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.

My local soft play do exclusive private hire. Pretty normal round here and I would check which times are always public and which may be private. In fact we closed our local one from public to private yesterday for my dds party I hate going during public opening.

Out of interest, WHERE has she posted this review???
If it was facebook then she should be able to see that you closed at 3.30, no?

I can see this from both sides. I'm also a small business owner working with babies & young children.

Firstly, your communication with your clients is, from what you have described, clearly not cutting the mustard. An A4 print out on the door and a facebook post is perhaps not the most affective method.
Change your listed opening hours so that you close at 3.30, last admittance at 2.15 at weekends UNLESS otherwise stated.

If she visits 3 times a week she must have seen early closure notices before. Surely?

I absolutely understand that you do not wish to set a precedent that people rocking up 15 minutes before close get freebies. Therefore, set a last admittance time.

Talk to your staff about "not happy" because if a customer communicated that they were "not happy" you can bet they were actually fuming.

Respond publicly to the complaint.

"Thank you for your comments and for bringing this to my attention. As you can see, our closure time on xxx day was clearly stated on this page as well as on the venue entrance but this is clearly an inadequate communication method. As a regular customer, the fact that you were unaware of our early weekend closures for parties means that I am not doing my job properly.

I am going to change our opening hours to reflect this. We will occasionally be open later at weekends rather than occasionally closing earlier which I hope will avoid a similar incident arising. I am also going to introduce a "last admittance" policy to ensure that the "15 minutes" dilemma does not arise again.

I would like to invite yourself and your son back for a complimentary play session and a coffee. Please let me know when you would like to join us.

Op has said customer was a regular but hadn't been on a Saturday regularly and had never experienced this situation before.

But what if this had been a new customer? Are the opening times on yell? The places website? Would a new customer who'd checked times at the beginning of the week say, have possibly known about the early closing?

Sounds like probably not which is in my opinion poor practice. 3 days nowhere near enough notice but to be honest I think clear regular opening hours with either parties held alongside public opening or have a set regular time set aside for exclusive use. Though I suspect the resistance to this is financial.

Oh thank goodness SpaceDinosaur has posted what I was thinking!

I was going to go against the grain and say that letting someone in for 15 mins for free was asking for trouble in so many ways, but the way to avoid this is to have a last admittance time 45 mins before closure. This is pretty standard in all the places we go to where you can't get in and out in 15 mins (trampoline park, swimming pool etc)

I think she is being naive if she really thought 15 minutes' play would have avoided her child getting miserable. He would probably have been even unhappier if he was pulled away just as he was settling in. I suspect your best bet is to offer her a free session, and ask some happier customers to post review to push hers down the page.

I have a "no drop ins" policy. I say it's for insurance purposes but it's not. It's because drop ins take the piss in my experience.

But.

Last week when a mum and baby rocked up and asked if they could join in, all my clients looked shocked and appalled (they're good eggs!) so we privately had a conversation, I showed her on the door the "no drop ins" etc etc but then said... but now you're here, stay for today, just don't tell anyone!

I can see where this one is going

Turns out you were wrong, Crisscrosscranky, doesn't it?

YABVU and I would have left a bad review too. I feel really sorry for the child and his mother and think your decision to close a family attraction early on an ad hoc basis is really unfair to your local customers.

In your position, I'd be grovelling to this customer.

This is one of those threads that makes the rest of the internet roll their eyes and go "oh, mumsnet".

Space - Talk to your staff about "not happy" because if a customer communicated that they were "not happy" you can bet they were actually fuming.

Yes! Being the typical anally retentive stiff upper lip brit that i am i would have to be internally gnashing my teeth in rage before i spluttered something about being ''not happy'' to a member of staff somewhere before - more importantly - silently vowing never ever to set foot in the place again.

Whether or not she is a regular doesn't really matter. Whether or not she should have known it was closing early doesn't really matter. The fact is that a customer turned up at a time it was usually open and it wasn't. The fact that can happen isn't a good business model.

Secondly, for a business facing negative comments to so carefully weigh the rights and wrongs of the customers complaint, is quite simply never going to be the right approach in a customer-facing industry. Customers are sometimes unreasonable (and actually this isn't an example) and the businesses which do well, get beyond feeling annoyed about that, at least in the way they public ally deal with it.....they deal with it diplomatically, apologise, even when they are not really at fault (but especially when they have been - like in this example) and offer goodwill gestures. Yes, as a result, some people might take the piss, but there will always be some of that in customer facing businesses and you have to accept it. Facing it out with every grumpy customer to insist that you as the manager are right and you will not bend, achieves little but a loss of goodwill....and in the end, less profit.

OP was wrong to be cross about this response on FB. INstead the right response would have to been to think 'oh no, we've messed up here...what can we do to limit the damage and make sure it doesn't happen again'.....not blaming the poster.

• offer a free visit and coffee
• apologise that they were disappointed

Then

• address the fact that people again could show up when the centre has closed early - stop that happening, without placing too much onus on the public to feel they need to check every single time they visit what the closing time is....it's just not reasonable. I simply wouldn't go somewhere where the times varied so much. Regular closing times are very important.
• establish a 'last entry' time and make it very clear on your website - giving at least 3 months notice of it happening. With this, you can enforce the fact everyone has to pay full price, becaus everyone gets a decent session from the last point of entry until closing time.
• until that 3 months has passed when you can enforce the 'lSt entry' time, be more flexible with people who turn up close to closing time A again,mor goodwill, especially if you have closed early.

Op your business model isn't consumer friendly and your attitude isn't either. If you want to continue and succeed you need to rethink the way you operate the business but also how you feel about and respond to criticism....because it will always come, both warranted and unwarranted. Although the customer isn't always right, as a business owner you need to take that idea on board and to carry it through with a smile.

"Talk to your staff about "not happy" because if a customer communicated that they were "not happy" you can bet they were actually fuming."

Absolutely!

If I experience a problem as a consumer I usually start by asking questions 'has that always been your policy?' 'Where in your literature/on your site does it say this?' Then it'll probably be in a situation similar to this case 'I don't think that was clear enough/gave enough notice' if still no apology/remedy offered I'm then at 'not happy' (code for I'm really pissed off and don't like your attitude to customers).

If I get to the point of calling or emailing to complain or leaving a negative review - I'm REALLY pissed off and probably telling plenty of others too! AND likely to raise it again in the future if someone mentions the company, especially if asked what I think. And by this point they've lost my custom.

Hmmm. If you close ad hoc, as others have said I would generally advertise this fact (as opposed to just the early closure itself). Both on your website and in the centre. I doubt many people who are intending to come on the Saturday would also come within the previous three days (or do they?). Not everyone checks Facebook.

I don't think whether you let the child in or not is the issue. But sounds like it could have been dealt with more sympathetically - suggesting charging full price for 15mins is never going to go down well...

I really struggle to see the risk of hoards of parents turning up 15mins before the end of soft play in the hope of a freeby

That said the idea that a tantrumming 3 year old is what should drive everything (whether it is for 10 mins or an hour ) is a bit much...

Agree why charge her the full amount? The note on the door isn't going to be seen until arrival and closing ad hoc is just not going to keep your customers coming back incase you are closed! I don't blame her for writing a poor review.

One of our local soft plays has irregular hours - the other day it closed then reopened. On the website it says to check the times on Facebook, so I don't see an issue with it.

Chocolate - absolutely spot on

I've had a few people ask in a private message to have a link to the review. Am I allowed do that?

It will put you OP but nothing wrong with it otherwise I don't think

I think your biggest problem is that she got in and had time to take his coat and shoes off before a member of staff informed her of the closure. There is a soft play near us that closes for parties - the last half hour the main door is locked so if anyone turns up they don't get in so no excited 3yo with his shoes off ready to go. A member of staff lets out people leaving.

I think the only way to respond to the review is along the lines of thanking her for bringing it to your attention, state that it hasn't come up before and that you are reviewing policies to see what is the best way to ensure it doesn't happen again. I'd offer her a free session purely for the word of mouth - a Mum telling all and sundry "I went to that soft play and they wouldn't let DS in but they gave me a free session on WEdneday/Friday" will sound better than just the first part.

Ooh, it's not often that we get to see both sides of the story!

I don't think it would be a good idea to post the link here unfortunately , is it on a FB group or another parenting website?

Here's an example of good customer service in the fact of an unwarranted complaint.

Devon based cottage company in popular naice resort, markets many many holiday cottages. Due to narrow lanes and poor access for cleaners, all cottages are hired without bed linen included and customers have to provide their own or pay to hire. Doesn't put people off and people book 2 years in advance. The bed linen deal is made clear on website, in brochure, when booking and on arrival info.

Owner tells me that they have on a number of occasions had customers turn up without bed linen claiming they weren't told and being furious. When told the info was clear and the option to hire linen was available, again customers are unreasonable. In this situation, the owner simply apologises that the customer had not seen the info and quickly and efficiently accesses them some bed linen and doesn't charge. I know about this, because on our arrival, we found our fridge was being replaced by a white goods deliverer and there was a note with a box of 12 bottles of wine as an apology. The white goods fitter was gone 5 mins after we arrived. The owner later came round to apologise in person and check that everything was okay. When I commented that I was impressed by her service and that 5 mins slight inconvenience was no problem, she told me the story about the customers and the bedding and how not everyone is reasonable, but they will always bend over backwards for customers.

This has just stuck with me. Yes, some customers take the piss and are ridiculous. However, following a policy that you will always go out of your way to keep customers happy, whoever they are and however they behave is a good one. That Devon cottage company is making a fortune.....their customers are discerning and often fussy, but they return year after year, because they feel they are being treated right and every aspect of the service provided is good. It is worth swallowing a bit of pride and annoyance, and even bearing the costs is some customers complaints for the overall benefit which is accrued....this is good business sense, even if it sticks in your throat. OP needs to get a handle on this.

Rather than ignoring it, I think you could thank chocolate for some advice that I suspect she could have charged quite a lot for in RL, OP.

All soft play areas that I've ever been too only have private parties AFTER closing (say from 6pm)
It's very unprofessional to close earlier than stated times whether you have notice or not. And £4 for 15 mins??? REALLY?? The women didn't seem upset at the time but she obviously had time to think and get really annoyed. YABU in this case and let's just hope it doesn't tarnish the business name!

I keep forgetting this too - 'if the reviews on Facebook she could've checked Facebook' but the review was AFTER the customer knew about the closure and possibly also AFTER she'd been informed that altered opening times were posted there.

Also we can't know how clear the early closing information was on Facebook - size of print, when that was posted, was it stickied on the fb page, has it fallen down the page as a result of other posts, how easy is the Facebook page to find (some have names that are far too common or conversely bear no relation to the name the business is known by)?

You can link it on here if you want. But people will know it's your that's posted.