Bob Evans’ Follow Up

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A Bob Evans Restaurant

random BOB EVANS image from the web

Bob Evans Restaurant on Urbanspoon

After posting my recent tale of insanity during a Bob Evans visit, I received some almost immediate follow-up from Nate Riggs via Twitter DM:

nateriggs
– Eric – I work with Bob Evans. Saw your blog post. Would you shoot me your email so I can help make this right? 🙂

nateriggs
Thanks. Ill email you in a few and make sure we make this right By the way – love your blog and your writing style. 🙂

Twitter is awesome.  Instant responses.  These were followed up with another quick flurry of emails:

From: “Riggs, Nathaniel A.” <Nate_Riggs@BobEvans.Com>
To: <me@my.email.addre.ss>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:52 PM
Subject: Blog post about Bob Evans

Eric,

Thanks so much for your email address and for your post. We always try to deliver the best guest experience that we can, but sometimes we mess up. We’re truly sorry for the wait time and hassle that you and your wife experienced in our restaurant.

On a personal note, I dig your blog and was just in Pittsburgh yesterday. This is week 3 for me at Bob Evans leading digital and social so I’m working through some on boarding before I can really work on tightening up our digital presence.  I’m a blogger as well – http://nateriggs.com – and I always appreciate when bloggers are so respectful, even when we messed up. J

The next email from me will refer you to Leeann Purdy in our guest relations department. She will email you and take it from there.

Again, thank you!

BEFarmslogoemal

Nate Riggs
@nateriggs
Digital Marketing Strategist, Restaurant Marketing
3700 South High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43207
Phone: (614) 497-7447
Droid: (614) 348-2646
www.bobevans.com
We like you. Like us on Facebook!

and…

From: “Riggs, Nathaniel A.” <Nate_Riggs@BobEvans.Com>
To: “Purdy, Leann D”
Cc: <me@my.email.addre.ss>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:55 PM
Subject: Contact information for Eric Carroll – Pittsburgh Blogger from this morning

Leann,

Hi there.

I’ve copied Eric Carroll on this message. He is the Pittsburgh blogger who posted on our Facebook page this morning as we discussed. Would you please reach out to him when you have a moment?

Thank you!

BEFarmslogoemal

Nate Riggs
@nateriggs
Digital Marketing Strategist, Restaurant Marketing
3700 South High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43207
Phone: (614) 497-7447
Droid: (614) 348-2646
www.bobevans.com
We like you. Like us on Facebook!

and…

From: “Purdy, Leann D”
To: <me@my.email.addre.ss>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 2:32 PM
Subject: Bob Evans – Reference # 720520

Mr. Carroll,

I would like to first, thank you for taking the time to share your experience regarding your visit to our Bridgeville location, and also sincerely apologize for the overall unacceptable food and service you received.  I also appreciate that you were so candid as most people will not complain, the will just not go back, and we would not have the opportunity to try to make it up to you.

Our company places great emphasis on training our employees to satisfy our guests, so we appreciate that you have brought this to our attention.  We expect our servers to be attentive, timely, and attend to all of our guests needs, and I am very sorry that we let you down.

I would like the opportunity follow up with you by mail to invite you back to our restaurant, and if you are willing, I would like your address so that I can formally apologize to you by mail.  I also have shared your comments with the general manager and area coach of this location also so they can ensure that any necessary action is taken.

Again, Mr. Carroll, we appreciate your comments.  We value your patronage and appreciate your interest in Bob Evans Farms Inc.

LeAnn Purdy
Guest Relations
Bob Evans Farms, Inc.

and…

From: “Purdy, Leann D”
To: <me@my.email.addre.ss>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 3:24 PM
Subject: RE: Bob Evans – Reference # 720520

Mr. Carroll,

I wanted to send a follow up because I researched our records and did find where you had sent us these comments on our website with your mailing address included.

I have updated our records and a letter will be going out to you tomorrow.

Have a great day!

bef.gif

LeAnn Purdy
Representative, Guest and Consumer Relations
Supporting Bob Evans Restaurants, Bob Evans Food Products & Mimi’s Café Restaurants
3776 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43207
Bob Evans Guest and Consumer Relations: (800) 939-2338
Mimi’s Café Guest Relations: (866) 616-6464
Fax: (614) 492-4971
Bobevans.com

Then a week or so later, I got this in the mail…

Bob Evans Letter

Bob Evans Letter

Bob Evans Coupons

Bob Evans Coupons

How cool is that?  That’s enough for a meal & a half for the wife & I.  I have to say, I applaud their quick followup, perceived excitement, blatant flattery, and sincerity.  I do have to say, I’m a little afraid of returning to the Bridgeville location if someone was reamed by a regional manager as slyly implied by the emails and letter.  I mean “I also have shared your comments with the general manager and area coach of this location also so they can ensure that any necessary action is taken” seems pretty serious.  I don’t want to go back with Bob Evans bucks in hand and have them be all like “Oh, this is that butthole who wrote a blog and got me a lecture while I was just having a really bad day…”  Or do you think it was calmly presented as “OK, we obviously have some sort of breakdown, what can we as a management team do to help”?  I mean, that’s how it should have gone… right?

The didn’t comment on the asking 3 times for jelly code, so I can only assume this is a real thing.  Next time you’re at Bob Evans and you want jelly, ask for it thrice and ye shall receive thereupon the third asking.

Where’s the balance?  I’m really looking for input here.  Was I right to complain?  Am I safe in returning?  Should I just go to the Bob Evans in Robinson?  Think they have the same area coach & general manager?  How good is their Wildfire BBQ sauce?

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11 thoughts on “Bob Evans’ Follow Up”

  1. That’s an impressive response. Do you think they gave your concerns a little more weight because you are McDonalds?

    You’ve got a point about going to another place. You are number one if you search google for 3 jelly bob evans code.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Perhaps I do have McClout. Ha ha. Maybe now people will write to me also thinking I am Bob Evans as well as McDonald’s. (I never did hear back from Harmony or her Husband… I wonder if they realized that I am indeed not McDonald’s and were too ashamed to tell me?)

      Google does love this blog for some reason. I pop up in a lot of ridiculous searches.

      I think “3 jelly bob evans code” ought to be come a “thing”. Ha ha. Maybe a #jelly3x hashtag on Twitter?

      Like

      Reply

  2. I will say that your response is in keeping with the good work that Nate Riggs does. As his friend and colleague, I can say with utmost confidence that you will see much and more of this kind of response from Bob Evans in the future. Nate truly cares about brands engaging with their customers.

    Anyway, I visited here because Nate Tweeted about it, and don’t worry, no one asked me to make this comment. I just love seeing my friends do good work on behalf of great companies.

    Good luck with that jelly! 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    • Thank you for taking the time to read & comment! As a blogger yourself, I’m sure you’re aware of how we feed on such things!

      I do get the impression that Nate is genuinely excited by the prospect of Bob Evans reaching out to achieve customer satisfaction through social media. I hope he’s able steer them willingly in the right direction. This is a great start. It’s easy to give coupons, but it’s hard to convey an actual change and sincere understanding of such situations.

      It is highly amusing that I got a response to one email, but usually need to ask 3x for jelly.

      I do wonder though, exactly how the situation was handled. Should I be scared to go back?

      Like

      Reply

  3. Eric – thank you so much for writing this post. It’s been great getting to meet you and I’m glad that Leann as able to get in touch with you and take some actions to make things right. She did want me to suggest that with your gift cards, you could stock up well on our Wildfire BBQ sauce for the winter months. 😉

    Again, thanks for being willing to tell your readers about us. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    • Ha ha, thanks for the quick response, Nate! You ought to go to work for McDonald’s, Panera Bread, & Boston Market too. They’re terrible at responding to emails about ensuing chaos at their respective restaurants. Apparently Panera & Boston Market didn’t like my idea for a catering “battle royale“, neither ever really even acknowledged the idea. Did you know that they cater?

      Leann is a genius in stocking up on the wildfire sauce. That stuff is ridiculously tasty. It has a great heat that hits you after the initial sweet taste.

      While I try to be humorous in my writing about any chaos around dining out, I feel I also must be fair… and if the follow-up is really cool and I don’t write about it, it seems dishonest. I wouldn’t want to lie to the 3 or 4 regular readers, or the people that may Google “Bob Evans” and “jelly”.

      I would like to know a little more about what went down in Bridgeville after the area coach got involved. I hope no one got reprimanded, just shown the customer’s point of view as far as the transparency f chaos all around. Perhaps they were under-staffed that night? Perhaps that waitress had too many tables? Perhaps the woman in a manager’s shirt was new? Maybe it was all because we received jelly on the 1st asking.

      #jelly3x is the new black.

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      Reply

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