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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

517 replies

user1480264682 · 27/11/2016 16:48

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.

OP posts:
ChocolateWombat · 01/12/2016 07:23

different name - yes, it is the owners 'right' to do this. She can open or close whenever she likes, on whatever whim and at the drop of a hat. She can choose not to tell anyone about it, or to just posta notice on Facebook where most customers won't look, or put up a sheet of paper a couple of days in advance, which most people won't know about until they arrive.

Can do all these things. These don't correlate with growing the business long term, developing customer loyalty and goodwill though. Perhaps she's more interested in her own convenience, the short run profit of the party day rather than the longer term profit and future of her business? Her actions certainly suggest this.....and yes, she's absolutely free to do this, but of course businesses who act like this and don't appear to give a shit about their customers, don't tend to survive long term.

So it's not a question of whether she is entitled to close early on an ad hoc basis, it's a question of what impact this will have on customers and the business......because after all, this is a business and businesses do need to meet the needs and desires of their customers....or there won't be any in future. Surely the most basic need is to know a business will be open when it is supposed to be and when its website says it will be. Surely a customers shouldn't have to rummage around the Internet to hunt down info that is not obviously available every time they want to do something as simple as have a couple of hours in a soft play centre. When other businesses DO provide this certainty of hours and clarity of info, customers will turn to them and not the ones that don't. Simple.

Mumsmet · 01/02/2018 07:31

You are a tough crowd. Why should the rules have been changed for this one person? The soft play centre would have then set a precedent and lots of people could have tried turning up for freebies at the end of the day.

The most concerning bit is the parenting - how could a three year old not comprehend that it was closed? It is easy to say "darling it is closed, we will come back another time- let's go to the park instead!"
A three year old learns entitlement from its parent. He will be a very demanding adult who thinks that rules do not apply to him.

PS if this woman visits many times a week perhaps OP should think of a membership scheme where you get it cheaper if you are a regular. Or a loyalty scheme....

PPS she has £4 to spend there three times a week and yet pulls the poor card- Er NO!

maddiemookins16mum · 01/02/2018 07:33

She's probably forgotten all about it by now (over a year later 😋).

ooohbetty · 01/02/2018 07:46

I used these establishments for a long time and always knew they had parties, in the smaller ones they closed for the parties. We were disappointed sometimes but to be fair in this occasion the op did give notice of the party online and on the door in advance, how far should she have to go? I would never have considered trying to get in for 15 mins no matter how much my kid was disappointed, it happens I never used to check to see if their was a party either so heyho it happens.
You can't just start letting kids in under these circumstances as it sets you up for always having to do this for people who don't check the websites etc and for p**s takers.
I run a small business and sometimes when people don't check stuff like availability or can't get in when they want they want you to drop everything and do it now, you can't you have other customers to consider who have already booked up and probably making you more money. The majority of regulars of ours though wouldn't behave the way this customer did, the ones that do usually are the ones who get what they want and don't come back very often so frankly they aren't the ones i invest my time in anyway. Op I don't think you did anything wrong at all. That's from a fellow business owner and someone who has also been In the customers position a few times.

BashStreetKid · 01/02/2018 08:01

ZOMBIE

Mulberry72 · 01/02/2018 08:33

I’m sure the child has got over the dissapointment now, what 18 months later? Grin

Mumsmet · 01/02/2018 08:40

Sorry, I knew it was an old post, I was searching 'review' and found it and so decided to still comment...

TheCatsPaws · 01/02/2018 08:42

YABU. I would’ve been annoyed too, my son is a similar age and they suspect he has autism. He would’ve been heartbroken if that had happened and I would’ve had to deal with a meltdown.

TheCatsPaws · 01/02/2018 08:42

Didn’t realise this thread was old!

IsThisADream · 01/02/2018 08:47

@Mumsmet why have you reanimated this zombie thread?

WeKnowFrogsGoShaLaLaLaLa · 01/02/2018 08:50

Haha, I started reading this and had serious deja vu. 😂

Drknittingfrog · 01/02/2018 08:58

I really think if you have a website it should also be up to date with upcoming parties etc... It would not occur to me to check Facebook for such info... Hope you find a nice way to make amends to your customer. For info around us you get 30-50 % discount if you arrive in the last hour before closing time...

WaterBuffaloDancing · 01/02/2018 09:01

OMG ZOMBIE THREAD

saladdays66 · 01/02/2018 09:03

Your staff member should have let the boy go in for free for 15 mins. Customer goodwill is priceless.

Mind you, the boy is going to be v disappointed with life if he cried for an hour over soft play being shut.

CoolCarrie · 01/02/2018 09:10

You shouldn’t have charged her anything, and would letting a child play for 15 mins really be such an inconvenience?

Mrsmadevans · 01/02/2018 09:10

It was mean not to let them in free for 15 mins tbf. Are there really ppl who are that mean? I know you are running a business OP but come on .

Mrsmadevans · 01/02/2018 09:12

I hate it when this happens but it is a timely reminder to me to look at the flaming date!!!

Violletta · 01/02/2018 09:12

that review looks fine to me (no idea why you think you wouldnt be allowed to post it op)

beanii · 01/02/2018 09:21

£4 for 15 minutes - and you can't see a problem?? As a business owner imagine if you had given that lady a free 15 minutes how much GOD publicity you would have got? I know you can't do it for everyone but treat your regulars like that and you will have none.

beanii · 01/02/2018 09:22

Good not God!!

Mumsmet · 01/02/2018 09:28

@IsThisADream I commented before your post that I had known it was an old post but I still chose to comment. Why do you care? If Mumsnet does not want anyone to comment on old posts they should archive them.

ghostyslovesheets · 01/02/2018 09:29

NOVEMBER 2016

COME ON PEOPLE

Z~O~M~B~I~E

Mumsmet · 01/02/2018 09:30

Sorry that I resurrected an old post. However, I did not realise that there was an unwritten rule stating that it is not allowed...

Mumsmet · 01/02/2018 09:32

@ghostyslovesheets

Why does it matter if it is old is commented on if it might still be relevant to people?
I do not understand why it matters. Surely everyone checks the dates and knows it's old and can choose whether to comment or not?!

TheCatsPaws · 01/02/2018 09:32

What’s the point of deliberately commenting on an old post though?