Headline: Web hosting company CEO gets thrown out of Dave and Buster's

One of our employees was playing pool when the ball jumped off the table and broke a light fixture hanging directly overhead. It was completely accidental and he wasn't doing anything inappropriate (other than being bad at pool). Being an honest guy, he sought out a manager to own up to the situation and get things taken care of. The manager informed him it was a custom light fixture and that he would have to pay $214. Not wanting to cause a problem, he took out his credit card and paid the money.

Later on when he was at the bar, I found out about the situation. I asked him to give me the receipt so I could talk to the manager on his behalf. The first manager came out, listened to the story, and then told me that he was sorry but only the general manager could do anything about it. That was the first warning sign of bad service - managers not being empowered to take care of customers.

I waited about 10 minutes, and eventually the general manager came out to speak with me. This is where things got really good. He proceeded to tell me that "if I could go out and find a cheaper lamp, he would waive the charge for me." When I looked puzzled, he proceeded to tell me that "it's a custom lamp for Dave and Buster's" and that my employee had to pay for it, end of story.

Of course, I wasn't going to stand by and just ignore rudeness, sarcasm, and poor customer service. I told the manager that he needed to refund my employee's card and that he could charge me for the lamp. I said that we have been coming to Dave and Buster's for 5 years and our party had gotten bigger every year (we had 180 people this year). I let him know that I would pay for the lamp but he should know that if he charged me, we're never having a party a D&B again.

His response was stunning. He said, "I don't appreciate your unpleasant ultimatum!" To which I replied, "It's not an ultimatum. You can charge me, but if you do, I'm just not coming back." He held the line and said "Don't threaten me." I said, "It's not a threat. I'm just not coming back if you charge me for the lamp. It's your choice. But if you make an issue out of it, you'll lose a customer due to your poor service philosophy."

I guess he didn't like that, because he threw the receipt at me and said "I don't have to do anything for you" and turned his back on me. At that point, he had really pushed my buttons and I unleashed a bit of choice language similar to "that's freaking bull snot."

He turned around and told me that" I had crossed the line" and that he was throwing me out. I told him I just spent a ton of money on a party for 180 people and he was going to have to call the police if he wanted me to leave. He responded by getting two giant security guards to escort me out. One of them even grabbed me by the arm.

I think that is the epitome of bad service. I can't think of a worse experience anywhere, ever. I wasn't looking for a battle, and he didn't need to do much to diffuse the situation. Worst case scenario he charges me for the lamp and I call corporate and complain on Monday. Instead he needlessly made it a battle that he won in the short term but will lose in the long term. You can be sure that I'll never have another party there, and I have already complained heavily to the corporate office which has promised to take action.

So how does this pertain to web hosting? This is a service business and we're faced with these types of situations all the time. I think that our industry has a tough time doing what is right for the customer considering the value of the overall relationship. Making customers happy needs to be our top priority, and too often I think companies are hung up on having them pay for the lamp. If you're not taking care of your customers, don't be surprised to find them blogging about it somewhere.