SocialSkoop - a creative studio by Daniela Bolzmann

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How Not to Respond to a Social Media Complaint About Your Restaurant

·August 4, 2010 ·All Posts, Restaurant Marketing, Social Media Marketing ·By Daniela

A few weeks ago I wrote about how a local favorite restaurant had been mismanaging their Facebook Fan Page by setting it up and forgetting about it. They had received a customer complaint and weeks had gone by and no one had responded to the post. Well, there was finally a response. To my surprise the owner responded and completely mishandled the situation. Instead of turning this negative complaint into a positive and asking the customer for another chance the owner put all the blame on the customer, in the eye of the public no less.

The lesson here is that while all business owners probably want to put blame on the customer it is bad business to do so. Having a level-headed person managing your social media accounts is key. Just like you wouldn’t have your PR or marketing person insulting customers, you should make sure that you social channels are properly cared for as well. Would love to hear you response to this owners way of handling the situation. How would you have handled it?

Transcription

Joe Land (Customer): I went to 333 for the first time in May. Obviously I was wearing the wrong clothes and driving the wrong car. The “valet parking attendant” and the lady that seated me had an indifferent attitude to my presence. The waitress was ok, but did lack a genuine happy attitute. The food was good, but a little over priced. This S. California Native will not come back to 333 again.

Jeff Reuter (Owner): Joe, I seriously don’t think that any perceived reaction from the Valet, Hostess or Waitress had ANYTHING to do with what you were wearing or driving – it was most probably 100% YOU that they were reacting to! 333 is a local beach hangout that receives every conceivable type of person, dressed in every possible type of clothing and driving every car made. You admit the food was “good”, but over priced????? What int he hell were you expecting to pay sitting in a 10 million dollar restaurant on the water in Newport Beach; the average price for food is 12 dollars?!?!?!?!?! For a “So. Cal. Native” you are obviously completely out of touch – stick with the drive thru’s…

  • http://www.socialskoop.com Daniela

    Also wanted mention this article shared via Twitter by @staceyharmon: Hey @DanielaBolzmann – did you see this one? http://bit.ly/dt7ggE

  • http://twitter.com/BillKingOC Bill K.

    I have two different thoughts here. My first reaction is that, yes, this customer seems to be a bit of a complainer and appears to have projected negative treatment he supposedly experienced. I’ve probably gone to 3Thirty3 ten to twelve times a year over the last 4 years and have never once experienced what this guy did. An indifferent valet?! How is he supposed to act? Like you’re dog when you get home? And the waitress lacked a “genuinely happy attitude?!” This guy didn’t get validated somehow so he blames the restaurant? Sure, the hostesses greet you with a fake smile and show you to your table, but where DOESN’T that happen? The servers are all pleasant and helpful and I never hold it against them if they don’t know the wine as well as I wish they did. That’s on me. Most of the girls are attractive and they’re used to getting hit on and, when they do, they’ve learned how to tune it out. Maybe this guy felt like he needed more attention from them. Maybe he was a d-bag. Who knows? And his complaint about the food does indeed seem to indicate that he must not eat out much except for fast food. He refers to himself as a SoCal native. So? That covers 4 counties. What does that even mean? So, my sentiment is the same as Reuter’s and I actually enjoyed the comment.

    However…

    I agree with you that the business owner simply cannot respond that way. I have more empathy for Reuter because I’m familiar with the restaurant. But if I wanted to read a review and saw that, I’m pretty sure I would avoid it because he sounded like an [insert expletive].

    You are correct that this is not the way to handle a customer complaint because it is too defensive and actually attacks the customer. That said, to simply take the attitude that the “customer is always right” is probably not the best approach all of the time. Here, the manager would be giving the message to other customers reviewing the site that the customer was indeed treated that way for those reasons or that his complaint about the food prices were valid. The customer either had an anomalous experience there or he’s a whiner.

    Reuter should have said it all more diplomatically and left some things out. A better tone would have been, “I’m sorry for your experience. I don’t believe any of my staff or the valets would ever behave that way, but I assure you I will look into it. We have customers of all kinds in all kinds of dress, etc…” I would not have been so sarcastic about the prices and the value of the property on the water. Instead, I would have pointed out that the price points are actually very good and consistent, or better, than comparable restaurants in the Newport area (emphasizing “Newport”). And, I would have noted that there are a lot of repeat customers because their dishes, particularly the appetizers, are often complimented there (This is my personal opinion about the food but I’m sure he’s been told by others. In fact, I go there for the food and stay there for the people-watching).

    Anyway, I agree with you that if a business is going to have a website, it needs to keep it current, have someone check on it daily or every other day, and respond with better customer diplomacy.

    • http://www.socialskoop.com Daniela

      WoW, thanks Bill. All great points. I too am a 3-Thirty-3 customer and fan and it pained me so much to actually post this but I felt it was a great example to show other restaurants the type of responsibility they need to uphold online. I worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years as a server and now as an online community manager and the best practices that are used offline should be carried online as well. You are absolutely right, tone is key in handling these situations and many times responding appropriately can make the customer a fan and some times even your biggest fan. Not to mention that if the situation is handled correctly in the public eye your audience will respect and advocate for your brand further.

      On a weekly basis, I meet with the local social media community (@SMMOC) and we are constantly discussing the topic of online venting. I agree that it has become far too easy for people to take out their frustration on a restaurant for a single bad experience. In all fairness, it should be ok for every restaurant to have at least 1 bad day. I personally try to only leave yelp reviews for restaurants that I frequent or have been to more than twice. I am also a firm believer in not venting just to vent. Before I would ever leave a negative review for a business in the public eye I would write to the company via email. **Hint** Nine times out of ten this will get you an apology and a gift card to come back. On a scale of 1 (being the worst) to 10, the experience would have to be a -10 for me to leave a bad review. The reason for this is because I don’t want to diminish my online character/brand and be known as Joe from 333… a “complainer.”

  • http://notsoliteral.com jrmoreau

    Over 50% of restaurants fail because of big time competition, high operation costs and many other factors. I think this restaurant will be in the 50% that fail with an owner who treats any of his customers like this. Shame on him. He has every right to address the complaint in a public manner, but not by insulting him. This guy should have taken a PR class or two.

    • http://www.socialskoop.com Daniela

      Wow! JR – Thanks for the feedback! It is a shame, I really like this restaurant and was disappointed to see the situation handles the way it was. I can see how easy it may be for the owner of any business to take it as a personal attack when a customer complains. I think it may be best for us as consultants to educate restaurant owners on the best practices and how to handle this type of situation online.

      • http://twitter.com/BillKingOC Bill K.

        Yeahhhhh, this restaurant will not be in THAT 50% because of it’s food and popularity. He can basically take the attitude of “we get plenty of customers and have a good base so who cares if you don’t come back?” He would have to have offended a big name guy or the place would have to burn down. Sad, but true. I know this bad PR isn’t going to keep me from going there (since I thought the customer was a whiner). And I also bet that if the owner reads my earlier post that he’ll receive it better and adjust his responses in the future.

  • http://twitter.com/BillKingOC Bill

    Sooo, I went to 3Thirty3 last night and just wanted to chime in again. Great service. Everyone from the hostess to the busboy was friendly and the food was fantastic. The server knew her wine based on customer comments and was right both times. She also chatted about running with us for a few minutes. I know this has nothing to do with the point of your blog, but I thought of this blog topic and had to share. ;-)

    • http://www.socialskoop.com Daniela

      Thanks for sharing Bill.

  • http://www.ricardobueno.com Ricardo Bueno

    I think it was blatantly inappropriate the way this was handled. I noticed that the comment was taken down (deleted) since it was posted but it doesn’t take away the fact that the damage was done. I’m sure the client read the response, people tweeted it, shared it on Facebook and ultimately, people took notice.

    You might not always agree over things with prospects or customers. Nevertheless, you never post anything or say anything negative in a public environment. You can have those discussions in private (hopefully everyone is cordial) but you never let it reach a point like this.

    • http://www.socialskoop.com Daniela

      Yes, it is a shame the way this was handled. Word of mouth is strong in this case and over 1500 people have heard about this already through various sources not including the number of people who have viewed this post, which I will keep private.

  • http://www.jennpedde.com Jenn Pedde

    Daniela thanks for sharing this with me the other day!! Sorry I never got back to your tweet about it, but after reading this and hearing about so many terrible fail stories this week it’s just… inconceivable that people are so rude, vindictive, and out of touch with customer service. And the fact that they choose to use a public forum to say all these things from a company’s standpoint is outrageous. When will people learn?

    • http://www.socialskoop.com Daniela

      True. It goes back to the basics before there was Facebook, would a restaurant owner dare say something like that to a customer, not likely. This was definitely a lost opportunity.

  • http://www.mhandy1.tumblr.com Mike Handy

    ummm wow… that is really really bad. Seeing that I will probably be avoiding that place… eeek