Earlier this week, I was getting on my blog soap box to talk about not one, but two unfortunate experiences I had with restaurants last week - both which overcharged by adding extra entrees to our bills.

As someone who is in the field of Word of Mouth Marketing, and even more importantly, a consumer who felt “wronged”, I did what many are now doing these days and chose to speak about my experiences online - on Facebook, Twitter, and even this blog.

I challenged both restaurants to keep in mind that consumers now have the ability to not only share their opinion, but amplify their negative experiences on review sites such as Yelp, CitySearch, TripAdvisor, etc.

According to a recent study by the Society for New Communications Research, 59% of consumers use social media to vent their frustrations about service experience, and research other consumers’ experience with service before dealing with them.  Furthermore, 81% say blogs, online rating systems and discussion forums can give consumers a greater voice regarding customer care, but less than 33% say they believe that businesses take customers’ opinions seriousl.

I had thought the same about the two restaurants last weekend. But I was wrong.  One of them- Taste on Melrose - listened and responded here on this blog.

I was impressed not only that they listened to what one of their customers said, but they turned it into a positive by making it right.

I couldn’t be happier- as this is one of my favorite restaurants, a place I’ve taken family, friends, co-workers and have recommended to others. I’ll keep doing so.

Thanks for paying attention Taste and righting a wrong through social media.