(Forgive me. I wrote this post directly after New Years and forgot to post it. I just found it in my drafts).
The importance of customer service in a world of instant online feedback is by no means a new concept, but my recent experiences on New Years Eve really showed this concept in action. We arrived at Wildfire for our 9:30 PM dinner reservation, only to find out that the restaurant was running over an hour late (and if you’ve ever spent New Years Eve in Chicago, you’ll know that it’s nearly impossible to make last minute changes to plans. Just about every restaurant and bar in the city is absolutely packed to capacity—so we were stuck).
Looking for an outlet for our frustration, we turned to Twitter for a little venting about the restaurant. There. Take that, Wildfire. Now everyone knows you screwed up.
But in the end, terrific customer service saved the day. The restaurant manager was at our table minutes after we sat down, offering a personal apology and a free appetizer—and when we were still finishing dinner as midnight rolled around, everyone in the restaurant was offered a free glass of champagne and party favors to ring in the new year. So even though our night didn’t work out exactly as planned, we had a great time celebrating midnight in the restaurant—and, of course, felt compelled to express our gratitude toward the restaurant to our Chicago buddies (and beyond), both on and offline.
There are plenty of opportunities to rant about bad experiences: Yelp, Get Satisfaction, Twitter, Metromix, Citysearch (etc. etc. etc.). These days, there’s little room for error.
Photo Source: MyTangerineDreams, Creative Commons
