On A Wait

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Losing a Customer – Bad Experience – Bring Them Back!

All of us believe we run great restaurants. When a complaint does come in, good operators are sometimes inexperienced in handling these negative comments. One of our restaurants recently had one of the worst negative feedbacks we have had in 6 years.

Here is the actual text from an email through our website:

• “My husband and I came to Maggie Mae’s for breakfast about six weeks ago for the first time and was very impressed with the service and food. This past Thursday we brought three friends visiting from Ohio and was totally embarassed because of the service. None of us could believe the rudeness of the waitress. She asked if we wanted coffee, two said yes regular, two wanted decaf, did not ask what the fifth person wanted which was orange juice. After she took three orders, she said, is that it and we had to say no, the other two would like food also. When someone asked for cream, she said sarcastilly, it’s in the basket on the wall. When we asked for more coffee she poured regular for everyone without even checking to who had the decaf. Not once did she stop by to ask if everything was ok, if we wanted more coffee, etc. The entire time she had a disgruntled look on her face as if we were interupting her. When we received our check there was an automatic 18% tip which she did not deserve. My husband always tips 20% without any problem but that day it would have been 10% at the most.

  We were embarassed because we had told our friends what a great resturant it was but due to the poor service of this waitress we will not be back.

  I do not know her name because she didn’t tell us. She had dark hair pulled up on back of head and looked to be 30, give or take a few years.

  We kept debating whether to report this but finally decided someone needed to know.”

  Mary

Fortunately, the customer gave us a chance to respond through the email. Here is our actual email:

• “I am stunned! We rarely get complaints about our service. I am assuming this was at our location on Gulf Blvd. We also have a new location in Belleair Bluffs.

  I apologize for this treatment.

  I will respond back to you after we try to track down the person who created the problem.”

As usual, it is difficult to find the person, time and place this occurred. However, the customer wants to feel vindicated and relieved that someone was there to listen. Here was their next response:

• “Thank you for your response. Yes it was the Gulf Blvd. location.”

Always try to get the guest to give additional information or respond just to keep the caring communication going.

Within a day we responded as follows:

• “Mary;

  Let me again apologize for the treatment you received at Maggie Mae’s. There are no excuses to offer and our staff has been informed of your comments. The incident, of course, couldn’t be tracked to any particular server, but everyone in our restaurant has been saddened by this type of feedback.

  At some point in the future we hope you give us another opportunity to serve you. Please accept the gift certificate attached as an incentive.”

This is the final response from the customer:

• “Thank you so much for taking the time to resolve our complaint. It shows the quality of your restaurant which is what we were impressed with on our first visit to Maggie Mae’s. At this time we are heading to Ohio for a couple of weeks, but will certaintly try Maggie Mae’s when we return.

  Thanks,

  Mary”

The cost to bring a new restaurant customer in the door is about $75 each according to many marketing studies. The cost to salvage a customer in this case was a $15 gift certificate. It works nine times out of ten if you follow these rules:

1. Always have a way the customer can give you feedback (comment cards, website, etc.).
2. Never argue, dispute or challenge the customer’s version of the events. It really serves no purpose, even if they had an experience that really wasn’t as they portrayed.
3. Engage the disgruntled guest with more communication to keep them helping you solve their problem.
4. Respond timely and firmly with an apology. Include some kind of offer to make amends. This feeds their ego and helps them feel vindicated.

The cost to your business to have one customer relaying a bad experience to friends, family and neighbors could be very high. The cost to turn that experience into a positive is, comparatively, very low.

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