Customer Is Always Right

Nevyn · 10-01-2007 01:10AM

Nope.
If they become uncivil or start out uncivil and if they swear at you which is verbal abuse you can refuse to deal with them and if needed have security remove them.

Rebeller · 10-01-2007 01:30AM

I think the whole "customer service" problem stems from the fact that most companies nowadays hide behind minimum wage, powerless, badly trained staff.

Whereas before the person behind the counter (or at the other end of the phone) would have the authority and independence to act on their own and resolve a genuine customer complaint using their own initiative, today restrictive illogical procedure and policy has to always be followed. Every act has to be double checked and authorised by a manager or supervisor. Companies want to dicate from on high every aspect of the day to day running of the business instead of leaving it to well trained staff (with the minimum of supervision) to use their brains and sort out any difficulties. I'm not blaming the front-line staff; I blame the clueless, megalomaniac managers!

This is especially true in the soul destroying call-centre industry.

The feeling that the person you are talking to/dealing with does not have the authority or resources to resolve your complaint himself/herself is the major cause of frustration and anger on the part of customers.

Upper management is happy to take the large pay packets but are unwilling to deal with the consequences of their "in the interests of the company" decisions.

ArphaRima · 10-01-2007 02:05AM

As the customer, I find I never make unreasonable demands. I constantly wonder about my logic. I always seem to see middle aged housewives screaming at the top of their lungs about some non-existent injustice, and managers fleeing for cover, and throwing goods and cash at them. I could never do that. For me it would be security and the door. I could never work in any job where if my training I was told to do something, that under pressure my superior decided not to back me up when I was right. It would be soul destroying.
All systems have exceptions, and people deserve favours and breaks where possible. Its the screamers I dislike. Those people who demand what is not theirs to demand.

Steyr · 10-01-2007 02:06AM

Ive witnessed people break down to tears in front of me at the Customer Service ( Im not on it ) over mundane pathetic things that you just wouldnt get out of bed for. I have personally had people scream at me for something not being available due to either bad orders or just not available from the company and they still dont believe me when i asked them if they wanted me to check for them if said item was inside as it was not on sale.

I also know of people in the same area and when they give up with the customers they either just walk off or produce the orders sheet to show the customers it was on sale and is gone and wont be back until delivery.

StupidLikeAFox · 10-01-2007 02:35AM

From a man whos been on both sides of the counter, staff/customer service people/shop assistants arent always angels either. AN HONOURABLE MENTION here goes to the three or four peroxide fckers who work in the shop in heuston station. Poor girls.

Personnally i would love to work in a call centre jus for the the craic, see whats thrown up in front of me and what sort of people call me. If anyone knows where i could get a good enough paying summer job in one let me know!

Sad Professor · 10-01-2007 02:40AM

Rebeller wrote:

I think the whole "customer service" problem stems from the fact that most companies nowadays hide behind minimum wage, powerless, badly trained staff.

Whereas before the person behind the counter (or at the other end of the phone) would have the authority and independence to act on their own and resolve a genuine customer complaint using their own initiative, today restrictive illogical procedure and policy has to always be followed. Every act has to be double checked and authorised by a manager or supervisor. Companies want to dicate from on high every aspect of the day to day running of the business instead of leaving it to well trained staff (with the minimum of supervision) to use their brains and sort out any difficulties. I'm not blaming the front-line staff; I blame the clueless, megalomaniac managers!

This is especially true in the soul destroying call-centre industry.

The feeling that the person you are talking to/dealing with does not have the authority or resources to resolve your complaint himself/herself is the major cause of frustration and anger on the part of customers.

Upper management is happy to take the large pay packets but are unwilling to deal with the consequences of their "in the interests of the company" decisions.

You hit nail on the head there imo. I actually got quite a bit of training in my job but it was all useless stuff like, smile, say hi, ask for a clubcard, smile, offer a clubcard, ask this, ask that, smile, etc etc etc. None which is any use when you get a difficult customer.

Sangre · 10-01-2007 03:58AM

When customers start making demands they are invariably wrong in my experience of a number of different customer service roles.

Remember I had one guy on the phone in my current part time job in the bank, while completely in the wrong he started claiming his rights and refund demands. He said he was solicitor, he would go to court as he knew his rights. I informed him I also had a law degree and training that said otherwise. That ended that threat.

I've had some unbelievable psychos on the phone with the bank. People screaming at me because they're cheque is taking 5 working days to clear and they've no booze money. Seriously, who doesn't know that?

Although I must say I'm great at never losing the cool or being discourteous to a customer, I find it all most to easy to be fake to the bastards. If they start going on a rant I just tune out and start talking to the person beside me. I don't say anything until they've finished talking for a good few seconds. Then I ask them if they've a specfic query I can help them with etc., Once they know a rant isn't going to be acknowledge they always calm them. Although its much easier to do over the phone.

WhiteWashMan · 10-01-2007 07:30AM

well, ive been on both sides of the coin in call cetnres, in restraunts, and in retail, and i can catagorically state that simply listening to the person you are talking to, being courteous and not using any blame like language, will get you further than anything else 9 times out of 10.

and a simple 'i know its not your fault, but i do have a problem that i would like your help in solving..' will go further than you think.

its just a shame that most of the people posting here dont seem to see past their own limited experience to understand that the other person isnt always the problem.

Mrs_Doyle · 10-01-2007 09:54AM

DublinWriter wrote:

Fantastic story Mrs Doyle.

:rolleyes: I wish it was.

seamus · 10-01-2007 10:31AM

Rebeller wrote:

I think the whole "customer service" problem stems from the fact that most companies nowadays hide behind minimum wage, powerless, badly trained staff.

Well, there's that too, and the fact that employees have very little interest (or exposure) to the bottom line. 99% of the time, if you're speaking to the guy who's running the company in question, or one of the higher-level management, your complaint will be taken seriously and will be dealt with swiftly, regardless of the triviality of the complaint. These guys depend on the bottom line.
Employees at the bottom of the food chain though see none of this. They're going to get paid whether they're nice or flippant to the customer with the complaint, and are given no motivation to resolve issues swiftly. They don't see (either through immaturity or ignorance) the direct link between customer satisfaction and company success. In fact, they couldn't care less about company success.

It's a product of a high-employment economy. The guy who gets fired from UCI today for assaulting a customer, will easily pick up a job in Ster Century tomorrow, so he really doesn't give a **** about the job so long as he gets some cash out of them. Back in my teens, I knew a guy who had 12 jobs in a year (and didn't even work for about 6 months). He basically came in super late (or just didn't bother cos he didn't feel like it), even in his first week, and just arsed around stealing stock and making phone calls. It didn't matter to him, cos he'd get a job elsewhere next week.

cornbb · 10-01-2007 11:02AM

ColHol wrote:

Personnally i would love to work in a call centre jus for the the craic, see whats thrown up in front of me and what sort of people call me. If anyone knows where i could get a good enough paying summer job in one let me know!

Pressing the mute button and swearing at customers, and very occasionally hanging up on the worst ones, is fun. But its not worth it dude, believe me.

Sad Professor · 10-01-2007 02:37PM

seamus wrote:

They don't see (either through immaturity or ignorance) the direct link between customer satisfaction and company success. In fact, they couldn't care less about company success.

Of course not, but why should they? It's not like the company passes on it's profits to its employees. The problem is actually the other way around, it's the company which fails to see the link between *employee* satisfaction and company success. If your staff are happy then I do believe customer satisfaction/service won't be a problem. Unfortunately in most places management tends to piss on employees at the lower end of the ladder.

In my current job there has been a whole host of changes recently wherein many new services are now being offered to the customer but it's the staff who have had to make all the sacrifices, under the subtle threat of job loses. The company actually has an excellent record of customer service but I suspect that's all about to go down the tubes shortly because the staff simply aren't happy any more.

WhiteWashMan · 10-01-2007 02:45PM

cornbb wrote:

Pressing the mute button and swearing at customers, and very occasionally hanging up on the worst ones, is fun. But its not worth it dude, believe me.

and thats exactly the sort of attitude of ****tards all over the world who annoy customers, and then come on here shouting that they get annoyed by the saying 'the customer is always right'.
the problem is yours, not theirs.

if you cant help them, then youre not doing your job right, and if youre not doing it right, why bother being there?

cornbb · 10-01-2007 03:08PM

WhiteWashMan wrote:

and thats exactly the sort of attitude of ****tards all over the world who annoy customers, and then come on here shouting that they get annoyed by the saying 'the customer is always right'.
the problem is yours, not theirs.

if you cant help them, then youre not doing your job right, and if youre not doing it right, why bother being there?

As I said before, I only did this to the ones that really deserved it. It was harmless stress relief. I always got glowing appraisals etc in that call centre, and I made an effort to help the vast majority of customers as best I could. Unfortunately a minority of people just really don't want to be helped, they want to make your life a misery just because you work in a call centre, or because they feel they've been screwed over. If they actually have been screwed over, 99.9% of the time its the fault of the company or it's policies, not the fault of the agent on the phone. You need to work in one of these places to appreciate this, but again I wouldn't recommend the job to anyone.

in most places management tends to piss on employees at the lower end of the ladder

Agree 100%. In the particular place I worked for, they hired a consultant to find out why so many staff kept leaving. He interviewed everyone and promised that what we said be confidential. And 10 minutes after my interview, my manager called me over to her desk to take issue with some of the truthful and honest things I had told this guy. She had a full transcript of my interview on her screen. So we were lied to by the management and took the full brunt of customer complaints. Horrible stuff.

Victor · 10-01-2007 03:14PM

stepbar wrote:

Also whats the crack with people in shops, are they not able to say hello / make eye contact / smile / not act like a ****in mechanised robot? So ignorant. So there you go people are not stupid all the time.

It gets difficult saying "hello" for the 400th time in a day.

On average, the customer is wrong more than staff, but quite often management have put staff in an unenviable position.

cornbb · 10-01-2007 03:24PM

Victor wrote:

It gets difficult saying "hello" for the 400th time in a day.

Or saying "Good morning/afternoon/evening, thank you for calling **** **** **** insurance services, my name is ******, how can I help you?" for the 400th time in a day.

Saying "hello" would get you sacked in the place I worked.

Gordon · 10-01-2007 03:30PM

cornbb wrote:

Or saying "Good morning/afternoon/evening, thank you for calling **** **** **** insurance services, my name is ******, how can I help you?" for the 400th time in a day.

Saying "hello" would get you sacked in the place I worked.

You also worked in a shop? I've never had someone in a shop saying all that!

cornbb · 10-01-2007 03:34PM

Ok, I missed that bit. I worked in a call centre. It is easy to say "hello" to a customer in a shop, I agree with that. But rattling off the spiel I listed above felt degrading.

Gordon · 10-01-2007 03:41PM

cornbb wrote:

Ok, I missed that bit. I worked in a call centre. It is easy to say "hello" to a customer in a shop, I agree with that. But rattling off the spiel I listed above felt degrading.

I used to see it as the thing you had to do when you picked up the phone.

Hear phone
Look at phone
Pick up phone
Put phone to ear
Say big long spiel
Listen to person speaking
Do a little dance

No need to feel degraded about it - we all have to do stuff we don't want to do - that's the definition of "work" isn't it?!

cornbb · 10-01-2007 03:47PM

Gordon wrote:

No need to feel degraded about it - we all have to do stuff we don't want to do - that's the definition of "work" isn't it?!

Absolutely, but there's work and there's work. My current job is challenging, fulfilling, involves making a positive contribution to society, and there's mutual respect with everyone I come into contact with. The call centre job I'm talking about was none of those things. The phone was attached to my ear. I did not have a choice whether to answer it, it answered itself. A lot of the customers were in stitches after hearing the big long spiel, which was kind of funny I guess.

Gordon · 10-01-2007 03:49PM

Just as well you left then!

cornbb · 10-01-2007 04:01PM

Gordon wrote:

Just as well you left then!

Totally. After that experience I'll always be nice to call centre/customer service people. Unless they're actually being a*seholes, of course.

DilbertPartII · 10-01-2007 04:26PM

Thaedydal wrote:

Nope but the customer deserves due courtesy and to feel that thier comapliant and grieance has been heard.

exactly!;) complaints and grievances...that is.

Metacortex · 10-01-2007 06:02PM

I work in a call centre, most customers who ring here are complete retards with no common sense.
I usually have no trouble remaining calm but there has been a few times i've gotten into arguements because of plain ignorant, rude customers who insisted on being condescending and telling me how to do my job.

So far in the last hour, i've been screamed at because -

- a customer got a gift for christmas and wanted to return it and didn't have any order number, didn't even know if it was purchsed from us.

- another customer ordered the wrong item online (apparently this is my fault)

- another customer read something wrong picked incorrect payment method online (again, somehow my fault)

I could tell you endless stories of stupidity

stepbar · 10-01-2007 11:13PM

Victor wrote:

It gets difficult saying "hello" for the 400th time in a day.

On average, the customer is wrong more than staff, but quite often management have put staff in an unenviable position.

Its not hard to say "Hello", common courtasy TBH. I seem to be the first to say it each and everytime I go to up to a till. 99% act like Christy Brown..... and the other 1% actually say hello and you can knock a bit of craic out of them. You see if CS people werent so ****ing gloomy / ignorant / didnt take everything to heart / took a bit of responcibility to solve the customer's problem / knew how to handle troublesome customers / didnt act like mechanised robots (no wonder they are doing away with the tills in Tesco's and the like

) yada yada yada, they might get happier customer. Simple eh?

Zonko · 11-01-2007 12:05AM

Sleepy wrote:

I work in IT so for me it's "The user is always absolutely clueless".

Ding ding ding, Zonko has found a new motto.

stepbar · 11-01-2007 12:09AM

Sleepy wrote:

I work in IT so for me it's "The user is always absolutely clueless".

Well would you have a job if every user was up to speed? Probably not......

OliviaM · 11-01-2007 12:21AM

Yes customers are always right. If they are saatisfied, you won't hear complaints.:cool:

Dord · 11-01-2007 12:40AM

i work in a call center at the moment too.
i'm glad i dont have 400+ calls a day, more around the 60-70 mark max.

i DO get fed up saying the spiel at the start of the call, but whatever. i tend to just say it without thinking about it now. phone beeps, call comes in... welcome to blah blah....

as for the whole, the customer is always right. theyre not always right. they can be wrong either. and so can i. anyone can be wrong.

but one thing i'll tell you. if you phone a call center and are nice and polite to the person, you'll receive the same back AND more if you have a problem.

since i starting working in CS, i've tried this out myself on other companies too. its much better for everyone.

Sangre · 11-01-2007 01:07AM

stepbar wrote:

Brown..... and the other 1% actually say hello and you can knock a bit of craic out of them.

God, I hate customers whotry to be your best friend and try and make jokes. I hate forcing laughter. Its always the same joke over and over, 'wouldn't throw a few bob in my account for me?'...'ha ha ha, sorry all out of free money today!' *hang up*...ugh.

Customer Is Always Right

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