change.
Internet users are pretty fickle (Friendster > MySpace > Facebook > next site???) so it probably doesn't take many of these snafus to lose users.
http://sanjose.bbb.org/Business-Report/Facebook-223670
While this is pretty crazy, people panicking about their Facebook not working is utterly ridiculous. Grow up and find something else to do besides browsing Facebook all day. Seriously.
And FYI, I posted that comment from my desk at a full-time job. I do tech support and it leaves me a lot free time while I'm on the phone.
Thanks, Caroline! Keep us posted, as I'm sure Facebook won't!
Now if your cell phone went out (you know, something that is paid for, whether you or mommy or daddy pays for it) went out, there is reason to become concerned if they are not fixing it ASAP. If they don't they will usually give you a credit on your BILL.
The symptoms are that the website constantly forgets
who I am as if the cookies are never stored.
'customers'? more like 'guests'
I am sure the lifespan of facebook is near its end.
Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick.
We've come to rely and depend on our social networking sites and expect to at least be rewarded for our loyalty with a little bit of contact from the provider when something like this occurs.
It's defiantly a bigger problem than they are wanting to admit and thinking they can hide in the digital age is nuts. To many avenues for people to voice their frustrations.
Thank you again for your article...it's moving around the net pretty quickly as it's the only voice we've been given.
PS - I never had this type of a problem on MYSPACE. :)
We have all, probably, learnt lessons through this episode, and I am pretty discusted with FB right now. But to be criticised for using a service wich is conceptually excellen,t suggests that this is the users fault. The problem is with FB not the users. Yes FB will be replaced over the next few years but meanwhile there is little choice, you can only "network" in a place where the rest of the network is.
Thank you Caroline for reporting this story and everyone else for any informative updates. I'm in the Southern California area and have also been out since Saturday October 3rd AM,PST. none of my family/friends are affected either as another poster mentioned.
It's very frustrating; it seems to be sporadic and worldwide. It would be great if they would please provide updated information on a daily basis. Just a line or two with a realistic expectation of how much longer it will be. It's a big drag, SIX DAYS now. Otherwise a terrific networking site. good luck everyone
"If your free service doesn't give me what I want right now, I'm going to demand answers from your staff and start up a free group on your free service to complain about how I can't advertise my boring life for free."
I try not to anger my paying customers. I wouldn't dare anger my paying customer's customer or potential customer, which is exactly what Facebook is doing, mainly by being so closed about what is happening. Facebook's paying customers are their advertisers. The advertisers' potential customer is me. Just because I don't pay Facebook directly does not mean that they do not have to perform for their customer's customer.
I hope that all the noise people are making is convincing Facebook to fix and prevent further occurrences of this.
- by Qrandall October 8, 2009 1:46 PM PDT
- I have also experienced Facebook's "site maintenance" fiasco. As an online writer, I use Facebook as a way to promote articles, share information, and recruit potential new comers. Losing access to my account has put a serious crimp in how I do business. I also use Facebook to communicate with family and friends, keep up with sports, and join causes that are important to me. I think the hardest part of this mess has been Facebook's lack of sympathy to the problem. They sent one form email to me in response to my complaint. Other than that, it would seem that the social site does not care to provide user service in anyway. I was a loyal Facebook user and now I am jaded to the whole process and I am now realizing that Facebook only cares when the situation affects the company financially. I hope that potential advertisers and other networking sites take note of this issue. Do a better job for your users. Where would you be without us?
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 3 pages (85 Comments)