Facebook wars over water jug

Tassie restaurants have this week been warned to take any criticism on social media seriously -- however trivial -- or face a barrage of negative feedback that could impact their businesses.

Marketing communication expert Dr Kim Lehman, from the University of Tasmania, yesterday urged businesses to be wary of how they deal with customer feedback on social media sites, warning that online word of mouth could be damaging to their reputation.

The warning comes after Geilston Bay's Gilby's Restaurant was this week slammed on Facebook with customer complaints, which related mainly to the restaurant's placement of water pitchers.

Customers have complained on Robert Bernardis' restaurant's
Facebook page that they don't serve water on tables

Gilby's Restaurant owner Robert Bernardis said the complaints had been blown out of proportion and he didn't think the online criticism would affect his business.

"To be honest, we have a really good strong, regular client base and I honestly didn't recognise anybody [posting on Facebook]," he said.

However, Dr Lehman warned that the power of social media could be damaging, particularly when criticism wasn't responded to appropriately.

Gilby's came under heavy fire from Facebook critics after it told one person to "get a life" in response to a post about service at the restaurant.

Dr Lehman said any business was likely to lose customers with such comments.

"The bottom line, regardless of technology, is that they've handled a legitimate customer complaint really badly," he said. "On top of that, they haven't realised how social media can magnify problems.

"It will affect, I think, their business in respect to those market segments that interact with Facebook."

When the Facebook backlash increased, Gilby's Restaurant attempted to explain its water policy, posting a 12-point explanation of why water was only placed on tables where guests were drinking alcohol, citing concerns about the cost of water, glasses, dishwashing, staff wages, maintenance, plumbing and electricity.

"Though the cost per glass is negligible -- water is not free -- we pay Southern Water just like everyone else," the restaurant posted.

"Some customers are abusing the provision of water. They believe that as long as they have a glass of water in front of them they can then while away the hours making conversation all the time topping up the glass of water.

"The current record is five-and-a-half hours and three-hour stays are a weekly event."

Dr Lehman said the trick to dealing with criticism was to not become overly defensive and to simply take any feedback about service with a positive attitude.

"They're basic mistakes in understanding the psychology of their customers," he said.

"They [Gilby's] offered way too much information [and] they got defensive."

To clarify the position on water provisions, Mr Bernardis said the restaurant had a jug of water on the counter that customers could help themselves to, but still believed the cost of providing tap water was a concern for all businesses.

Mr Vernandis said he was considering selling a range of bottled waters, instead of providing tap water.

Source: The Mercury, 6 October 2012