We often hear “customer is always right”, a term that was coined by Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridge’s department store in London in 1909. But what does it really mean? Does it mean that the customer no matter how rude or obnoxious, is always right?
Well there are lots of reasons why a customer can be right sometimes, but we have to realize that where we find customers who give good advice, there are people who might want to just complain because they just love doing so and if that affects the working routine of a customer service representative then be it, they don’t care.
I have been running online stores for a while now, and where I have amazing customers, I also get some nutcases who just are never happy with anything. I have had customers who I have paid FREE shipping for from China via DHL, gave them two of the same product because they felt that the product had little memory, although it said on the package what they were buying, and they still kept on complaining.
I have had customers who after buying something, asked for money back the moment I had shipped and paid for the product from my own pocket since their cash doesn’t reach me before a few days via the merchant. What does one do with such customers? What does one say about a customer who had to pay customs on his product and then gives you negative feedback because he wasn’t aware of laws in his own country? I usually am very calm about such matters, so I have in the past always just never cared much and just given the best service I could and let the customer realize their own response. I hardly respond back rudely.
But I agree with Gordon Bethune on this one. Gordon Bethune from Continental Airlines said this:-
We run more than 3 million people through our books every month. One or two of those people are going to be unreasonable, demanding jerks. When it’s a choice between supporting your employees, who work with you every day and make your product what it is, or some irate jerk who demands a free ticket to Paris because you ran out of peanuts, whose side are you going to be on?
So if you are into any type of customer relations type of business, remember, respect your customers, but know where to draw the line, some customers aren’t worth your time. A customer who bought a 10 dollar watch from your site is not worth the 5 hours you put in to keep mailing back and forth. But of course that doesn’t mean you totally neglect them. Focus on your customer relations and see how your business reps. But when you have a sticky situation, and you know the customer is wrong, realize it, admit it and convey it.