'I will shame you on social media' is the new 'Tu Jaanta Nahi hain Main Kaun hoon?'

As an owner of an e-gifting site, my customer service team often seeks my help in answering customer grievance emails. One of the most common problem faced by them is finding a solution to the social media mavericks who allege to 'shame you on social media'- 'write the same on blogs'- 'tell everyone online if you don't give me this'- 'give you bad reviews online'. Now all of these Instagram and Facebook prodigies whose emails we answer everyday trying to calm them down by stuffing their hoods with freebies and discounts are no less than the 'Modern Age bullies'.

Each time I read one of these emails where the conversation starts with accusations and how 'Indiagift has spoilt their life by delivering the wrong cake' or how 'Indiagift has totally ruined their day by delivering the midnight delivery bouquet at 11:57 PM' and ends with threats of social media shaming. These so called educated and savvy men and women are no less than the goons we found on Punjab, Haryana and Delhi roads who screamed- 'Tu Jaanta nahi hain Main Kaun noon? Both are feigning their high profile status albeit one in the real world and another in the online world. So heavy is our digital usage become now that our digital footprint is giving us the power to hold an online site to ransom lest they use 'online shaming'.

While I agree that Twitter and other social media channels are a very powerful tool to help a customer reach out to the company and seek redressal. But how many times has a customer used this power with responsibility? How many times has a customer gone through the official channels of communication and complaints solving before naming and shaming someone on social media? Also, when has that same repeat customer praised the same company over social media when they kept up their service promises and delivered par excellence? Has the same over vocal person been highly enthusiastic about word of mouth publicity for the same company that helped make their day? Or they just took to social media when the company had one bad day with one bad service/delivery/product.

We've had days at Indiagift when we took the informed decision to ignore customers crying foul over twitter. We didn't give explanations to the other trolls who joined hands to shame someone without knowing anything at all. We didn't tell everyone that the customer was just looking for a freebie(which they might have clearly mentioned). We didn't 'Name and Shame'. Then why is a customer so quick to put our name on the line? Why is a customer so quick to generalise 'all websites as fraud'? Why is a customer so quick to deliver social media 'threats'? For now, we have a no tolerance policy to anything that we haven't faltered on. When we faulter, we admit the fault, apologise and make amends. Even if that means losing out money on that sale. But we honestly accept and pay up.

Then why can't a website owner expect responsible customers?
When the consumer has a consumer forum which he is quick to point out as his final measure to get that freebie; wish we had a owners forum to ban repeat offender online shoppers ?

Quoting Jon Ronson, Author of 'So you've been publicly shamed'- "Social media gives voice to the voiceless people, so its a sad irony that a way to survive social media is to go back to being voiceless."