Imagine my surprise when the CEO of Starbucks for the UK called me just 40 minutes after I emailed him to complain about a problem I’d had at one of its outlets.

I’ll admit it, I was a like a rabbit in the headlights as it was the last thing I expected when Kris Engskov called, introduced himself and asked if I could spare a couple of minutes to talk through the problems I had experienced.

In a nutshell, I was being hounded by a debt collection agency over an unpaid parking fine incurred at one of its outlets. The first time I became aware of it was when I got the letter telling me I hadn’t paid the original fine and that the debt collection company was looking to recover a much larger sum.

Kris apologised, said he would look into the matter and advised me that Starbuck’s Customer Care Manager would be in touch to “take care of the parking charge and make this right”.

Kris followed up the call with an email to apologise again and confirm that the Customer Care Manager would contact me that morning. She actually emailed three minutes later.

Just when I thought I’d seen it all, Kris Engskov served up a PR master class in a little over two minutes and turned a situation that had left a bad taste in my mouth into one where I’ll be a raving fan for life.

It was the simple fact that someone in that position took the time to call, listen, apologise and take action that it is a PR story I’ll tell again and again.