My husband and I own a bakery/coffeeshop and we have a little mobile cookie tricycle from which we sell cookies downtown in our tiny town. Today we had a somewhat regular customer send her little 4 year old boy to the cookie trike to buy a cookie. He paid with a $5 bill, my husband gave him his change and his cookie, and off he went. Shortly after, the boy's mom came over and told my husband that her son paid with a $20. My husband is very good about paying close attention to the denominations and knows that he was paid with a $5. To be sure, he showed the woman that he only had two $20s in his pocket from two earlier transactions. Also, when he returned to the bakery, my husband counted the cash and compared it to the number of cookies sold. It all added up correctly. If it hadn't, we know who this woman is and would have gladly returned the extra money. I should also mention that this woman has done this before, in our shop, with the $5 vs $20 denomination issue and been wrong.

Now this customer has posted negative (and untrue) comments on her Facebook page. Neither my husband nor I are sure what to do at this point. We live in a very small, tightly knit community and want to keep our customers happy. By giving her money that is not hers, I think we would be admitting guilt and she would certainly take it that way. I don't care if we lose this customer at this point, because she is clearly a bit of a troublemaker, but I don't want her trashing our business. Any suggestions to clear this up?

Thanks in advance for any help!!!!!

Edit: Here is her FB post, identifying names changed:

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I certainly wouldn't give her a dime.

I'd send her a certified cease & desist letter telling her that if she doesn't delete the defamatory posts that you'll be taking her to court.

I'd also make sure that I NEVER, EVER completed a transaction with her, or any of her family members, in the future.

And, if she left the posts up, or continued to defame me, I WOULD take her to court.

Rae

She is a thief, plain and clear. Definitely threaten legal action. Her poor little son is learning how to be dishonest, too. And we wonder why this country is in trouble....

If she has done this before I would contact the police department right away. If the police can find evidence that other shops have been hit with this there would be a much stronger case against her.

The defamation lawsuit threat is basically a bluff, it's doubtful you would be able to win that one. Other than going to the police I would ignore her. If she happens to post on your business's FB page, don't delete the post but reply with your side of the story.

I own a retail storefront and no, the customer is NOT always right. Some people conduct their lives in such a way to make everyone around them miserable and this lady sounds like one of them.

Just the fact that she was willing to trust a small child with a 20 dollar bill and then expect him to get correct change and then bring everything back along with the cookies tells me she's not the brightest crayon in the box.

I would respond calmly and respectfully on whatever forum allows a reply and leave it at that. She can only get so much mileage out of the situation and then it will blow over.

After that you may see her sneak into your place quietly one day, hoping you have forgotten her rude behavior. I had that happen once with a complainer that made my life miserable over a one letter misspelling on a small cake. She didn't give me a chance to fix it, instead she posted on forums and brought my rating way down on a restaurant review site by being the only negative review. After some time had passed she tried to place orders 2 more times and I refused to make another cake for her. Who needs that kind of headache?

No, the customer is not always right. Sometimes they are downright rotten.

I'd blast her on her own shitty post too.

Oh it was on her personal page? So she had to go out of her way to make sure you'd see it? Who does that?!?? What a hag.

I had the opposite happen. I am totally anal retentive about numbers. My husband gave me $32.00 to get my three dogs' nails clipped by my regular groomer. I sat that same 20, 10 and two one's on the coffee table for two weeks and stared at it. When I finally went to the groomer, I only took two dogs. I gave the amount for two dogs plus about a big tip. I handed the girl the 20 and ten and told her what amount to give back, let's say $16 plus & $7.00 tip. I only took in that same $32.00. So I gave her $30 and asked for $7.00 back. The owner chimed in that that would only be a $2.00 tip because I gave her $25.00. I explained and the owner still corrected me over the tip!!! not the amount. Most don't tip at all but they knew I was a big tipper. The tip should have never been addressed in the first place.

I had been going there for years and my husband's ex-wife had also patronized the shop. Her husband was a patient of my husband's. Obviously I never went back and we spend plenty on our pets.

I wasn't upset about the $10 vs $5 thing... this has happened to all of us on one end or the other. But to argue over the tip was ludicrous.

But I would never put this on facebook.

My husband has had patients post negative comments when he has had to be more aggressive about a past due bill. All of a sudden he is a bad doctor. I didn't know this until it happened, but you cannot post negative comments for the sole purpose of causing a company to lose business. You may not be happy with the company, but the things you say must be accurate. I know all about libel, but this takes it a step farther and you can actually be sued for your feelings about a company if the facts can't substantiate your written or verbal criticism.

Since I have known this, I have never used comments or ratings to air my displeasure with a company. It's just not worth it. I found my daughter's car online and went 100 miles to get it because I wanted a particular color. The dealership warranted it that it was a one-owner. Well, I got the "Car-Fax" and that one owner was Enterprise Rent A Car. The car was still a good deal and I bought it anyway. It was practically new. But before I blasted their practices (new car dealership in the Baltimore area), I thought about my husband's C&D order by his attorney to his patient and I just left it alone.

Thanks everyone for the responses! As it is a very small town and everyone knows everyone, we opted to respond politely to her post. Yes, AZCouture, she did go out of her way to tell us to look at her post. Funny, too, because we just a week or two ago had a somewhat negative interaction with her at our shop and have been leery of her lately. Anyway, here is the response we offered her:

We have such amazing customers and are so appreciative of their loyalty. In the four years we've been running our business, we have had only two other unresolved situations where "the customer was always right" (and, um, they weren't...). Honestly, while we strive to make everyone happy, I don't mind too much if she doesn't come back. Every dealing with her is a headache, but at the same time, I don't want her bad-mouthing us to every person she comes across. I'll keep you all posted if anything else comes of this, but I am hoping that Amberwaves is right and this just blows over. Thank you all for your help!

I think your response was professional and addressed the perceived problem.

I live in a small town, too. It's so small it can't support a cookie trike or even a bakery. Most people in your town know this woman and know her ways. They will not let it affect their opinion of your business negatively. If anything, they will silently cheer for you for standing up to her.

In my town, we have the "Christian" grandmother who even sings professionally in a gospel group in the area. She takes her grandkids to fast food joints and they leave a high holy mess behind. She always insists that the order was wrong- and not in a nice way.

We also have a cake thief in this small town. For three years someone's cake at the cake auction would disappear yet we'd always have one cake left over. We changed our system and I put a strong woman in charge of the cake tables and she caught her thieving butt. She hasn't been back since she knows she now has to take the plain cake she bid on (and won) home and not the $200 one. Another one who doesn't return any longer is the woman who always made her check out for less than she owed. It drove me nuts the first two years trying to figure out why the figures didn't add up.

Trust me- it's small town. We know who they are and know to take their words for their worth: nothing.

I think you handled it well...You look better than she does if people read both letters.

Keep in mind that if she posts on YOUR business page you can delete the post and block her from posting.

WHEN YOU SLING MUD YOU GET DIRTY TOO !!!... You can't change a person's actions,but you can control how you react...You said your husband and you were thourough as to the money exchange and the amount of product sold matching what was earned and it all balanced out...also she has done this before. It seems that if everything is straight in the books and bank ,,,Yaw owe her nothing.... DO NOT get caught up in all that craziness, Keep serving your community I bet there are those there who appreciate what you guys are doing.Remember "There is NO right way to do wrong"<333><

First of all... who sends a 4 year old little one ALONE to handle any business tranaction? I don't care how small of a town you live in... NEVER hand a small child a $20 and send him on his way to purchase a cookie, snowcone, toy, etc! The parent is responsible for the purchase! Eesh!!! On the subject on how to handle... Facebook can be a great tool in advertising, and can be the direct opposite at times! Always handle your self with grace - no matter how ugly she gets. After all, this is your livelihood! You can notify her in a professional manner that "Slander is a crime and will be reported." Give her the chance to remove the posts, if she does not... you have the right to report her.

Perhaps in future when she wants to buy her four year old something she will find the time to actually walk to the counter herself and hand over the money -
All to easy to blame your husband for a transaction he had with a four year old.

Bluehue

Why not just take the high road and give her the money and ask that she remove the post and post an apology, then just never do business with her again.

She sent the 4 yr old to purchase the cookies so she could scam you out of the money. Shame on her. What a way to raise a child.

Wait, she's a REGULAR customer and she gave her 4yo a $20 bill because she wasn't SURE how much the cookies would have costed her?????

Sure sounds like a scam to me. You don't owe her anything.

Sounds like you and your husband responded great. I have one question though... If she was a loyal customer she would know that your cookies cost $2.00 ea so there wouldnt be a need to send a 4 yr old with a $20 bill seeing is she had a $5.00....

I agree with you alvarezmom and mclaren regarding the cookie price. She was definitely not as "regular" a customer as she seems to think, especially considering that some of our true, hard-core regulars come in two, three, and (believe it or not) even four times a day. Regardless, we appreciate everyone's business, whether they come in once an hour or once a year, and always do our best to give excellent service (of course, we do have our favorite customers!).

Even after giving her our phone number and an opportunity to explain things to her, there has been no word from her end, which is fine by us. After having multiple issues with her, I'm ok to let this customer go. Hopefully we've heard the last from her!

Thanks everyone for your feedback! It's hard to know the right response in these situations so I appreciate everyone's support!

when my DH was a manager, anytime there was a dispute over the bill given, he would pull the register and count it just to make sure there were no mistakes or discrepancies. this sounds like an out and out scam to get some extra cash. glad to see you handled it well!