@andrea-vahl Bonjour Andrea!

I just went to the Facebook page for Timothy’s Coffee and wow! That was some major screw-up! Now, obviously some people will have to be held accountable for their actions in there, but to answer your question, I think they did the right thing to end the crisis (if there is such a thing, in the context). They officially recognized the blunder, explained what happened, and apologized. Now the best thing they can do is to move on.

If you keep answering questions and comments from angry customers, it’s like adding fuel to the fire. When a crisis is unfolding, sure, you want to be responsive and answer as much as possible to avoid misinformation. But in this case? Case is closed, and they need to move on. They screwed up, they apologized for it, so the quicker they move on to another discussion, the quicker people will also, eventually, forget and move on. Some folks, obviously, will not forgive nor forget and may switch brands at this point, but leaving the post open to comment won’t do anything to change that anyway, in my opinion.

I have to agree with @russellallert. Closing the comments was not necesarily the best way of handeling this fail. It could have been much worst and they fixed a lot with the appology. That “special offer” sound cheap, but it can also be seen as an atempt to make it up to the fans.
@fredericgonzalo I agree they need to move on (and learn from their mistake). But reading the comments I feel that the free samples were not given on a first come, first served basis, as they stated. Or, at least the fans feel like it. And that’s what counts. I think their reply was to short and they needed to put in some extra effort.
What they could have done? Instead of closing the comments, moved the discussion from their wall (to a more private setting – mail).Post a more comprehensive explanation. Let everyone know what it’s being done to solve the issue. If possible honor the promotion. After all, a mistake must be payed for.
Also, the appology is quite nicely written, but (maybe because of moving on so quickly) it doesn’t seem quite heartfelt.
Feel I should say this again: it could have went much worse. But the mistakes they made – wich @russellallert summed up – are quite serious.

@andreavahl, @russellalbert, @fredericgonzalo @robertspoon

Holy smokes and this just because of some coffee. I’m going to share this with my community.

Unbelieveable, why can’t people just realise they made a mistake and move on?

@russellallert I don’t understand fully what they were offered but I do know that someone will always keep venting because they are xxxxx.Perhaps they can’t send out coffee to all of them. I don’t know.Yes you need to have a ‘catastrophe’ plan but you they had aligned them selves with a promotion company that company would have known how to handle things. They tried to save a few bucks and now it’s coming back to bite them

It seems they understood the problem. They posted a video which, even though it’s not brilliant, it helps a lot. They are fixing their mistakes, it seems. (for an update, check their page)

I think they have defend their promotion that it is credible. Facebook is vital and is considered as alternative to communicate with fans and friends so I think they will just have to try communicate with them properly.

This is a topic we have been talking about at my organization so the insight is helpful.  I am a never close comments fan myself but hearing about the experiences of others is really helpful, too, so I don’t feel like I am alone!

Closing comments is only acceptable in one case: when the conversation goes from angry, upset venting to discriminative or derogative language and tone.

However, as we’ve seen in many instances, deleting comments is NEVER a good idea – it does’t help in the resolution of an issue, but rather further offends and angers customers.

The best approach to unhappy customers and comments is to reply to each one individually, SINCERELY apologizing, along with a public (and sincere) apology.

I see that Timothy’s Coffee made a big mistake, and then made even more mistakes when they were caught unprepared and under attack. However, it seems as though they’ve either taken counsel or done their homework, and are taking the right steps to righting their wrongs, and focusing on making amends with their customers.

The video from their rep was a smart idea (although, I would have preferred not to see her reading!), and their later apologies and strategy to send out coupons seem sincere. 

When a company gets caught by surprise in a social media crisis and reacts poorly (or not at all) the most we can hope for that company is that they learn from their mistakes and change their course of action. It’s always nice to see when this happens, rather than seeing brands fail and then fail harder the next time (ahem, United Airlines fiascos).

My prediction: Judging from their efforts and the comments from their customers, I think this brand will learn from their mistakes and be able to come out of this crisis with reduced damage from what it could/would have been.