Facebook Apologizes…
November 18, 2010Sequence of events:
Tuesday:
7:08 am: Sara attempts to log into Facebook only to learn her account has been disabled. She follows a link to appeal the decision.
9:20 am: Sara submits an appeal – including a scanned image of her Driver’s license. And then waits and worries the rest of the day.
Wednesday:
3:24 am: Facebook sends Sara the following message
Hi,
Fake accounts are a violation of our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Facebook requires users to provide their real first and last names. Impersonating anyone or anything is prohibited, as is maintaining multiple profiles on the site. Unfortunately, we will not be able to reactivate this account for any reason. This decision is final.
Thanks for your understanding,
The Facebook Team
7:15 am: Sara reads the above message and gets a little confused and upset. She spends several hours attempting to find a different way to contact ‘The Facebook Team’ as well as blogging, tweeting, plurking, and submitting her post to Digg and Kirsty.
Thursday:
2:06 am: Facebook sends Sara the following message:
Hi,
We apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced. Your account was disabled in error. Your account has been reactivated and you will now be able to log in.
Thanks for your understanding,
The Facebook Team
7:25 am: Sara reads the above message and gets confused and annoyed. First, Facebook disables my account – mistakenly. They force me through a ridiculous appeal process and then 24 hours later deny my appeal. 24 hours after that they send me a form letter telling sorry, it was a mistake. So, they made a mistake on Monday night and 3 DAYS LATER they ‘fix the problem’ and apologize in a form letter? A form letter that can’t even include my name, and is signed by “The Facebook Team”. This might possibly be THE WORST customer service I have EVER received. EVER. I realize that Facebook has millions upon millions of users, but it’s time for them to stop seeing usernames and start looking at the PEOPLE behind those usernames. Isn’t the whole point of their freaking billion dollar machine making connections with PEOPLE?
Thanks for fixing what you broke and sending along the barest minimum of an apology. Assholes.
You got lucky it seems; your problem was addressed (if somewhat cursorily). I’ve been sending ‘help’ emails since mid-August for a bug in the Fb external notes application. It’s an ongoing problem effecting hundreds of users and feedback from Fb? Zero.
Anyway, glad to hear you got access restored.