Lousy Customer Service

A few months ago, I went to a St. Louis Blues hockey game with my son.

He ordered a chicken sandwich from a concession stand run by a local restaurant.

The chicken was raw. When we returned the food to the stand and asked for a refund, the woman at the cash register apologized and gave us our money back.

But when she handed the sandwich back to the guy cooking the food and explained to him what happened, he glanced at the sandwich, shook his head, rolled his eyes and looked at Jacob and me as if we were criminals.

I’m not a lip-reader, but the guy seemed to say, “F-ing, B-S” (or something like that) as he flung the sandwich into the trash.

The next day, I sent a direct, but polite email to the restaurant. I noted that food prep errors happen, and I can forgive those.

But, I said, it didn’t feel great to have the cook act as if we were wrong for returning the raw chicken he dished out.

The reply from the restaurant: Nada. Zero. Crickets.

What a missed opportunity!

Someone at the restaurant could have replied. Someone could have apologized. Someone could have owned up to a mistake.

Had someone done that, I would have felt much better about the restaurant. I most likely would have overlooked this one-time hiccup. I probably would have gone back to that concession stand or the restaurant to give them another chance.

If they had gone the extra mile and, for example, offered me a gift card, told me how they followed-up with the concession stand cook, or something like that, I would have become a fan of the restaurant. I would have been telling people about their great customer service.

Instead, I’m telling you about their lousy customer service. It’s unlikely I’ll visit that concession stand or restaurant again.

When you own up to your mistakes, good things usually happen.

When you ignore customers who contact you with valid concerns, your business will suffer.