Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Of course the business exists to make a profit, but in order to continue to do so, we need to take care of EVERY customer, and that includes customers who are angry.
This. My retired boss was the Credit Manager for over 30 years, and she always used to say " it's the CUSTOMER who actually pays your paycheck, not the company."
I have a customer who rants and raves and the past couple of times I've found it really helpful to break in with affirmation "I can tell you're frustrated" or "I completely understand". Another thing that helps is to take out a pencil and paper and have them give you their contact info so they can see you write it down. Follow up with an email and try to fix their problem.
Usually customer service is the face of the organization and is rarely the origin of the actual problem. If you can make them know you're going to the source to get results.
However if there's nothing you can do - oh well.
Hard to do if customer service is in the Philippines or Pakistan and doesn't speak good English.
I work in customer service for a luxury cosmetic company. Most of the customers are wonderful, but some complaints border on ridiculous.
*You dropped your (whatever) and it broke - now you want a replacement.
*You chose the wrong shade of (whatever) and instead of bringing it back to the store where you purchased it, you want us to send you another. (This, for some reason is the #1 complaint of folks from the UK. Why they are afraid to go back to the store is beyond me)
* You want to return something that was purchased over a year ago
*You can't remember where or when you bought it, don't have a receipt and don't have an order history with us, but want a refund for a product you don't like.
And on and on. I am a problem solver and love to assist customers with a legitimate complaint, but these type of complaints are also the ones who threaten to go on social media and voice their complaints.
Customers often use customer service reps as their "punching bags", knowing we must maintain politeness in the face of some very ugly and abusive behavior. What they don't realize is that the old saying "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar" really applies in most cases. I'll bend over backwards for nice customers, even to the point of allowing more leeway in our policies as a one time courtesy. With an abusive customer, it's strictly by the book.
Although I haven't done any customer serviced work in many, many years, having done it, and having watched a number of altercations, I can safely state that the customer is usually wrong, and often way out of line...
And on and on. I am a problem solver and love to assist customers with a legitimate complaint, but these type of complaints are also the ones who threaten to go on social media and voice their complaints.
.
I will complain online because I think it's pointless to seek a resolution from a store manager these days. So I don't bother. Just go online and write the review.
I'm seeing from this thread that the people who hate customer service believe the customer is almost always "wrong". That is a problem with the customer service rep.
Some customer service reps have no idea how unfair or possibly illegal, that their employer's policies are. They are just working to pick up their paycheck. They believe customers should try to make their job as easy as possible. But that's not the way the real world works. Try running your own business sometime. You'll have to know how to manage complaints or your business will tank.
I will complain online because I think it's pointless to seek a resolution from a store manager these days. So I don't bother. Just go online and write the review.
I'm seeing from this thread that the people who hate customer service believe the customer is almost always "wrong". That is a problem with the customer service rep.
Some customer service reps have no idea how unfair or possibly illegal, that their employer's policies are. They are just working to pick up their paycheck. They believe customers should try to make their job as easy as possible. But that's not the way the real world works. Try running your own business sometime. You'll have to know how to manage complaints or your business will tank.
Agree. One of the big problems I think today is business has grown so large that they don't care about your complaint or future business. You're just too small to worry about. Customer service reps are just a cog in the machine to say no. Unlike even just a few years ago where your business was important to the small business owner. Tick off a few customers and they were out of business. Now they don't care. And even if the company does go out of business, the ones who make policy just collect their Golden Parachutes and head to the next company. The only ones who lose are the customers.
Being a customer service rep sucks in today's entitlement culture (and that includes people of ALL age groups). You've got people wanting discounts for ALL kinds of stupid reasons. "It's my birthday, why can't I get $10 off?" And then you've got people trying to use expired coupons and use excuses like senior citizen discounts, military discounts, etc. Even if your company doesn't offer a military discount, you've got a customer berating you because "everyone else gives me a military discount but you can't? Do you not respect our military?"
Customer service will teach you a lot about how crappy people are in this day and age.
I get stuff like this all the time. The other day a lady wanted a discount because a corner of the box top on a hair color product had a small tear in it. Told her I couldn't do it unless the product itself was somehow damaged. "Well then, I don't want it!". "Okay". Also get asked about senior and military discounts. People want discounts for using the self checkout scanners too.
I don't think people are any more "crappy" these days than they've ever been. I've been working with the public for 60 years and it's always been that way. Fortunately, for me, the majority of my customers have always been good and nice to me so it's pretty easy to deal with the small percentage that aren't.
Agree. One of the big problems I think today is business has grown so large that they don't care about your complaint or future business. You're just too small to worry about. Customer service reps are just a cog in the machine to say no. Unlike even just a few years ago where your business was important to the small business owner. Tick off a few customers and they were out of business. Now they don't care. And even if the company does go out of business, the ones who make policy just collect their Golden Parachutes and head to the next company. The only ones who lose are the customers.
That's an accurate assessment. The customer service rep is just a cog in the machine to say "no" and may not have any idea what's going on. If a customer service rep is being yelled at all day long by customers, that should be a big, fat clue that something is wrong with the business he represents. Sadly some reps are never intelligent enough to figure it out.
Remember back when AOL was refusing to cancel customer's accounts after they requested it? It was a pretty big scandal that went on for a long time. Understandable why customers would be yelling at them.
I once asked a sales rep with a large insurance company, to stop calling my company, as we weren't interested in their services; and the customer service rep literally said, no, he didn't have to stop calling and that "you have to follow our policies" to allow them to continue contacting us. Oh really? Why do I have to follow the policies of a company we don't do business with and have even asked them to stop contacting us?
Last edited by PriscillaVanilla; 03-04-2018 at 11:44 AM..
I'd try to learn more about what the customer is upset and if they really are entitled to some compensation, before jumping to conclusions.
If you work somewhere that a lot of customers get angry, then the business is probably screwing people over.
This. I'm sure there are some people out there who game the system and try to extract all they can by whatever means but I've never personally known one of them. Everyone I know would much prefer a business transaction go smoothly and fairly and the last thing they want is to waste time arguing with an employee or manager. If they are complaining it is because they feel like they have been wronged. Now it's possible that in some cases they are wrong because they misinterpreted or misunderstood something but they legitimately feel they have a case.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Oh that's a whole 'nother issue!!!
