I remember having trouble with British Gas in the past and ringing them to query errors with my bill. How refreshing it was when the voice the other end said, “Oops, we really messed up this time didn’t we? Yes, it’s our fault, we apologise!” This admission of guilt was followed up by promptly rectifying the problem, which made me respect the company much more than if they’d tried to pretend they were not at fault. Companies everywhere could learn from that – deny your mistakes and customers will go elsewhere, face up to them and put them right and you earn a customer’s loyalty and respect.
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| We should all put up our hands and admit mistakes |
More recently, a local coffee shop was in the doghouse for poor treatment of a breast-feeding mum, reportedly requesting that she used the toilets as a place to feed her baby. Following public outrage, the Rochester Coffee Company in Kent issued an apology and took it one step further by pledging to donate 50p from every coffee sold during the course of a week to a breast cancer charity. A marketing ploy? Possibly an element of that, but I hope it was offered and will be carried out with suitable remorse and understanding. Hopefully, the coffee shop will have learnt from this episode and be more amenable to breast-feeding mums in the future.
So we should all remember, the issue is not whether we make the mistakes in the first place; it’s the way in which we apologise and correct our errors that really counts. As for businesses, don’t try and deny that things go wrong or shift the blame, honesty and courtesy is what keeps customers loyal.
Do businesses do enough to apologise? Contact comments@shoppersjoy.co.uk
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