Just wondered how to handle this. Had a woman complain the other nite about a pizza
we told we were sorry and would make her a new one. She said she is not one to complain but she would like to have her money back, so we refunded her money and she said thanks thought it was
the end, She then went home and posted how she got a bad pizza from us and would probaly never order from us again. This is from a lady who said she doesnt like to complain. Now here is my question do i simply delete it from facebook which we have done or do i call her and ask why she put it on there
when we gladly refunded her money?
I am of the belief you will always have complaints, no matter how great your product, you simply cannot please 100% of the people 100% of the time. Having said that, I personally believe that deleting the complaint is the worst possible course of action, and will lead to even further negative publicity because the individual will now make it their personal goal to make you “sorry”.
If I were you, I would publicly respond to the complaint in a manner similar to this:
"Mr/Mrs xxxxx,
First let me again apologize for your personal experience with our restaurant last night. I understand that in todays economy every dollar matters and I regret that we were unable to convey our commitment to quality food and service with your order. As per our phone conversation we did refund the order for you as requested, and hope that you will give us the opportunity to win you back as a customer in the near future. If there is anything else we can do for you, or if you have any further concerns you would like to address, please do not hesitate to contact me on my direct line at xxx-xxx-xxxx, and I would be more than happy to try and resolve the situation to the best of my ability.
Again sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you very much for bringing the issues to our attention and giving us the opportunity to improve in the future!
Cordially,
Your Name"
While those words may or may not be exactly what is warranted in your situation, I think that a professional response such as that would speak wonders to anyone who sees the complaint, and may even win them back as a customer, as well as provide confidence in anyone who heard the complaint that you are a business professional and they can spend their money at your establishment with confidence.
Just my thoughts! Good luck!
I’ve only gotten one, and resolved it via FB and it ended well so I left it up. Really it was a guy complaining about how we ‘lost out’ on a big order because we wouldn’t deliver in a freaking snowstorm (we actually did deliver but had to cut it off because we were just getting buried with delivery orders). So nobody is going to read that anyway and get too bent out of shape about it. So I left that.
if I got a legit complaint I would leave it up and do my best to handle it publicly. I think after a few weeks I would ‘hide’ it because those on my like list that were so inclined to read it would have read it already, and those that don’t care would never know it was there to begin with. And of course, new ‘likes’ will never get to see it, which I figure is better than them seeing it. Plus the complainer won’t know it is hidden, so there would be no backlash from them.
While I agree that deleting a comment may motivate a “reviewer” to go to Trip Adviser and Yelp where you have zero ability to control the environment, I think that my facebook page is my space. On the couple of occasions that we have had a legit negative comment there, I have responded as suggested above and then a couple of days later hidden the comment. No need to leave that kind of cr@p on your own page for whole world to see as far as I am concerned.
Thankfully it doesnt happen too often but this has happened to us before. The only thing i have in my head when replying is trying to make our business look good to everyone else who will be reading. As was mentioned above, a professional response will make you look like you value feedback from your customers and listen to their needs. We all know some folks are just idiots but you have to bite your tongue and just accept that it will happen sometimes.
Complaints and how you respond to them help your business far more than they hurt…If you acknowledge the complaint, apologize and promise to learn from it, you may not make the complainer happy, but others who see it will hold you in higher regard…That is your reward for complaints…
Should not delete, you should handle it, explain there that you refunded the money and offered a new pizza, sorry for not covering her need but that you was open to fix it, that will be more appreciate for other clients that erasing the comment, that will not stop she talking bad about you
If someone painted on your building-this pizza is terrible, would you leave it up there? If you refunded the money to the customer, in my mind, it is over. Do the best you can and treat your customers right, that’s all you can do.
Thought this article would be interesting.
I think [SIZE=4]bodegahwy got it right and this is what we do. Respond professionally and then a week or so later, hide it. Absolutely no reason for it just hang out there against you forever.[/SIZE]
By the way, when you “hide” it on facebook, the original poster can still see it and does not know it is hidden. Only the OP and his/her friends can see it.