In today’s social media driven world, customer service is key to positive word-of-mouth, no matter the size of your chain or the scope of the complaint. If you doubt the seriousness of addressing customer complaints in a timely and serious manner, look no further than the ballooning battle cry of parents around the cleanliness and safety of McDonald’s playground equipment that has the company battling a hailstorm of negative publicity.
Yes, even a QSR giant like McDonald’s is not immune to missteps in today’s consumer-driven and social media savvy environment where customers around the world can ban together in a matter of minutes, all with the help of the Internet. The chain is proof that regardless of your clout as a business, how you handle customer complaints will determine whether the situation will be calmly resolved or potentially blowup in your face.
What’s now a social media nightmare for McDonald’s, began as a single, manageable customer complaint. Chandler, Ariz. resident Dr. Erin Carr-Jordan, a mother of four, a professor at Arizona State University and a McDonald’s customer, was dismayed to discover filthy playground equipment at a local McDonald’s back in April 2011. She alerted a manager, and returned four weeks later to find nothing had been cleaned.