A negative comment or feedback would easily to get attention from public and it could be spread very fast and gone viral and would ruin your company image and reputation. Therefore, good skills of handling on this negative feedback from public is needed when it comes to your company. Let's see how's people did well on handling this kind of issue.
Ola Cabs has successfully turned a frustrated customer into its brand advocate. This incident was happening on 21st November 2013. It involved a co-founder & CEO of Digital Vidya in Delhi, Pradeep Copra who needed to book a cab for his wife and daughter to attend a birthday party in the evening. He has booked a cab from Ola Cabs which is one of the well know Indian radio taxi services. Unfortunately, he received a call from his wife complaining with a frustration expression about the cancellation of cab booking from Ola Cabs personnel due to unavailability. He was very unhappy with this arrangement from Ola Cabs because he has to do a new booking from other taxi company in a limited time and he had to attend a meeting soon at that time. In the end, his wife and daughter have missed the birthday party. After he reached home and listened to his wife experience with dealing with Ola Cabs, he has decided to write a bad review of Ola Cabs about his dissatisfaction of their services and the inconvenience caused by Ola Cabs sudden cancellation.
Tweet made by the Pradeep
Instant respond tweet replied from Ola Cabs with apology and asked for the details of the incident
While he was sharing the details, he has mentioned in a tweet that nothing can be done to control the damage anymore
He received a call from one of the Senior Customer Relationship Manager at Ola Cabs which has been promised by Ola Cabs the day before. After the representative of the Ola Cabs has listened to the whole incident from Pradeep, they apologized once again and assured that they would not let this incident happen again and also they will do something to pay back to him as well as make up their mistake. However, there's nothing they can do since his wife and daughter have already missed the party and nothing can help on this issue. Even though the representative has deal with him in a long call but still can't change his mind of dropping the bad review with Ola Cabs.
After he came back from work, he has surprised that his daughter was very happy with the gift from Ola Cabs which is a box of cake and a message.
Message left by Ola Cabs to Pradeep's daughter
He really touched by the action that has taken by Ola Cabs and he was finally forgave Ola Cabs on this issue after seeing the happiness from his daughter. Besides that, this action does helps on changing his mind from dropping the review of his bad experience with Ola Cabs.
The reason why Ola Cabs can become so successful in handling the dissatisfaction or negative comment from customer is because they gave a immediate reply to their customer and they did not escape from the incident also they apologized on the mistake they have made. In additional, they do concern about Pradeep's concern which is his daughter's disappointment that could not attend the birthday party and they has taken an effective and quick action to make the girl happy. The most importantly, they did not forget to ask them to still book their taxi in future in a indirectly way which is topping up credit to his wife account.
There are some tips I would like to share with you guys on how to deal with it if the same situation is happening again.
Respond as quickly as possible
Respond to a negative comment as fast as you can when it haven't gone viral or spread out because when it does not get a respond from the particular company it will lead to more negative comments and the customer will be more angry because they did not feel that they are important enough to get your attention to solve their problem. Never let a negative comment unanswered.
A genuine apology doesn’t hurt
Apology does not means it is enough for cover up your mistake but it can first chill and relax the frustrated customer and stop them on repeatedly think on the bad experience they had. Besides that, a company who willing to apologize to the mistake they had made can show that they are responsible enough on handling their mistake.
Take the Discussion Offline
When you have given apology sincerely, do ask them for contact and make it offline conversation and it is better dealing with them offline. For example, give them a call or email them about further asking of their issues. This would help you to remain your company reputation because no matter what respond that the customer will give no one can view it online, therefore it would give a bad image tho the public.
Ask for a Follow up
When issue is solved do ask for a follow up or future feedback from the costumers and post their feedback on the company’s website. This could shows that you are really concern about their feelings even the issue has done resolved. Moreover, there are always unsatisfied customer, keep engaging with them and try to make them happy. However, do not overly focus on this because some customer would keep asking for more when they know they have the control over you.
If you follow my tips you can always convert a frustrated customer to your brand ambassador. When they satisfied with your services they would share it with the people who around them.
Thanks for your precious time to read my blog. Hope that my tips would help you in future. =)
