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.

I would respond to the review apologising, state that some staff training would be carried out

Workers just love it when they get thrown under the bus for following what they've been told. Though sure, it might well be better for the business to imply it was the worker at fault.

Quick Google shows reviews are read by between 80-90% of consumers and consumers are more likely to act on a bad review than a good one. (Articles by which, Forbes etc).

80-90% of people read reviews before choosing a soft play? That's absolute tosh!

EXPECTED. You seem rather focussed on the idea that she EXPECTED her child to be allowed to play for free. It's hard to see why that's your focus without seeing her review

shouldn't we all expect a little give and take and basic human kindness? She thought she was going to have a break with her son, while he was happy in soft play and instead she had an extremely upset child on her hands.
Personally sometimes I am at the end of my tether when I get into soft play and look forward to those few mins of peace.

I check reviews for pretty much everything - especially as it's so easy to look up a business now.

Honestly just knowing a business like that had random opening hours would put me off for 2 reasons

Not feeling confident they'd be open when I got there.

Poor business practice in one area suggests poor practice in other areas.

loads of people will know about this and it will put them off.

It wasn't specific to soft play but was to service industry.

If you allow 15 mins - then why not twenty, and then thirty? And then "She was allowed... and I have only asked for 5 mns more than she did?" And then if the child had gone in and had only just started to play and was asked to leave again - can you imagine the tantrum then?

You should have a clear "Last admission thirty mins before closing" and then everybody knows they pay £4 and always get at least 30 mins.

In this case you should have simply told her it was closed. Full stop.

She was mean with her FB post - but that is the world we live in. Everyone thinks they are right about everything and will use everything they can to get revenge if they don't get what they want.

I always checked the reviews, for cleanliness reasons as those places can be a breeding ground for germs if not cleaned properly.

Closing ad hoc for parties is poor business sense, nobody checks for opening hours before they go. Ours has set times for private parties and is closed for them so they aren't part of standing opening hours.

I wouldn't read reviews and if I did and the gal went in despite signs up saying it was closing at X time I 'd think she was a chancer.

Most of the softplays near me close for parties. The one we tried to visit yesterday was (without a notice on the door or a message on the facebook page) and the staff were very rude about us walking in. That is crap customer service which I'll be mentioning to the manager next time I see her (small town).

If I were you OP, I'd reply that you were sorry she was disappointed and that next time she was in there was a cup of tea and a treat for the boy waiting for them. Or you could tell her that MN generally thinks that soft plays are the seventh circle of hell and that she should be teaching her son to weave lentils

a chancer at a soft play? She isn't angling for a magnum of Bollinger is she?

I live in a small town, I'm on a couple of local pages that are 'freecycle' type and local news type. Good stats get far less attention/response than bad ones, including FAR more 'shares'.

One local restaurant the service went really downhill after being taken over by new owners, lots of bad word of mouth, had been around for DECADES previously (old owners retired) - closed in 6 months of new ownership.

winterisnigh: I'm not saying she is a chancer. She was just unlucky. But the OP has policies that generally work for her business and if she starts bending them left right and centre she will attract people who are less honest and just want what they can get for free.

I think just randomly closing a business aimed at kids is bad. A regular wouldn't check for opening times and dealing with a disappointed child and being told to pay £4 for 15 min is inevitably going to lead to bad feelings. I would suggest an apology a free play session and review of your policy of randomly closing your business

I dont check reviews however I know this other cafe was shite, appalling attitude from owner, and then another independent small soft play has a bad tempered owner, I struggle enough with my small DC there is no way I would take chance to go to a soft play that would be rude to me.

word of mouth among this age is rife, toddler groups, nct groups, facebook, nursery etc. It gets around and before I even thought to set up any type of child based business it would be a fore gone conclusion to bite the bullet sometimes, take the hit for good customer service and review

I mean imagine the review if they had let her in!

" Went to X today and was so dissapointed to find it closed however after some deliberation the lady let us - and for free, isnt that kind"

I couldn't disagree more Triffle.

YANBU OP! If the woman is a regular customer she would have known fine well that you occasionally close early for parties (as do most soft plays) so she also should have known to check your opening times before she set off. Expecting to be let in 15 minutes before closing time, for a reduced rate, is plain cheeky imho. Her child being disappointed or having a tantrum isn’t your problem, it’s entirely up to her to be organised and check opening hours.

I don’t think the review will affect your business as much as you fear it will. Just respond politely, apologising for the disappointment, and offer her a free visit as a goodwill gesture.

All those saying they would let her in for free.. think about it.

Woman posts on FB that she was let in for free at 15 mins before closing. People turn up twenty mins before "Because you get let in for free - I saw it on FB" You then have queues, and lots of people that you have to get out when you do close, none of whom have paid but all of whom are chancing their luck.

The irregular closing is problematic but asking for payment for entry isn't. Still I expect you will be forced to.

It is hard to entertain a 3yo constantly and that is the source of the problem and why soft play exists in the first place. I would have been really, really pissed off to find a soft play closed during usual opening hours. Just because of feelings of desperation re dealing with toddler.

It was shortsighted of the staff member not to just say OK play for 15 mins for free.

Sorry but thats rubbish.

And if in some other world people did try their luck for a mere 15 mins free you simply explain it was done in light of those circumstances. better than having no one turn up because they think your mean and nasty?

If I knew that your opening hours were prone to change if you had a private booking it would put me off being a customer. I like to turn up on an ad hoc basis when the little darlings need entertainment so any doubt in my mind about you actually being open at your usual time would send me to your competitors.

Even half price/£1 for such a short time (to deter future chancers though again I don't think that would be a major issue with this type of business), or throwing in a free drink for mum and child would have likely led to either no review or even a good one.

Yeah, in reality, that wouldn't actually happen.

No sane parent takes their kid to soft play 20 minutes before it shuts, deliberately, and if it keeps happening then you can instigate a "no entry 30 minutes before closure" policy - but that would have to go hand in hand with not closing randomly with next to no notice.

But really...no.

I agree with Brazenhussy0. Don't worry, OP, reasonable customers will not be put off by this review.