Is the customer always right?
This evening we received an email from an irate customer who had no reason to be. He was challenged when accessing one of our digital products, and closed the email off with "How much is YOUR time worth?" The insinuation was insulting, especially given the degree of customer service we had shown him prior to these troubles.
Being in a social coaching business, I have the good fortune of being able to scold people when they breach common conventions of etiquette and politeness. My response was simple: "My time is never too valuable to help someone in true need, and almost always too important to attack others unjustly."
Several hours later, I received an apology for the tone he previously took.
FedEx, Wal-Mart and other such businesses have pushed the edge of what is possible in good customer relations. As consumers, we now expect more than we did twenty years ago. That is a good thing. However, I refuse to let myself or anyone in my organization be inappropriately abused by customers. To allow such a thing would be to reinforce bad behavior, akin to giving in to a spoiled, whining child.
Is "customer relations" a two-way street, or is the customer always, unequivocally, 100% right?
July 24th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Is the customer always right? [u]NO, of course not!![/u] But he is always the customer and you can not stay in business without customers.
I do agree that giving in to an inappropriately irate and abusive customer is counter productive and will almost always cause more problems with that customer later and eventually you will probably lose him as a customer when you can no longer ’satisfy’ him.
This is where the ART of CUSTOMER SERVICE comes into play. There are no set rules on how to handle this type of customer, it is a skill that you can develop as well as a gift that you either have or don’t have. I often ask the customer what it is that he wants and what he hopes to accomplish (in a very nice, demure and non-confrontational manner). I have found that this will quite often get the customer to calm down and be reasonable when you are willing to LISTEN INTENTLY to his solutition before offering one of your own. Sometimes they only want to ‘vent’ and it has nothing to do with you or your business.
I learned this approach from a gentleman named "Hank" when I was working at a Lexus dealership Service Department. We quite often had complaints that had no basis, just people venting at the ‘help’. I learn a lot from there about customers, customer service and the nature of people. It was a great education that you can not get from a book.
July 24th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
The customer is [b]not[/b] always right however they will always think they are when they get "rewarded" for rude and childish behavior. But what can you do? When you are self-employed it’s all fine and dandy to correct them but when you work for someone else try it and you may be on the receiving end of a job loss.
July 25th, 2006 at 12:23 am
You got the good customer and you got the other and what I mind by other they cry all the time for many reason but the real reason they are not happy about there owne life thas the reason they are saying any can of think.
100 right
from stephane
July 28th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Folks, take a page from Nordstrom’s "Customer Service Manual" for its employees ..
Policy #1 : Use your best judgement.
Policy #2 : Refer to Policy #1.
Nordstrom’s customers spend approx $5000 per year … and are Nordstrom customers for over 20 years.
That implies that every purchase is not the face value of that purchase … but in reality a $100,000 transaction.
That is one of the reasons Nordstrom’s has one of the best overall customer satisfaction ratings in the world.
Lesson well earned.
August 4th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Supply and demand, my friend. If Steve Jobs is your customer, you give him whatever service he darn well wants. But I appreciate your perspective - in a business with many small customers, you have every right to defend yourself.
November 5th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Customers are NOT always right. Sometimes, customers/ clients complain to get "FREE" merchandise or services. And in certain cases, when employees or individuals are being treated in an unacceptable manner by comsumers then, it’s time to stand our ground! Just remember, there is a professional way to say everything. And what was said in your case was just!