Mother left bad review of my business because of how we treated her 3 year old

[user1480264682]

I run a soft play centre in a small town. It closes at 6pm weekends but sometimes it closes at 3:30 for private hire parties.

Last Saturday it closed at 3:30pm. We did put that it would be closing
On facebook and on an A4 piece of paper outside the door of the centre. I We put the notice up three days before the early closing.

At 3:14pm one of our workers saw a young mum and her 3 year old arrisve excitedly for soft play. She took his coat and shoes off and handed over her £4.00.
The worker told her that the centre would be closing in 15 mins.

She was upset and said that her son would not understand why he couldn't go In and she had travelled half an hour to get here.
She told him that soft play was closed and he didn't understand so she asked if he could play for 15 mins. My worker said that if she wanted to play for the remaining 15mins she would have to pay full price. She said she couldn't afford £4.00
For 15 mins as she would have to occupy her son for the remaining hours afterwards so would need to take him somewhere else.

She said okay and was nice not annoyed. She never said she was upset at the time. She then left with her son who started screaming crying saying he wanted o go in soft play and she had to pick him up screaming crying. The worker didn't see or hear him crying but another who was outside did.

The mother has since gone on to write a bad review on out facebook page. She used to visit our centre up to three times a week and she has said it was very mean not to let her clearly disappointed son play for 15 mins as he was so excited to play and at his age did not understand it was closed. She also said she was willing to pay just not full price.

She has said she will never be returning and her son cried for an hour on the way home trying to run back.
I would have done the same as this worker and she is not going to be in trouble for this as you have to pay full price no matter what time you arrive.

AIBU? It may have been nice to
let him play for 15 mins but shouldn't be expected. In hindsight we may have considering the circumstances but we feel it shouldn't be expected.

First there was no proof that the lady is a regular as your staff didn't recognise her, so you only have her word for it. Second you had a sign on the door saying you were closing early, and your staff told her of that fact. I personally don't think the staff member should have offered any play. It is up to the parent to well parent their kids in situations like this and manage them if they're 'inconsolable for an hour' which I very much doubt they were.

Also soft play is popular for a reason. that single bad review is not going to impact your business. Just provide a true response and job done.

Ahhhh a new MN rule, every tantruming 3 year old must get exactly what they want.

Just to add, as we don't know that the child has SN, it is a tantrum not a meltdown. If you have ever witnessed a meltdown from a child with SN then you will understand the difference and I think it is a disservice to children who genuinely do have meltdowns to call a toddlers tantrum one.

I wouldn't try and get a free 15mins but you sound dead tight though. I've been in a similar situation and they offered me 30mins of play full price but threw a cup of tea a cake.

The child clearly has behavioural/discipline issues that are nothing to do with when a soft play is or isn't open

what a vile comment.

It doesn't matter if she was a regular or not, in fact most business do more to get new customers in to add to their client base.

Eh? The child doesn't appear to have done anything.

Last winter a group of us silent to visit some friends who live rurally. We all drove a good 45 minutes to the local wave pool, having checked the time online. When we go there the receptionist said it wa closing at a differ time, in just over 20 minutes. We weren't very happy so the manger came out and said we could go in quickly for free, so we all got changed super quick and the kids went in for 15 minutes playing in the pool (no waves, but they didn't care).
The manger came out and did lifeguard duty himself so his pool assign could go home, and kept the pool open a good 15 minutes longer than they had said they were going to, so we ended up with a full half hour in the water and a bunch of happy tired small children. Brilliant customer service and turned what could have been a nightmare afternoon into a successful one. We'll go back, obviously.

It is up to the parent to well parent their kids in situations like this and manage them if they're 'inconsolable for an hour' which I very much doubt they were

so now this poor mother wasnt managing her dc melt down?FTAF?

she is supposed to wave a wand and stop the child crying immediately?

The child clearly has behavioural/discipline issues that are nothing to do with when a soft play is or isn't open

Are you actually a parent? I feel sorry for any child whose parents thinks a three year old can't express when they're overwhelmed with disappointment.

How is it vile? Is it typical behaviour for a 3 year old to be 'inconsolable' for an hour because the soft play isn't open???? The child may have sn or they may be used to tantrumming to get what they want. Alternatively the mother may be massively exaggerating lying for effect. None of those things would be the ops fault.

I think closing early is a good way to lose customers. People don't look on facebook before visiting somewhere and they probably aren't going to see a notice if it is only there for a three days before hand. I remember experiencing this a quite a few years ago and I never went back (I went somewhere more reliable). I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

Ahhhh a new MN rule, every tantruming 3 year old must get exactly what they want.

If a child turns up at the door of paradise (aka soft play centre) during normal opening hours, they are reasonable to expect to find it open!

Is it typical behaviour for a 3 year old to be 'inconsolable' for an hour because the soft play isn't open????

Yes, it's pretty typical, since you ask.

Even If the child (who is 3??) does have SN, behavioural or discipline issues that doesn't invalidate their reaction to being given disappointing news. Children with SN, behavioural or discipline issues are still as fucking valid as children without those issues and a soft play centre of all places should expect to be accommodating of children with additional needs.

bum

Seriously, have you actually had a three year old?

I have to agree that if I realised that you closed randomly then I wouldnt bother going there, I would go somewhere that either had parties running in tandem with open play, or had private parties after normal hours.

slender - incredulous one would have to go into explanations about this on Mn of all places my just turned 4 year old knows her program for next week and knows it will include visit to the farm, and visit to a soft play. She is already excited about it now.

Maybe for the 3 year olds you know but I've worked with many and had my own and I've not met any who would react that way.

bumsexatthebingo
The child clearly has behavioural/discipline issues that are nothing to do with when a soft play is or isn't open

I like the posters assuming that a gesture a good will from the soft play would set a dangerous precedent. You can picture all the mothers within a 2 your drive, frantically refreshing the facebook page all afternoon 6 days a week, ready to rush to the soft play when a post suddenly announces an early closure, just to make sure they get a free 15 mn for their children by turning up 15 minutes before the random closing time announced that day. That totally will happen and run the owner out of business. Or not.

i would offer her a free play session, apologise for the mis understanding and upset. I think your staff member should have checked with you and I am sure being a regular you would have said yourself, there is only 15 mins until we have to close so, no charge today.

however I wouldn't automatically trust that she is a regular, as I have people mess me about with their hair cuts, perfectly happy until they can hide behind a screen and claim they are not happy and demand a full refund which you give as you cant be too careful with social media these day *rolling eyes.

a free play wont cost you much but try to turn the negative into a positive with how you handle it now x

This thread is hilarious. Now the child has SN (well, it's MN, it was only a matter of time)

Tbh even if the member of staff didn't know her, anyone can see that £4.00 for 15 mins is a rip off. A sensible thing to do would be just let him in for free (he would've still had the meltdown) but she would have told everyone how fab you were to let him have a free play (and honestly, what would it have cost you?) a bit of common sense here. Why not get on FB, apologise for the misunderstanding and give her a free session? Loads of goodwill there.

All the local soft play places offer 'exclusive' parties which mean that the doors are shut to normal visitors , I used to check online before promising I would take any of mine just in case . Have done the random turning up only to be disappointed thing .

Although the last time I did this , they let my son play for 30 minutes free before the party folk arrived , I bought two coffees and a kinder egg to make up for it though

She is a regular but she only goes during weekdays normally so would not have encountere a day with a private hire party.

I have met her at our place myself several times. Each time she did spend around £10.

My final thoughts on the issue is that while I would always say if someone comes just before normal closing hours I would say full pay or no play. As the place closed earlier than normal it was reasonable that she didn't realise we did private hire parties and the place would be closed at 3:30.
Under the circumstances we should have let her son play as he was only 3 and clearly disappointed. She was willing to pay just not the full amount.

I will look into making private parties outside of opening times only.

I will decide what to reply but I do think I've lost a loyal customer for good.

It's not a "bad" review its an accurate review. Bad business choices, both in random early closures and telling her she had to pay full price for 15 mins.
Smart business choice would be to apologise, offer a free play and then decide on regular party hours and stick to those. Not exactly rocket science if you're an owner/manager surely?