One gamer on the short end of the social media stick  has been awarded a free PS4 after making comments to his friend about  personal dealings with UK retailer Shopto.net.  According to the tweets, the customer was unhappy that Shopto couldn’t match the price of a PS4 compared to its rivals Amazon. The customer then became embroiled in two separate Twitter conversations in which  some offensive, but fairly tame comments were made to a friend, but were seen to be directed at Shopto themselves. This resulted in the customer’s account being closed due to Shopto’s policy of not tolerating abuse from its customers. However, after investigation, it appears that Shopto acted a little too swiftly, as the customer’s comments were not directed at the retailer but his friend. Shopto has accepted this which has resulted in the company offering a complete apology to the customer as well as providing a free PS4 games console when it releases next month.

This seems like a blown out of proportion story, but the reality is, Shopto were perhaps a little overzealous in their approach, and it’s possible the publicized outcry as a result of their actions and how much further it could have escalated  may have not been worth it in the long run- especially with the all important holiday season approaching.

Either way, the customer should be pleased at the result, and proves that sometimes in large organizations, the head isn’t always talking to the hands.