You have a complaint against a financial services company and you are frustrated beyond belief. So, you find their Facebook page and post your tale of woe along with all the relevant information. Stop. Have you thought about the full implications of doing so?

Most companies have woken up to the value of using social media to quickly and effectively pick up complaints and address them as soon as possible. The long-term insurance ombudsman, Judge Ron MacLaren, last year highlighted the fact that there is growing use of social media by consumers as a means to voice their complaints. “People are using social media to voice their dissatisfaction with financial institutions and it is increasingly being seen as an alternative to the more traditional forms of consumer recourse,” he says. “Financial institutions tend to react swiftly to social media complaints because of the threat of negative publicity, which in turn encourages the use of this as a medium for complaint resolution.”

However, some caution needs to be exercised when using social media such as Twitter or Facebook as a complaint forum. The information you share is quickly picked up by the offending organisation but it can just as easily be picked up by criminals looking to use your personal details to commit fraud.

To avoid becoming a fraud victim, you should do the following:

• Be circumspect about the amount of information and detail you list on a public forum. The fact that you have complained publicly usually means a representative from the company will contact you to hear you out and find a resolution.
• Don’t list your personal details such as your identity number, physical address or cellphone number in a public forum. Both Facebook and Twitter give you the option to send a private message. You can send the company your email details via a private message and then communicate privately.

Do’s and Don’ts

Get your complaint resolved quickly by doing the following:

• If you are dealing with a large company, do the research and find out if they have a specific Twitter handle to deal with complaints.
• You only have 140 characters. Be circumspect with your words and choose them wisely.
• Don’t troll. If you have complained via one medium such as Twitter, don’t take the same complaint and plaster it on the company’s Facebook page as well. Chances are there is one social media team monitoring the different platforms. Your multiple-platform complaint will receive their attention but you run the risk of pissing off the people who could help you.
• When you complain, it is often tempting to rant and rave but you should take all the emotion out of your complaint so that the company representative can quickly identify the problem and how to resolve it.
• List events as they occurred in chronological order – retrace events in your mind and go over it once or twice to ensure you haven’t left any details out.
• The consumer ombud, Neville Melville, says it helps immensely if you keep your paperwork in order. This means keeping receipts, making notes of phonecalls, taking note of the people you dealt with or spoke to and records of all email communications.
• Monitor the replies to your comment or post. Generally, if the company has not responded within two to three days, you should send them a polite Tweet or post a second time on their Facebook page.

Finally, remember that although the internet is largely impersonal, there is an actual person on the other side dealing with your complaint. A little tactfulness can go a long way.

This article originally appeared in City Press.