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.

It's actually a truthful review not a bad review.

The review has done you a favour. She is letting you know how inconvenient it is to turn up and randomly find a business about to close when it's usually open. She won't be the only one who's been pissed off about this I imagine. If this happened to me once I wouldn't go back a second time.

She wasn't expecting a free session. She was expecting to turn up, pay £4 for a normal time period.

As it is she has an upset child and is out of pocket on fuel costs and had a wasted trip/time out her day.

^YWNBU she was trying her ĺuck. The signage was more than adequate. I wouldn't have let her in.*

I agree. I dont know any soft play that would allow anyone in 15 mins before closing. I also agree, the staff member did the right thing. It could have cost him or hers job. They couldnt just make the decision to circumvent the rules. Why couldn't she take her child somewhere else. I think she was looking for something for free. I always check the times when i go to a soft play. Its tough luck.

I'd be surprised if this affected your turnover very much at all. Most people don't review soft play centres online before they take their kids there - the woman in this case didn't look on the FB page before going. As long as your facilities are clean and pricing is reasonable, staff are polite and the kids are safe, this is just one of those things. I would offer her a free hour but that would be to be on the safe side. Don't change your policy other than to have a latest entry time when you are closing.

All of which would be true if she turned up 15 minutes before normal closing hours. Which she didn't. Closing randomly is the main problem here.

Agree with others that changing closing times is a surefire way to alienate customers. Who checks opening times every time they go to a shop or business? I certainly don't.

And yes, YABU. You should have let her in for the 15 minutes without charge. Her review sounds fair.

She wasn't expecting a free session. She was expecting to turn up, pay £4 for a normal time period

exactly.

So you let her in free (due to exceptional circumstances) and immediately publish a new policy whereby you charge a pro rata rate for entry when you are closing early ie. entry an hour before closing is the full £4; entry 45 mins before closing is £3; entry 30 mins before closing is £2 and entry 15mins before closing is £1... and any future chances are pointed to the charging policy.

Although I think a "last entry time" is simpler...and fixed opening hours are simpler still.

Op do you have any sympathy at all for how she must have felt with a screaming toddler on her hands? I feel really sorry for this lady! I know how my heart would have sank.

totally, I do think the staff should be trained in what to do in this situation. If the owner is willing to close her business ad hoc at weekends this probably isn't the last time it will happen and staff should know what to do, whether that is to turn people away and risk a bad review or charge a nominal fee, full price or let them in for free is the OP'S call but staff should know.

I agree with those who say this way of operating is going to lead to this problem occurring again

There is a cafe in the next village to me that does this , it's a really nice place and I go regularly but they will randomly shut for private events and it's is quite annoying to be honest . Not everyone has Facebook do they so people will always turn up an be disappointed

I think you should have a set time it is available for parties on certain days or after closing hours

The soft play I go to (which is further out than my local one) is one I chose because it has excellent facilities, food etc.

It also closes sometimes for private hire (it also runs the usual parties alongside the normal opening). It's huge so I imagine the hire rate for the whole place is well worth it.

I'm on their fb page and do check if I plan to go whether it's closing early, due to the fact it's a drive out.

I don't think the closing is wrong. However I do think the goodwill gesture of "oh just let him go in for 15 for free" would have been the ideal, and with hindsight, change your signage.

In addition you could also ask this woman if she wants to be emailed weekly the closing for private events - that'd be a little extra.

PerspicaciaTick: Changing her whole pricing plan will affect her profit margins. It is fine to say the shortest time is 1 hour. She just needs to say no entry after 30 mins before closing time. That is more than fair.

goodwill goes a long way in your business and you just lost some

not only have you potentially lost a customer, but also she'll tell her friends and plant the seed it might not be open Saturday late afternoons (or other times) who will tell their friends etc.

if you can contact her or respond to her review apologise, tell her you've reconsidered policies, are making some changes and invite her back for a free session

closing early for private parties is bad business especially if it means closing at the weekend when regular customers would expect you to be open.

if this is a reverse, the service you received was poor, you were reasonable leaving a bad review and I'd be looking for another softplay and telling my friends how good the new one was.

Bloody grabby. 4 quid for 15mins.
Anyway, even when the customer seems unreasonable, its literally your job to be as accommodating as possible and try to win back favour through good customer service to within reasonable means. As pp have suggested a pleasant and sincere apology to the 'bad' feedback, plus something thrown in by way of goodwill gesture will speak volumes for your business. Sometimes as much as it irks, you have to smile through gritted teeth in order to keep your customers and give leeway.

I work in a similar field. Last month I had a mum turn up 20 mins before the end of a very busy, rainy day session, with her two young kids, clearly harassed and she explained that she had got completely lost.

I let her kids in, for free, and gave her a cup of (free) coffee.

Yes, I 'lost' two entrance fees, but I am sure that being kind is more important in this instance. If it happened on a regular basis, I would talk to said client but I would rather give her the benefit of the doubt in the beginning.

Reputation is all to us mumpreneurs.

Honestly winter I don't think it's a big deal. Heart sinking is somewhat OTT.

I think it depends how clearly you communicate the early closing.

I always check the company website (not fb) before I go anywhere. If your website states 6.00 closing on Saturday (YABU). If it says 'variable closing on Saturday pls check fb'. YANBU. I don't think its fair to your clients to not be absolutely clear about closing times.

A sign on the door 3 days before is U. as most people don't go to soft play 2x per week.

If you sort out the communication YANBU, I don't think you should offer discounts just before closing as you would be setting a precedent which would be really hard to keep up.

YABU but I don't really think anyone would care about one bad review

The whole thing sounds like a shambles to me.

Just stick to your own opening hours and this kind of thing wont happen. Keep private hire out of those times.

How is a scrap of A4 paper on the door and Facebook announcement adequate in any way?

Very unprofessional, as was not apologising for the confusion and allowing the child a free 15 minute play to make up for the inconvenience.

Agree YABU and I can see why she was annoyed. Given the circumstances you should have let them have 15 mins free play- the bad fb review and word of mouth will cost much more than £4

How is a scrap of A4 paper on the door and Facebook announcement adequate in any way?

Full page ad in the Times?

Trifle, don't be daft. I'm not suggesting that she change her whole pricing plan. Just that she has a clear policy on how admittance will be charged in the event that they close early. The member of staff didn't know what to do about admission or charging, the customer didn't know what to expect, so the OP should spell it out clearly.

frogs
I'm sure she really appreciated your kind gesture and will get back more in terms of her praising your company - I know that wasn't your intention by the way :)

PerspicaciaTick: Customers will (rightly) expect that same charging to apply when they are not closing early. If you can pay in half hour blocks at one time, it would be inconsistent to say you can't at another time. This will confuse customers and I wouldn't recommend it.