Do you ever wonder if companies really read your feedback? Biggby does!

So, we had THE WORST experience at Biggby last Saturday.  For those of you who follow our blog and live outside of Michigan, Biggby is a local coffee chain who competes with Starbucks.  I prefer Starbucks, myself, but my 16-year old daughter enjoys Biggby coffee drinks.  She even has photos of herself drinking Biggby coffee on facebook–that’s love.

We were at Biggby as part of a birthday celebration for her friend and had terrible service, so the marketing professor in me just had to tell the company. Boy, did they respond.  I got two emails, will be getting coupons, and also got a phone call.

Here are their responses from my comments below. I’ll let you know when I get those coupons.  We also got a phone-call from the young man who took our order.  He called to apologize and ask us to come back and give him another chance.  I explained why I felt the need to comment on this experience and he asked me to share his apology with all three girls.

We will definitely be giving them a second chance!

Karen:

Thank you for your address; I will make sure the coupons go in the mail promptly. I will pass your additional comments onto the store so they may follow up with their staff. Again, we truly appreciate your feedback and hope to have the chance to serve you and your daughter again soon!

Have a great day,
Tony
—
Tony DiPietro
Director of Operations
BIGGBY COFFEE
________________________________________
From: Karen E. Mishra [mishrak@msu.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 1:10 PM
To: BIGGBY Feedback
Subject: Re: BIGGBY COFFEE: Poor Experience at Store #121

Tony,
Thanks for getting back with me.  I apologize for the very blunt feedback, but there was not much room on your feedback form and I wanted to very quickly get to the heart of the matter.  I’m a Starbucks drinker, myself, but my 16-year old daughter and her friends love Biggby, so we had stopped there to celebrate one of her friend’s birthday.  I guess that is why the service was so disappointing.  The girls were there to celebrate and have fun and were really put off by the service they encountered.  You’ve got them at a stage where you can grab them to become life-long customers if they have the right experience.

Thanks for your kind offer.  I know that my daughter would love to return and try again.

Karen
2763 Elderberry Dr.
Okemos MI 48864

Dear Karen,

Thank you for contacting us.  I am very sorry for the poor experience during your visit to our Okemos store.  We want every one of our customers to leave our stores feeling better than when they arrived, and it is always disappointing to get this kind of feedback.  That being said, I appreciate you taking the time to let us know about your visit—comments like these will help us to improve.  I will share your feedback with the store to give them that opportunity.

Also, by way of apology, I would like to send you some coupons so your next couple visits are on the house.  I hope that they will make the idea of a return trip to this store, or another, more inviting. Please reply with your mailing address and I will make sure that they go out in the mail promptly.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your concerns and once more, my sincere apologies for the poor experience.

Best regards,
Tony

—
Tony DiPietro
Director of Operations
BIGGBY COFFEE
________________________________________
From: Feedback [feedback@biggby.com]
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2011 4:12 PM
To: BIGGBY Feedback
Subject: BIGGBY Talk To Us Message

Karen has the following comments regarding the Okemos, MI location:

Contact:        Karen Mishra
Email:          mishrak@msu.edu
Location:       Okemos, MI
Store #:        121
Use Comments?:  No

Comments:
We just had the worst service ever at a Biggby store at 3:30 p.m. on 5/21/11.  First, the person taking our order was impatient and rude as we placed our order and as my daughter was picking out a cute kitty card, the guy told us that he hates cats and even tried to hit one wtih his car.  He basically started arguing with my daughter about how awful the card was that she was buying.  So, we started off with a bad taste in our mouth from that interaction. Then, my daughter’s friend ordered a sugar-free drink and got one that had was not sugar-free.  When she asked the barista about the order, he got angry and slammed the drink in the sink when he made the new one.  Overall, our “moments of truth” were not positive.  I am a marketing professor at MSU and thought you needed to know to prevent others from having such a bad experience.