Indianapolis News and Headlines

Actions

Phoenix woman leaves bad review for business, toy store fires back

Posted at 12:04 AM, Dec 06, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-06 08:35:34-05

There's presents under Krystal Winfield's tree, but the one she really wanted to give is missing.

"I do feel like it was the one present that I was really looking forward to giving him,"Winfield said.

Winfield is talking about the perfect picture of lightning she saw for sale inside Papa Dan's Trains & More at Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix.

However, she explained that the store only had one and it was damaged. She decided to leave her phone number with store employees and told them to call her when new ones came in.

Three weeks later, Winfield said the store sold out of a new shipment and never called her. Upset, she took to the business's Facebook page to leave a one star review.

"Looks like I won't bother to go near this place again.'We believe in customer service?' What a lie. Thank you for ruining my Christmas," Winfield wrote.

The toy store's Facebook account fired right back.

"Go back to your safe place and suck it up butter cup. Thanks for the nice review, you entitled --- It's people like you that made everyone vote for change," read the post.

"I was really shocked, that he would respond like that," Winfield said. "I have never known anybody, to be that unprofessional, especially on social media on his own page, where everyone could see that."

Public Relations expert and Evolve Public Relations and Marketing Owner Jennifer Kaplan said the internet has given everyone a platform to air their dirty customer experiences and business need to be careful with their messages.

"So depending on how big it gets, and how much it resonates with people, it could be devastating to your business," Kaplan said.

Kaplan suggested addressing customer problems offline or in private messages. Kaplan also explained that posting comments to public forums is bad for business.

"That is a storefront for you, that is a place for people to put information, and to review, and you're exposing yourself, so you really have to be careful of that," Kaplan said.

Papa Dan didn't have a comment when Phoenix-based KNXV reached him by phone Monday night. The store has taken down the comment and the ability for customers to leave reviews any more.

Krystal said she'll just have to find a different present for her boyfriend this Christmas.