Can you believe what Innisfree Bookshop did to my 13 yr.old?

[sky_nh]

Originally Posted by Island Life

Looks like you lost a bookstore AND a forum! As you can see by the responses, people are very protective of local businesses and don't take kindly to public trashings. So maybe you should vent to friends and not to the forum because, as you've read, people vent back at you.

Bashing those who have issues with local retailers will only make consumers find alternative ways to express their displeasure -- and they always do. Why put up with grief from local boosters who would rather stick their collective heads in the sand? So, consumers take their complaints elsewhere -- blogs, other forums, BBB, emails to various lists, etc.

From a marketing standpoint, shielding retailers from what consumers are thinking is not doing those retailers any favors. For each consumer who complains here, justified or not, ten more are thinking or feeling the same thing.

The ONLY antidote to a negative customer attitude is to listen to it and respond professionally and with the goal of keeping the customer happy. Usually that works, sometimes it doesn't. Ignoring the problem never works 100% of the time! The "Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil" approach is a quaint and useless form of local boosterism that contributes to lost sales and baffled store owners.

While we have a right as members of this forum to expect candor and honesty from people who comment on their retail experiences, trying to shut them off because we want to protect "our own" is counterproductive.

-- Sky

[Island Life]

sky_nh, sorry, I can see how you mistook my comment as bashing of the complainant. In fact, I was appalled at the responses he got - quite rude - and that's what I meant when I said people vent back. Sea_n_ski was complaining, probably hoping to hear from some people who have had similar experiences and could empathize, and instead he got an earful of rudeness. I'd call that backfiring.