Mea culpa: A business should own up to customer service flub

NEW YORK – Misunderstandings, mistakes and breakdowns can happen at any company, but small business owners know they might not be able to survive negative reviews on social media.

So when they have customer service disasters they need to try to not just mollify customers but please or even thrill them.

So experts suggest, when angry customers call, owners should listen, not be defensive and genuinely try to help.

When two young entrepreneurs fielded an angry phone call from a customer, they realized the best way to defuse a bad situation was to buy him a new backyard grill.