What is Digg?70 Comments
- ScottAG, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24Okay, but what are you committed to? Providing value to your customers or being right about that sign?
- distrbnce, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20How about this?
1) An employee should never engage in an argument with a customer. If they do, the employee should be fired for having such a weak social/professional capacity.
2) All companies reserve the right to refuse business to any abusive customer.
I need a blog. - distrbnce, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19Sounds like a problem for your design department, not your customers.
I shouldn't have to study when I go into your little store.
Or perhaps you could get off your lazy ass and price everything with the price you want to sell it for. - jeremyczu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12That's a great attitude to have, anyone that comes in my store knows less than me. The idea of this article is that the customer is not ALWAYS right, not the customer is a moron.
- ModernTenshi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I remember working at Kroger some years back, on register. This lady bought a ton of stuff, and had like 50 coupons (this is not an exaggeration, either). Thing to know about our POS system: if we scan a coupon, and it thinks there's an error (e.g.: wrong item, didn't buy enough of the item, etc.), and we have to check to make sure they can use it, then override the error if they can.
Well, just about every other coupon from her that I scan comes up with an error, and about half of them I have to hand back to her because they legitimately can't be used. Naturally she starts to get huffy because of how critical I'm being about it all. One of my managers sees she's becoming a problem, and comes over to inquire about what's going on, I explain the situation, and she starts helping me to make things go faster. The customer becomes very irate that we're scanning coupons that were printed by a competing store and that we're not taking them, telling us, "well they take your coupons!" We both tell the customer that's not our policy here, and that we can't take it. She proceeds to get pissed about it, so finally I say, "well then why don't you go shop there if you want to use the coupons?" She finally shuts up and lets us do our job.
At the end of it all, my manager said that she understood I, "mouthed off," to the customer because I was upset with her, and reminded me of some statistic about how an angry customer will tell, on average, 10 other people they know, and I should be mindful of that in the future. I just told her that people tend to associate with other people like them, so if anything I might have just helped to eliminate 10 future problems. She just laughed and agreed with me. Was nice to know she took my side in the matter, though, so I totally vouch for this article. - EtherGnat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"However, a good employee MAKES the customer FEEL he was right while getting his way."
That bears repeating, as it's the number one key to good customer service. Then--if all attempts at reasonable communication fail--it's reasonable to cut the customer loose. - lbeaty1981, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8At my last job interview, one of the questions they asked me was "Is the customer always right?". Coming from a year and a half of providing desktop support for executives, I replied with a resounding "No", and mentioned several of the things listed in that article. Within a week, they presented me with a job offer. Nice to know there are others out there who are starting to see this now.
- mrhoaf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I would digg this 10 times if I could.... I hate it when you stand firm with a customer only to have a manager come in and give in to a customer's unreasonable demands and make you look like an ass...
- thinkycap, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Former Mickey D's, Best Buy employee here. My two pennies:
1: It makes employees unhappy.
-I concur. Most retail/fast food employees don't make nearly enough to tolerate the everyday ***** that comes along with the job. Let alone stupid customers on top of that. FTA:
"Just because you buy a ticket does not give you the right to abuse our employees . . ."
So true. When I was 16 I worked at McDonalds. This never happened to me personally, but I've seen customers come in and do completely UNNECESSARY things like throw food, threaten employees etc. Is it really that serious because someone accidentally put cheese on your burger? Honestly, I would've lost my job in that situation. I'd brought the fury of God down on that ass.
"You can’t treat your employees like serfs."
I wholeheartedly agree with this one too. This is part of the cycle that is bad customer service/bad customers. Customers get pissed because the service sucks. Employees give bad service because they are treated like crap. You can't reasonably expect someone to provide the "best customer service" possible paying them a whopping $5.25 an hour, not to mention overworking them. The usual lack of benefits doesn't help either. In my experience, low wages are the main reason for workplace unhappiness. Now that I read that back to myself, it sounds more like common sense.
2: It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage.
Yep.
3: Some customers are bad for business
I can vouch for this one too. While working at Best Buy, I noticed I'd see the same ***** that created havoc over and over, especially when we had sales. One case in particular was a customer who constantly cut me off, talked over me, didn't really look at me...all around treated me in a very demeaning way. After about 15 minutes of this, I explained I could not help him any further if he would not allow me to speak. Customer them became enraged, started saying things like "I'm a doctor, and I don't deserve this kind of treatment. I'm not some trash off the street" yadda, yadda, yadda. I played it cool, and got my manager.
He did the same thing to him, yelling, cursing...the whole nine. We then got his manager (floor manager), who received the same treatment. After whining for about 20 minutes (and completely making a scene) customer left, vowing to write a very stern letter. Got me pretty pissed because I made a sincere effort to help this prick.
I usually don't wish bad stuff on people but him getting hit by a bus when walking out would've been very satisfying. Final Destination style of course.
4: It results in worse customer service.
Yea, it's gets harder to help people after being verbally abused all day. Employees should understand that this does come with the territory and be prepared to deal it. Reality is, this notion doesn't make things easier. We're human, and can only tolerate so much.
5: Some customers are just plain wrong.
See number 3.
Don't even get me started on my time as a Help Desk agent (3 years). God, I'm thankful for my job now (Desktop Support Tech). Our customers may not be very technically inclined, but at least they're nice. It makes me feel good about helping them, and going the extra mile. Most importantly, there are NO PHONE CALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for reading my humble post. - AlexApetrei, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10It's not, it's suposed to emphasise the value of customers to the business.
I have yet to see a business which is compleatly reasonable and has completly resonable customers. - Misanthrope, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Yeah, employees don't make a company ANY money. An empty store where customers could do as they please would be the best route.
Oh wait...that'd be idiotic. Most companies make money BECAUSE of their employees. Most customers are nice, and respond well to good service. Some customers are dicks, and the company is better off without those customers. Read the article. - AssultMonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7That's about right.
I have worked a year in the trenches of computer retail, and let me tell you the customer is seldom right when there is a disagreement.
The employee knows the products, laws/regulations/warranty's etc better than the customers. It's that simple.
However, a good employee MAKES the customer FEEL he was right while getting his way.
It's usually not hard. Just be frank, polite and a little bit extra helpful. Some (very,very few) customers actually has to be told that if they don't calm down we have to call security. That usually works very well. :) - suldar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"The customer is always right"
I think I just threw up a little...
I try to be exceedingly nice to customer service people. 90% of the time if your nice they'll go out of there way to help you. - Cerebral, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I am sorry but there is a bit of "very misleading" advertising... meaning that the companies are aware that 30% of the public will think that since that 50% larger text covers the entire top of the sign which is placed above product X that no matter what product X is, it should be whatever sale price was placed on top of it.
Also there is a great term for customers that any company who deals with customers (not wholesale) needs to get a handle of is "firing the customer".
The article failed to mention that the larger the company the easier it is to still get away with all of the above problems even if the "company" stands behind these things. For instance you can take a Best Buy type of retail chain and have dispute X. Just ask to speak to the store manager and either you will get it then or ask the store manager DIRECTLY for the Regional Manager's Number. Nine times out of ten they will then give you what you want because calls to the Regional Manager directly affects their BONU$. So they typically (obviously the request has to be within reason) have the store itself take the loss because that doesn't directly affect their bonus in the same way because the store numbers are just that... a numbers game.
Interesting read none the less. - jlrolin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6While I was in college, I worked at Wal-mart Tire & Lube. Lemme tell you, Wal-mart is probably the worst company in the world at taking every complaint and just settling it. Their philosophy is that the customer is always right, and the employee is an idiot. Wal-mart does hire some idiots. I had numerous people come into Wal-mart and try to feed us a ***** story about how they wanted free tires because they made a "funny noise" or "rode wrong". This was after the person drove on them for 3 years or had massive alignment damage on the tires. Sorry, we don't cover that. But as soon as they complain, they get a free asskissing from the store manager and their free tires. Sure, they are getting customer server, etc. But we just gave away $500. The best was when people blamed me for stealing hubcaps that weren't even there when we brought the car in. We'd have to go to the camera and show the person the car in the lot when they drove up to the place. Those moments were sweet, I just wanted to say "BAM BITCH! YOU WERE WRONG! Where's my asskissing!"
Fact is, customers don't know anything about the places they shop or do business unless they actually worked there. People know they can screw Wal-mart, and they do constantly, and it hurts the employees there because they feel like they are wrong when they aren't. Not to mention they are paid crap. - 15charmaxwtf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I never though it was meant to be taken literally.
- wilf_brim, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Kind of stuffed into offbeat news, but good Digg. Many customers are just *****, and will be loud, abrasive and abusive to get an advantage. Siding with them (often against set policy and rules) is a betrayal of the employees. I liked it when the CEO of Southwest Airlines wrote back to a customer who had been complaining constantly (about everything) and told her to ***** off and fly somebody else. gg on that.
- Tiabin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Dugg for this line... LOL...
"Honestly, I would've lost my job in that situation. I'd brought the fury of God down on that ass." - dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Remember those Mcdonald's dollars you could get on cups/french fries at McDonald's and use at Best Buy to buy stuff?...
Well I worked at Best Buy.
And a guy bought a $300 TV with them....he had THREE HUNDRED of those things. And I had to stand there and count them. document the numbers on the back of every one a sheet of ...and then proceed with the transaction. And he proceeded to tell me I was doing a crappy job and "could have gotten through this a lot faster".
Honestly. I smiled and appologized. But deep down. I was screamin "you're a fat bastard who just ate $300 worth of Mcdonald's fries and soda just to get a TV." - ElevenisEven, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6in this day and age, with companies like wal mart, that will lay down and give you anything, people have come to expect something for nothing....customers, a lot of the time have unreasonable demands, and expect you to do something for them that you wouldnt normally do, that is not right and business owners shouldnt stand for it. I am a service manager in an automotive shop, i deal with this everyday, it is even worse when people are out of their element and ignorant to the situation they are in. all hail dogbert "the customer is always right, ...and they should be punished for their arrogance..."
- LogicBomB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I worked at a Canadian Tire retail store once. A customer came in insisting on a new lawn mower because it was leaky. A 2 second inspection indicated he was clearly overfilling the mower. After explaining this to him, showing him his mistake and telling him how to easily fix this (don't fill the tank until gas pours out...) he still insisted on a new mower. The dumb manager on duty let him exchange it.
This is dumb. Customer's feel like they can do anything they want because managers don't have balls. They don't like confrontation and just want to get rid of the problem as quickly as possible regardless of cost to the company. Ever say "no" very clearly to a customer? They're in utter shock until they realise you won't budge.
More customers need to realise they need to grow up and actually use their heads for a change. - greyfade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4reminds me of a rather abusive lady that i tried to help at Mervyn's once. she was yelling up and down the wall that we weren't helping her. she was trying to return merchandise with an already-used receipt, no evidence she'd bought it at all, and had already used her "one return per year w/o receipt". she was practically yelling at the top of her lungs when i tried to calm her.
she later went around the store to try again at other counters. i think she was escorted out.
people like that should be banned from consumer purchasing entirely. - shertzerj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5That is an awesome article. I remember an old boss of mine from Circuit City saying to us once that if we have an annoying customer who obviously won't buy anything (thereby reducing our ability to sell something to somebody else at that time), talk to them about products and features relentlessly and DON'T STOP until *they* get tired of hearing you and they leave.
It was the coolest thing up to that point I've ever heard from a manager. - prax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The polite customer is always right. No one, customer or sales person, should treat the other like a pile of crap.
- oMeSSiaHo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The article brought up a good point about keeping the employees happy. This is how problems usually are handled by managers:
Customer wants outragous
I tell customer "Sorry, but I cant do that"
Customer calls me every name under the sun
I still tell the customer "Sorry, but I cant do that"
Customer wants to talk to manager
I call manager
Manager yells at me for bothering them and tells me to tell the customer I cant do that
I explain to the manager that I already told them
Manger, pissed that she has to stop checking her email, does what the customer wants so she can get off the floor
Manger then yells at me for not breaking the rules and giving the customer what they wanted
You can see how employees cant get jaded. It's really not fair that doing our job becomes the wrong thing.
If you really want something from a store being nice and reasonable is the best way to go. I had a policy that the calmer the person the more helpful I will be. I've gone out of my way to do extra things for a customer just because they treated me like a human. - cal0140, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6@alexhengen
did you read the article or just the caption?
also, in many cases the customer's demands cause the company to LOSE money. unless the company did something immoral to the customer, i don't see why they should break policy to make an unreasonable customer happy. they don't make money off of these customers even if they do come back. - JingJang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This is a great article. I've worked several retail jobs and there are definitely some very abusive customers. The only thing worse is a management that will not back up the "front-line" employees. I agree with the posters above and will add this:
People who take on service and retail jobs often do so because they HAVE to. Fewer people do it because they WANT to. The fact is, however, it can be a pretty fun job when you do have pleasant customers, which honestly, despite the horror stories is the majority of the time. The negative stories always seem to be the ones people remember though.
If you have a management that is going to back you up when there is an abusive-customer situation, it makes you feel more comfortable to help the next customer. In-other-words, you do a better job when you know the management will stand by you when a customer IS trying to take advantage of a situation.
Point being, if we turn the industry around to being work where employees feel value in their decisions, chances are they will give that much more to the customer. - otatop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I work at Hollywood Video. Two weeks ago, a customer came in, and I told him he had a movie out that was due back 25 days ago. He wanted to just buy it to replace it, and I told him he could but he'd still have to pay the $20 late fee. That's when he snapped and started calling me a ***** ***** and saying that I had a ***** attitude. He asked for the corporate number and I gave it to him, then he asked for the manager's number and I gave him the number to our store. After yelling at me some more, he finally ended up leaving the store. My manager called our corporate number to ask what to do about the whole situation, and they told her that since he's spent $1,800 in our store in the last 8 years to call him up, apologize, and offer to take the missing movie off of his account and delete the late fees. Luckily, my manager said "***** that". It's amazing the policies people who have no interaction with customers put in place.
- 022A, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Perhaps this wouldn't be the case if auto shops would stop charging 4 hours of labor for a 90 minute job just because that's what Mitchell on Demand lists it as?
In almost any business, if there's room to bargain, it means you're getting overcharged in the first place. - mjordan4343, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3One of the consistent back up statements of "The Customer is Always Right" is the amount of dollars it costs to replace a customer. It costs more to replace a customer than to retain one most times. However, it also costs a lot more to recruit, hire, and train a new employee than it does to keep one happy.
- cvrefugee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4A majority of the people who come into my pharmacy don't understand brand/generic, TARs, prior authorizations, OOS or RTS. They can only demand that we fill their prescription that has no refills, or that we magically lower the price on their prescription co-pay. Again, the clueless ones aren't always the ones behind the counter...
- lahar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's just called "Canadian Tire".... I guess like how Target doesn't just sell.. uhh targets.
- BassJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I could fill a rather large book with talls of how this "the customer is always right" metality affects staff. I used to world for a large PC retailer here in the UK (Where in the world............) and one sure way to get a refund/exchange/whatever you want was to shout at the customer care staff, I used to work on the service desk but I eventually became a technician and got to see most of these things at least once a week.
One incident that stands out was during one of out regular days it was very busy and we only had 2 staff on the counter so the queue was already about 10 people deep and you'd be waiting about 30 minutes to be seen. Along came a customer that I immediately recognized as we had his iMac in for a repair, that had been completed. He marched straight past the queue and demanded his computer back, when we told him he would have to queue he got very abusive, came behind the customer service desk and was standing on the opposite side of the workbench swearing at me and my colleague. I called security to get him removed but they weren't much help. Eventually the sales manager came over and instead of telling him to leave the store, took him to one side and gave him his computer back!!!! All this while 9-10 people who have been waiting for 15-20 minutes in the queue look on, probably thinking that if they scream and shout they'd get served quicker to.
Needless to say I was fuming, I don't take to kindly to being sworn at for following procedures (and showing basic courtesy to the other people waiting) but to have a manager come over and side with him is un-forgiveable. The manager excused it by saying that "It will get him out the shop!" I'm so glad I'm out of retail work now and I have nothing but the upmost respect for the people who work on all the customer care/service desk/returns couters around the world as they take all the ***** and very rarely are they rewarded - raid517, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well I would rather have it that the customer was sometimes right, than the cutomer was always wrong. I have encountered just as many ***** sales reps as you have ***** customers. It's not just customers who are capable of behaving like obnoxious idiots.
- dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3They sell lawn mowers at tire stores in canada?
;) - 022A, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'd just like to point out that every anecdote (the overwhelming majority of comments on this thread) is coming from a dime-a-dozen retail employee.
As I said elsewhere...
In retail, it would be idiotic to take anything but a pro-customer stance. Mall jobs typically aren't skilled, employees don't stay in them long-term and they're trivial to replace. There's no room for advancement and no reason to invest in them. - tek69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Restaurents are some of the worst offenders of "the customer is always right", you can get everything free all you have to do is come up with some nonsense reason why your dinner sucked. Saw it all the time, finally got out. People know corp. policy and abuse the hell out of it. Its nice to hear that at least a few companies understand that sometimes the guest isnt a guest, hes a *****.
- Misanthrope, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5My sympathies lie with the employee that you're probably a complete ass to every time you get a bug up your ass in a store.
Sure there are million dollar companies, but you have to understand that there are alot more 15000 dollar employees getting the brunt of the ***** who feel entitled to their every whim. - harumph, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3hallelujah! i used to be an auto mechanic and some people just knew to bitch about something, anything actually and they would get $ taken off their bill. usually it would come out of the mechanics hours since we were the bottom of the totem pole. a lot of times the complaint would be in relation to something totally removed from what we worked on but they would still get something back. pigs!
- 022A, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Unfortunately, that article backs up some decent ideas with a few anecdotes and doesn't provide enough information or depth on anything to be very useful.
Working in IT my customers can be both internal and external, directly and indirectly. I have to provide service so that others can be served. There is an extremely high degree of accountability here. Every customer complaint is recorded and investigated.
In order for me to truely exonerate myself in the face of any complaint I will need some kind of proof even though the customer doesn't need the same level of evidence to make the complaint.
This might sound bad or unfair but, managed right, it's better for everyone. The requirement of "proof" encourages proper documentation and communication by employees while keeping them them accountable for their work. The fact that a customer can make a complaint without presenting evidence up front is not a problem since it's more efficient to request specific details, *if necessary* afterwards.
This system isn't formalized it's just an observation of how things work for us and it works extremely well but, the person overseeing it all and mediating the complaints is key. You need an intelligent person to tie it all together.
On the other hand...
As a customer I've had to deal with so much ***** as an apartment renter, crime victim, equipment buyer, truck renter, hotel guest and much more than I would *love* to see people held to the same standard I am at work.
In to many cases there's no accountability, no records and no oversight. Many businesses seem to rely on exploitive contracts or lack of alternatives to feed their business rather than decent service. - truspark, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2The most valued employee is the one who can resolve any conflict with dignity intact.
- mrcpu, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1Well as a KFC customer, I'm sure HE doesn't now your products, specials and combo's the way YOU are supposed to. It think that it is up to the employee to present the customer with better options, just like it is up to the employee to UPSELL the customer at the cash register.. "For just 30 cents more you can large size that sir".
Goes both ways. - mrcpu, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1In case most of you haven't noticed, retail managers tend to be the employee who has stuck around longer then everyone else while everyone else went off and got better jobs. Also, as we know, abused children tend to become abusers. The same goes for retail managers. If you are taught only by the idiots above you how to manage, you will manage like an idiot unless someone shows you a better way. ***** managers breed new ***** managers.
- VeryAngryJim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think my comment was mistaken. What I meant by it was, people who are knowledgeable in tech stuff don't shop at Best Buy, they use Newegg, etc.
- cjhowe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@cvrefugee
The clueless one most certainly is the one behind the counter. You're clueless because you expect your customer to know YOUR business. Companies like pharmacies are so set in their administrative nuances that they don't explain those nuances as options to the customers.
Oh, you don't want to pay the co-pay, then I will have to charge you the full amount because your insurance company requires us to collect a copay before they will agree to pay the balance.
Oh, you don't have any refills left, would you like me to call your doctor or would you prefer to be evaluated by our pharmacist who charges $375 for a 15 minute consultation (most states allow pharmacists to prescribe certain classes of drugs) and he doesn't accept insurance for his consultation.
Oh, you don't have time for me to get prior authorization from your insurance company? Then I will need to collect the full amount from you and you will need to submit the claim to the insurance company on your own, be sure to save your receipt!. - cvrefugee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1We don't set their co-pay, we didn't choose their insurance plan, we have no control over their brand-name deductibles, etc. We can call the doctor to change the medication to something cheaper, but sometimes our customers think that isn't enough.
No refills left? It's not my responsibilty to make sure you refill your medication on time. Doctors usually take 24-72 hours to return our refill request calls/faxes, sometimes sooner or longer. Our system doesn't automatically refill prescriptions, you need to call it in, and NOT when you're already out. That's a lack of personal responsibility. If the customer is out of a non-controlled medication (diabetes, blood pressure, thyroid) then we can happily loan a few pills, as a courtesy - NOT a requirement.
Prior authorizations are performed by the doctor's office, not us. We don't have time for that *****. The doctor can change the medication or they can submit a P/A. The customer can pay cash and we will refund the difference is their drug is approved.
At my pharmacy we process and fill around 300-450 prescriptions a day. I've been working in pharmacy for quite a while and I understand why some customers get angry, but I still don't appreciate being yelled at or verbally abused. - mvannessjr, on 02/26/2008, -0/+0I work in a commissioned retail environment and if you think for one second that I am not responsible for directly impacting the sales and profits of my store you are sadly mistaken. Company Employees and Customers go hand in hand. There can't be one without the other.
- bumblebeeotch, on 03/25/2008, -0/+0I completely agree with this article... I was abused so much during the year and a half in my customer service position at Wal-Mart. I'm a 5-foot girl and when a 6-foot male customer leans over your counter, screams in your face and hits you (leaving a red mark for days), that is MORE THAN ENOUGH PROOF that customers, while important for business, are NOT above rules and should never be considered unexpendable. With every customer that "leaves" there is another or more to replace them. I am beyond having hope for those who give the whole group a bad name and I resent being lied to my face--it's ludicrous and insulting!! So the customer rarely wins with me, and rarely are they ever right in the first place.
I'm glad I'm on 3rd shift in-stock now! Hardly any customers to bother me!! :) -
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