The WA Government department handling the consumer fallout from the collapse of the Clive Peeters group has turned to Twitter to cope with queries from hundreds of anxious customers pouring into its 25-person call centre.
The $140 million failure of the national computer and whitegoods chain on Wednesday has snagged its WA Rick Hart chain of stores, where $1 million of customer orders hang on the balance of receivers' investigations.
Inundated with 350 calls in the past day, the State's consumer protection department turned to its Twitter account @ConsumerWA to ease the load on staff and get out information more quickly.
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"Shoppers at Rick Hart's 14 WA stores should now exercise caution before paying for goods which they do not immediately take possession of," the department cautioned its 143 followers an hour ago, replicating advice it published through its traditional press release.
The first some heard of the Rick Hart implosion was when department first tweeted yesterday: "Consumer Protection can confirm that Clive Peeters - parent group of WA retailer Rick Hart - is now in receivership. More to follow..."
"WA consumers concerned about Rick Hart deposits, lay bys & warranty repairs can register their details with us by calling 1300 30 40 54," it posted earlier today.
The department's tweets were widely retweeted and included compliments such as that from @Kimono: "@ConsumerWA turning out to be the most useful Twitter-er I've followed lately :)"
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