Pans and Company and the mismanagement of a complaint in Social Networks

First I want to record that I am a regular consumer of Pans and Company breakfasts. In fact, according to Foursquare I am the Mayor of the premises located in Sant Joan. Perhaps for this same reason, I think that my reflection / criticism has more weight than that of an occasional consumer who does not know the business like me.

The facts

Last Saturday, July 28, walking around Barcelona with my family, around 8 pm, my daughter Laura, 7 years old, was struck by a lot of garbage that came from the door of the Pans and Company of Plaça Sant Jaume “Dad, look how dirty, why do they have the trash on the door of their house and do not throw it in the recycling bin?” Were his words. “I do not know Laura, but it’s too bad to do that,” was my response.

When I see something that I think can be improved, I say it. If I have social networks to communicate with the person directly responsible, much better. That was my only intention when posting this picture on twitter. Let them know the people in charge of twitter of the Pans And Company, a company that is part of Eat Out Group, a fact they may not be aware of and that they could only improve with a little will.

So far so good: You see something reportable. Report it via twitter. You mention those responsible and expect them to answer you. Simple. It is not more complex than this. Unless you do things wrong in Social Networks and do not comply with the basic rules when handling a complaint, as has happened in this case.

What the Pans And Company has done wrong managing an adverse comment on twitter.

• You have not answered the adverse comment . One of the things that can make someone who is complaining more angry is that they do not pay attention to him. This is exactly what the Pans And Company has done. He has continued with his usual activity on twitter, disregarding the complaint. What you can not do is “continue the party while the kitchen is burning”. Sooner or later the smoke will reach the room.

• He has not acted quickly . (You can excuse not attending during the weekend, but you can not excuse four days of silence).
• It has not evaluated well the impact of the comment and the relevance of the person complaining . Measuring the impact of the issuer is essential. While all people deserve to be heard and cared for, the prioritization at the moment of managing the answers, depending on the issuer, is fundamental.
• He has not contributed information . While it is important to respond, it is best to do so with content and information that contributes.
• It has not recognized the error. In this case, although the lack is flagrant, because it has to do with the health of the customers, an apology might have been enough. In the vast majority of cases, start with a “we’re sorry, we’ll do everything we can to keep it from happening again”, it calms the spirits and prevents the situation from becoming bigger.
• It has not opened an additional communication channel . If the reason for not answering, is to avoid promoting a complaint by responding with your main account, the solution is not silence. You can create a special account that manages problems and / or you can try to contact the customer through other channels. A simple search in google, can give you many clues and access to talk away from social noise.
• It has not involved the client in the possible solution or improvement . If, thanks to the complaint of a client, you have detected a weak point in your service and you have improved it, give the credit it deserves to whom it belongs. This stage is subsequent to the management of the complaint and is what has the best effect, according to my experience, on the perception that people have of the service.

In summary. If you want to participate in the “entertaining world” of social networks, do not forget one of the fundamental premises: “Learn and apply the basic rules, your reputation and that of your brand are at stake”.

Upgrade

A few days ago I reported an incident that I witnessed in a Pans And Company in the center of Barcelona: Workers of the Pans, preparing food a few meters from a pile of garbage accumulated in its back door. You can see the tweet here. I went to social networks to notify them of the situation and they did not answer me. I tried to get his attention with a couple more tweets and I did not get an answer either. Thanks to the help of the tweeted community and after 5 days of waiting, they rectified their behavior and responded.