Last week we snuck off for a couple of days to spend quiet time by a lake in Litchfield County. The first night was idyllic as was the next day. But, the morning of our departure brought a horrific experience. At 4:50am there was a banging on our door and a man’s voice shouting, “Let me in! Let me in!”

I’ll cut to the chase. We learned that there was a freak car accident outside the Inn which everyone survived. Apparently, one of the young men involved panicked and ran to the carriage house where we were staying, knocked on our door screaming to let him in. Having no idea why he was at our door, we of course did not let him in but called 911. It was terrifying and upsetting. We felt violated and powerless at the same time.

Needless to say, the accident was the talk of the dining room at breakfast. We told the waitress about our experience. She said, “I know. The maintenance man was trying to remove the bloodstains going up the stairs to your room.”

After processing the experience for the last several days I felt angry that no one from the Inn acknowledged our frightening experience. Even when we were checking out. Not in the week since we’ve been home. Ever.

I decided to call the owners of the Inn a week later to describe what had happened. The office there informed me that they were not authorized to give out the owners’ contact information. Light bulbs started going off in my head. I began putting together several teeny, tiny issues that had caught my eye but not affected my stay. But this was a biggie, and I wanted to offer feedback. No one was paying attention to the details or taking responsibility for the customer experience.

The General Manager fielded my call with less than positive results. She was defensive. I didn’t feel heard. When you’re running a business, customer satisfaction is critical and the lessons you learn from serving your client base will make your company better, if you care. They obviously didn’t and lost our future business.

I just checked tripadvisor.com and see that others have been critical as well. The knock at the door put it over the top for me.