Every summer we spend a couple of weeks on a beach near St. Augustine, Florida. And every summer our youngest daughter's birthday falls during vacation. Cozette, who turned 6 this year, is a fairly easy child to please (unless you count her growing penchant for apparel, in which case I can only guess that I'm screwed in a few years). We spent her day playing in the surf, and went out to dinner that night. Easy. The only thing she really wanted was to get a bit of fudge from Kilwin's. It was 8:55 when we left the restaurant, and the clock struck 9:00 precisely when we arrived at Kilwin's. Just as the manager bolted the front door. I looked in the store and there was a line 12 deep waiting to be served. Yes, they were hopping, but the manager was adamant about the store being closed by pointing to his watch (it was literally 9:00 p.m.) I explained that my daughter (who was holding my hand) only wanted a little piece of fudge and that we would be no trouble. The manager didn't budge.
Granted, the guy was probably all of 25 and likely had his eye on a date after work, but that didn't stop me from sending out a Tweet about our experience. I dropped a #fail on them for breaking the heart of a little girl. Within an hour, I received a Tweet from @KilwinsCLT (George Click) who apologized for the problem with Kilwin's St. Augustine, and offered to remedy the situation when we got back to Charlotte.
I just wanted to share this story - as yet another example of how Social Media is helping make the world a better place. Putting customers back in control - where we belong. Too many brands today have forgotten this golden rule. Not George Click though.
Jim is a father, husband, copywriter and founder of smashcommunications. You can find him on Twitter @smashadv
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For the record, Cozette got over the incident in St. Augustine on her birthday pretty quick (like I said, she's easy to please). I just thought that the way this customer service problem was handled was worthy of mention. I highly encourage anyone who has similar experiences with brands (for good and bad) mention it on Twitter. This is our medium. We're advocates of one another here.
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