What is Digg?127 Comments
- chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -5/+54"Sir, we pride ourselves on one-hundred percent satisfaction. And, as it has become clear that there is no way I or my company can satisfy you, we kindly insist that you never do business with us again and never come back here."
"What?! This is outrageous!"
"Sir, like I said, we pride ourselves on our 100 percent of satisfied customers. Which is precisely why you are no longer allowed to do business with us in the future. On behalf of my company, all of its employees and every one of our satisfied customers, I wish you a pleasant day and encourage you to enjoy the wonderful services our competitors offer. Goodbye." - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+38*ALMOST always right.
You have to factor in that forcing your employees to deal with an _unwanted_ customer results in reduced employee happiness. Unhappy employees will kill a company before the lack of certain unwanted customers will. - zirtbow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18"or those who force the stores to honor %u201Clowest price%u201D guarantees". WTF... why even have a low price garuntee if your not ready to live up to it. I'm 100% ready to jump to the next store if one is giving me the run around. Newegg for example has low prices and supposedly great customer service (i've never had a problem where I needed to use it). Now if some other company such as mwave.com has product X I want at say a 30% discount then newegg can either match it or screw them i'll get it from mwave. (Note: newegg is awesome still... edit2: and I know they don't do any PMing)
- pbaehr, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21@Steaminx: You are obviously a customer, not a business owner.
- cogen, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20The customer is always right?
http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=3885 - Lumiras, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12I work at a help desk, and I assure you that the more time you're put on hold, the more of an ***** you are :)
- anorris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12I dug the parent up so the conversation makes more sense.
And in response, from somebody who makes a few bucks part time bagging groceries at the local store (I'm a student full time), and am in contact with hundreds of customers every day, I know they are not always right. Most of them are just fine, happy to get their stuff, pay for it, and get on with their life.
We operate a drive through service; we put your groceries in tubs and send them outside on a conveyor belt, where you drive your car up and we load them for you. You keep small plastic cards with matching names on the card and tub, and hand them to the person working outside to match up people with their stuff. Signifying just how lazy we are as a culture, this is an extremely popular option for people with more than 2-3 small plastic bags.
So one day last week, I bag for a lady and send her stuff outside, and hand her the cards, as usual. A few minutes later the person loading cars comes in, asking if we had any cards that had been forgotten inside, because some lady couldn't find her cards. We were training a few new people that day, so we checked it all over and found nothing, didn't see any laying in a cart, etc., so I went outside to help the person there deal with it (he was a trainee, I've been working here for a while). I immediately recognized the lady as the same one I had recently bagged for.
I ask to see her receipt so we can search through everyone's stuff in order to locate her things and load her car. The lady starts yelling at me, telling me that I never gave them to her, and she shouldn't have to produce her receipt to prove she purchased these things. Apparently, in her head, she should be able to drive up and take whatever she wanted. So we found her things and I begin to load them into the back of the car. By this time, my manager is also here, talking to the lady as I work, and she still is bitching to my manager. As I'm loading the car, what do I find?
Her cards that we never gave her... right under her greeting card on the back seat.
She claimed to have searched high and low in her car for them when she was telling me this was all my fault. When I showed her them, where I'd found them, she didn't say a word of apology, thanks for loading her car, against policy, without her cards. She simply glared at me and drove off.
Customer always right? Not by a long shot. I run into one of these people at least once a week and I work only 15-20 hours a week. She is just the most recent, and thus the one I remember the best. - poipoipoi, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14or conversely, the longer you put someone on hold, the more of an ***** YOU are. :)
- djmollusk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Anyone who has ever worked customer service can tell you that customers who treat you nice get faster service and treated better in return. If you call up customer service angry, and yelling and insulting them or the company you may think "They are going to fix my problem because I yelled at them." In reality, if you would have called and were really nice an polite about a problem in which you had every right to be angry about, you wil receive much better and faster service in return with little to no hold time.
- abenton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I can see both sides of this.
business side: They want to keep the customer who can help them profit more, so they give them better treatment because hey, he spends 120x what this other guy does, so handle him first
customer side: I pay money, so I deserve respect, so what if he pays more than me, we both benefit your business.
It's easy to see from both angles, but in business, money is where the respect is. - LiquidPenguin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@anorris
It's people like that is precisely why I quit working the retail industry.
Before I quit, we had an older guy come in and claim he lost his car keys (common enough). One of the very first things we asked him was, "did you check your pockets?" He was wearing those kind of coveralls that have a pocket on every available surface and even pockets on pockets. But he yelled at us and claimed that he already checked his pockets (never once actually touching his pockets). So we had our employees do a quick check throughout the store for the most common places keys get lost (checkout, restrooms, shopping carts) but we didn't find the keys.
As time progresses, he begins to get aggravated. He starts to demand that we, the employees, check our pockets for his keys. We kindly refused explaining that if any employees find any stray keys, they make their way to my work station (my dept doubled as lost and found). Then he demanded that we check the pockets of every customer in the store. Again, we kindly refused stating that this violated their privacy.
He was so angry that he actually demanded that we allow him to check ours and our customers pockets. We told him in no uncertain terms that if he did that, we would be forced to call the police. At one point he even demanded that we put the store on lockdown.
This went on for about an hour, actually reached the point where we called a tow service for his truck. When lo and behold! He reaches into his breast pocket of his coveralls and there were his keys. No apology, he called us a bunch of lying thieves and left the store. - h0kiez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7For many stores that I shop at regularly (BB, Office Depot, Dell) I am one hell of a bad customer. I am always nice to store employees, management, etc. because it behooves me to have relationships with them, but rest assured that they are taking a loss on the vast majority of my purchases. I wouldn't blame any of them for not wanting to do business with me. I wouldn't want to do business with me.
- dmron, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11No, the customer is not always right, not even close. You've never worked customer service have you?
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The whole "Lowest price garantee" thing is mostly about psychology anyway -- they want you to think "If I buy this HERE, NOW, I'll get the best price possible, no matter what!". 95% of people never follow through on the garantee, though, because who keeps looking for an item after they've already bought one?
Blacklisting customers who actually take advantage of it is slimey, though. - merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6AmericaFirst:
Only a entitled, self-centered, elitist prick would call someone in the service industry an "un-important, jerk off, lacky."
It's the people like you, who think they're the most important customer a company will ever have, and that their needs come before those of everyone else, that this article is about. Try treating service workers like HUMAN BEINGS, and EQUALS. Stop assuming they're 'incompitent' right off the bat, and talk to them like you'd like to be talked to in the same situation.
***** man, the whole "put yourself in the other person's shoes" thing is something MOST people learn in elementary school.
People like you oughta be forced to work the returns counter at Wal-Mart as penance for being such pricks to people who are just trying to do their jobs -- its not their fault management doesn't fully train them, and limits their abillity to do things like issue refunds.
Thank god I got out of retail years ago. - Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12"There are no such things as bad customers, only bad businesses. The customer is always right."
that is an idea perpetuated by Hollywood, bad business models and oblivious customers. working in 'customer service' myself it is quite obvious that the customer is wrong 2/3 of the time, and usually quite rude while being wrong, and usually more rude when proved wrong (while I sit there smiling politely while wishing simultaneously that they could read themselves and I wouldn't get fired for wringing their neck, seriously 3/5 questions can be answered just by reading to them, IE. can I use this voucher in this way? let me see, I have never seen this voucher before but if you simply read the conditions here it says you can/can't) - Sukino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"Alright, look. Our policy is: If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, I hate you."
- bradtwitty, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6My father, a SBC customer of, well, i guess 40 years asked me to change his DSL and long distance service, I called SBC and heard a recording say, "Mr. Twitty you a preferred customer and will be connected immediately." 2 seconds later, I was talking to a person. I thought that was amazing. I on the other hand don't think I would get that kind of service from SBC, since I don't even have an account with them, well I guess Cingular counts, and their customer service is awful.
- pilotvaughn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I'm particularly amazed at the number of people that have been treated as royalty by price-matching stores. They then come to another store, and when they are told that "price-matching" isn't available, they throw a tantrum. Get a life people.
I also find it funny when people try to price-match an online store at a brick and mortar one.
Customer: "But Newegg's got this HD for $79! I'm not paying $156 here!"
Bestbuy Rep: "So why the fark did you come here in the first place?" - Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5hmm, that sounds like the words of a massive jerk of a customer who beleives that by throwing a tantrum they will get what they want, and while in my mind I wont be thinking, ill get him back next time, If I see you again I defiently wont be telling you why are you buying this when this better item is half price and I defiantly wont be telling you about the store around the corner that is having a sale (which I will gladly do to customers who have been polite in the past) so while this isnt my ultimate revenge, you have earned neither kindness nor respect of your fellow man, only loathing
- Nyghtewynd, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10The customer is *not* always right. I believe that this article (if you would have RTFA) talks about people who don't make a company a red cent.
- Fladrif, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7The mighty dollar is worth more then respect....
- qwickone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It makes total sense. If you're not making them any money or costing them money, they're not going to waste time on you. It sucks for consumers, though, when they have legitimate concerns that need to be addressed.
I've found when I have a problem that's taking forever to deal with, explain to the rep that you're frustrated. This line works wonders for me (using a resigned tone): "I really appreciate your help and I know this isn't your fault, but I'm getting really frustrated because I've been trying to take care of this for a while now. What do you suggest I do at this point?" - rockingrhino, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The businesses are to blame for some of it but there are just people who look to abuse the system. They have no desire to be a "good" customer. Only one who plays the system to their advantage.
Those you "game" the system to their advantage leaving the company no recourse but to change the policies that end up screwing the rest of us. Why do we have to go through more and more security hoops at stores, even Wal-Mart? Shoplifters. Why do have more and more dracion return policies? Greedy people who abuse returns. Etc...
As with most things, this is a two way street. - xbasilx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5i find that yelling and swearing at IVR phone systems is an easy way to get transfered to a live person
- Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3after actually reading the article I have to say this seems fairly basic
to summarize the article in 1 line
if you act like a jerk, people might not treat you nicely, its pretty sad that a journalist has to report this and it isn't obvious to everyone but that is the way the world works (of course there is a bit more to the article, but this is the bulk of the message) - GraceMolloy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Having done call center work myself (Verizon Wireless) I can fully say that the most truthful statement is, "The customer is always an *****." Of course there are exceptions, a great number of people are very polite even under stress, and I thanked those folks immensely.
However a lot of people like to get very very angry over stuff *they* caused. People REFUSE to read a freakin contract when they sign it. "You actually expect me to READ the contract?" - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That's all fine and dandy, but have you ever been the customer that starts off nice and polite, and then hears something so mindbogglingly obtuse that it makes you want to scream?
Try staying calm after being threatened to be sent to collections rather than amicably resolve a billing dispute, or staying calm when the business is in breech of contract, and in no certain words says "when it comes to company meeting its obligations, your contract isn't worth the paper its written on. If you disagree we'll send you to collections anyway, as per your formerly worthless contract".
Businesses that treat their customers like they have them by the balls, probably take more of this abuse than anything. I guess working on the customer/business relationship in good faith is a pipe dream and sometimes this reality makes people yell at times.
And then of course there is just a*holes. ;) - jasonsbytes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I was in retail managment for about 3 years at Sears... If the customer was rude, I never gave them what they wanted, and sometimes I would put them on hold for a long time. If the customer was polite, I would give them a refund for their 10 year old packard bell. I once swapped a 286 for pentium 500 because they were so nice.
- jayKayEss, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5'But retailers also complain about customers who ... force the stores to honor “lowest price” guarantees.'
Heaven forbid that a retailer should have to actually *honor* a crazy claim made in a newspaper ad!
BTW, @pbaehr-- I grew up in a retail family (my grandfather and aunt were both jewelers,) and yeah, the customer IS always right. Or at least you make them think they are. - BigGrayBeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3When I worked retail, having to aid and abet obviously fraudulent customers was demoralizing. Even when management agreed with you they were defrauding the company, you had to let them do it. For example, it was amazing how many high end gifts one young kid received every single week, that he didn't want and would return without a receipt. Those costs are passed along to the honest customer.
- haeriphos, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Having worked in retail and professional service organizations, I can say from experience that there are no lack of bad customers. Bad customers are the ones who don't allow the company to make a profit by eating up sales force time, returning innumerable items, etc. Many of my best customers are ones that have had problems with products or services but aren't looking to get something for nothing. They're willing to pay for things, but they want to make sure they're getting a value in return for what they're paying. This is different from trying to take wholesale advantage of a company and its employees.
- Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3once again (wow Im commenting a lot in this story) as a 'customer service assistant' if we arent payed by commision (which im not) and a comptuer isnt telling us how good/bad you are (which it isnt for me) I dont care how many of our redicously good deals you buy, if you are a nice person, then we are nice (you know the same way it works in the rest of society) and to be honest a lot of the times we offer redicoulous prices is because we would rather make a loss and a tiny bit and get shelf space then just throw the stuff out and make nothing, so you are actually doing us a favour by freeing up shelf space (but you wouldnt believe the people who buy things marked down from $40 to $5 and complain about the price)
just keep in mind, you reap what you sow, you shall recieve the same treatment you give (usually, there are some generally unkind people around) - deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3People let the whole "customer is always right" thing go to their heads. A company can provide a service or a product and live up to a reasonable level of support. That's it. There's nothing wrong with the company drawing a line in the sand for some customers who abuse the system.
- Dr.House, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Amen exec721. It really is people's stupidity that usually botches everything up for the good guy. I for one feel this is a smart move on the part of companies. There is no need to deal with a sheisty customers *****. After you've more or less kissed the ground that they have walked for so long, you simply begin to realize that the douche bag doesn't deserve any special treatment.
- Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"As a customer I find that today I have to manage the feelings of prima dona CSRs- I've essentially got to fawn over them or they get their feelings hurt-"
whew, all I can say is Im glad Im not american, things are significantly different here
anway, I believe my original point was the saying "the customer is always right" is complete garbage, and quite often the customer can be proved wrong merely by reading to them what they should have read themselves, and yes this isnt always true, sometimes its the customer service persons fault, sometimes its the customers fault, the saying the customer is always right is complete bogus and in realitiy (in retail) the customer is often wrong and is usually unhappy when proved so (and while I cant speak for others I will admit and apoligise when it is me or the store that is wrong, but that isnt often) - Ryokurin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3For those complaining about price matching this is what they are talking about.
1. Don't complain if you go to another store and want a price match and they call the other store and deny it because they are out. EVERY company out there does that.
2. We don't care if its 15 dollars cheaper on newegg but you need it now. the store has more bills than newegg. This also apply's to local shops that only sell online. I can't go to their store and get it, so we can't honor it.
3. If the other store is closed, or its cheaper because of a rebate don't come to me trying to get the price after rebate. Some rebates are store specific anyways - digjedi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Get used to it, it's the future of marketing. Database marketing is now being used to not just target customer, but to target who's not a good customer. Makes sense to a certain point - if one guy spends $20 a month with your company and another $250 a month - when they both call, who should be helped first? Who should be offered a service call and who should be pointed out there is more info on the web site so they can resolve it themselves?
- vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The truth of the matter is true. When calling customer service don't be an ass. Be sweet and dumb and they will usually do what you want. Try to work with the system and they will usually do their job. If you realize you ended up with a really stupid or bad tech or service rep. Tell them something like "oh my stove is on fire and hang up". Call back in 10 minutes and then you'll get someone different. If they ask you to reset your router and you know its not that... Just say "yeah... hold on... " *count to 10* and just tell them you reset even if you didn't. Confrontation is the first thing that will make this people put you onthe "bad list".
- exec721, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah I think most of time the customer is wrong. I've been working in call centers for about 4 years now and I can see why companies would want to eliminate their problem customers. When I worked for the Sears Card (Citigroup) customer service, we used to have customers would do nothing more than waste everybody's time. For example, we used to have this guy named "Mr. Bitmas" who would call everyday to enroll/un-enroll in the Choice Rewards program. We eventually had to ban this guy because when we questioned his everyday calling he began threaten to blow up our buildings. This is the kind of ***** you experience at a call center and many of these customers don't offer anything valuable to the business. Why should I spend an hour explaining something absurd to some idiot who isn't going to understand anyway (yet still does business with us) while an honest and legitimate customer is waiting on hold? It isn't worth it. I always love the whole "Why do you have that stupid automated thingy? It's sooooo hard to speak to a huuuuman being!! It took soooo long! So what's my balance?" I feel like telling them "We have that stupid automated thingy because people like you should be using it! It takes long because every ***** in the world wants to speak to a human being and you could have answered your question using that stupid automated thingy." It doesn't make sense to have a live person tell you what the automated system can. Live representatives should be reserved for questions that only a human being can answer. People want to have their cake and eat it too, it's ridiculous.
- Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2hmm so you mean customers do actually have the right to hold up other customers complaining about things they didn't read or actually having to wait when they come into the store at god dam bloody peak times. I mean I'm sorry you had to stand in line for 2 minutes at the busiest time of the week, do you bloody curse the city for not building more lanes in the freeway when driving to work at 8am? I'm not saying that customers getting irritated when its deserved is bad (not that I have seen it deserved much, our policies are way to lenient which is why we have so many people ripping us off) but customers who are almost yelling and screaming before they walk in are all to common
- aahpandasrun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Jeez. You need a puppy!
If everyone yelled and complained about everything all the time, life would be hell.
Can't we all agree that both customers and businesses have faults?
Although I do agree that some stores suffer from major understaffing problems (ie: CVS) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I just called my credit card company this morning, to have my card replaced. The IVR asked for my credit card number, then went through the list of "Press 1 to apply, press 2 to inquire, blah blah blah." While I was waiting in the queue, the automated voice mentioned "You are in a prioritized queue." Prioritized on what basis, hmm?
Back in the day, they used to say something along the lines of first come, first serve. Either they think "prioritized queue" sounds fancier, or that's a nice way of saying "Wait a sec while we service these rich guys first." - magstheaxe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Trust me when I tell you: a bad customer is usually one who wants a product/service they DIDN'T pay for--and demands it repeatedly.
- magstheaxe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Just like the old saying goes, "You get more flies with honey that you do with vinegar".
Once, when I worked on the phone in Customer Service, I asked a customer who'd just ripped me a new one "Would you please explain to me why I should help you after the way you just talked to me?" It totally floored her--she sputtered for about a minute before apologizing. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have had very positive results haggling with Future Shop (Best Buy owned) since they are commision based. I also find politely claiming you were not offered a DVI cable with your premium quality flatscreen monitor, can get you one for free (3$ roll your own value, 60$ in store), or offering to buy new, instead of the open-box item if they throw in an accessory works quite well.
As a customer al you have to do is search for deals, know your rights, and know what type of items they can use to bait your loyalty. Don't ask for the world, or let on that you "deserve" a deal. Just be polite, and a geniune customer, or you will get nothing in return. - BigPapi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I agree. Yesterday I was at the grocery store and this lady in another line was all pissed off because something she bought was priced more on the register than what it was labeled on the shelf. So while one poor teenaged shelf stocker ran around the store looking for the item and its label, she stood there in disbelief like she owned the place and repeatedly complained to the girl at the register "It was marked wrong, you shouldn't label your items wrong!". Meanwhile three people are waiting behind her so that she can save 20 cents on a bag of cheetos.
Holy crap, some 15 year old making minimum wage put the wrong label on the shelf, get over it. It doesn't entitle you to be a complete jerk to everyone who works there. - Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3digg for the futurama reference
- Tweekster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Same thing as firing a customer.
Not all customers are worth it for the final amount. The smartest thing a business can do is fire a client. Particularly if they are gonna cost so much time at the expense of other customers. Those clients that call 90 times a day with trivial matters etc. Fire them.
Now being a jerk if you are a customer will pretty much get you a lower class of service, pretty obvious - vonnie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If you have to yell to get something done, then you are not a socially adapted person. Who cares about you? Think you make an impact on the business line? No, you are just annoying.
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