If you haven’t heard about the T-Mobile Sidekick disaster from Perez Hilton’s tweets, or the thousands of angry Sidekick users sharing their feelings on social networks, here’s a little background: T-Mobile USA and Microsoft found themselves in a PR crisis after T-Mobile Sidekick users lost all of their personal data (calendar, contact information, etc.) because of data storage and connectivity problems related to Microsoft’s servers. Sidekick users battled these issues for over a week. Microsoft and T-Mobile USA warned the loss could be permanent. Now T-Mobile has recovered some users’ missing Sidekick data, and announced that customers who experienced a “significant and permanent” loss of data would receive a $100 customer appreciation card. T-Mobile said it has restored data services to Sidekick users.

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Perez Hilton, one of the Internet’s most notorious gossip columnists, has been an influential figure throughout this whole mess. He roused followers with angry tweets and helped boost #TMobileSucks to the number one trending topic on Twitter. Other users chimed in on Facebook and MySpace with angry status updates and notes. T-Mobile USA and Microsoft found themselves in the middle of a PR and customer service crisis.

Let’s look at some things the companies did right:
- Halted sales of Sidekicks: While Microsoft and T-Mobile tried to recover lost data, they halted sales of Sidekicks. They showed their commitment to customers by focusing their time and effort on trying to recover Sidekick users’ personal data, instead of trying to make more money off the device.
- Let furious Sidekick users ditch their contracts: T-Mobile recognized the problem with Sidekicks and offered subscribers new contracts with different T-Mobile phones. This allows them to retain furious customers who may have otherwise ditched the subscriber all together.

And now for what the companies did wrong:
-$100 dollar apology and month’s free data service: This was not enough for the angry Sidekick users who lost all of their contacts, calendar appointments, irreplaceable pictures, etc. T-Mobile should have offered more to show how apologetic the company was for the data storage failure.
-Did not give out replacement phones: T-Mobile should have given Sidekick users replacement phones until they could sort out the data loss. This would have helped ease the backlash of angry customers obsessing over their incompetent phones.
-Did not encourage regular backups of data: All carriers should promote and remind customers to backup data regularly.
-Banned angry customers from T-Mobile’s online forum: Banning angry customers only produces more angry customers. T-Mobile should have set up a separate forum for Sidekick users who were affected by the data storage lost and responded with swift customer service especially to those who were angry because of a significant loss.
- Did not alert customers via social media channels: Did we learn nothing from the Motrin Moms crisis?  T-Mobile should have made announcements via Twitter and other channels instead of directing customers to their website to find the information they needed. Providing updates directly to users would have helped to contain the intense backlash on Twitter and other social networking sites. Quick and informative messages broadcast on Twitter would have eased tension and customers’ anger.

Every company should include a social media plan for responding to and informing customers in the event of a crisis. The goal should be to keep open communication with customers and maintain any negative backlash. Roles and messages should be mapped out and flexible.

To avoid becoming a case study of what not to do in a crisis (like T-Mobile), start listening and engaging on social media channels now. Determine what tools you’re going to use to monitor and manage your brand. You don’t want to find yourself in the middle of a social media crisis without a plan.

How do you think T-Mobile and Microsoft could have handled the crisis differently? Did they do enough for customers? Tell us what you think!

-Cristina Lepore