thread Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝 in Community Corner

What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

Hailey — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 14:46:43 GMT

Today we want to know...

What has been your best experience with a customer?

What customer moment will you never forget? Is there a worst experience you would like to share? Go for it! Give us the best and worst customer experiences by replying to this thread.

We look forward to reading your replies! 👀

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

PerroneTech — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 15:18:52 GMT

The Worst:

I have a computer repair business. Back in 2010, I had a customer who brought me a computer that had a bad charging port. For whatever reason, the company that made the laptop decided to put the charging port in the hinge.

So... I replaced the part. No problem. However, I could recognize that this design was a bad choice, one that the company at the time had scrapped pretty quickly. I warned the customer that they must be gentle opening and closing the computer, and try not to open and close the hinge while plugged in. This design put a lot of stress on the DC jack.

It wasn't long before it failed again. At that time getting genuine parts directly from the manufacturer was near impossible. So third-party parts were all I had access to. Perhaps the first party parts would have lasted longer, I wouldn't know. It failed in the first place and it wasn't that old.

The customer hit the ground running with the insults. I explained to her how the part by design will fail, otherwise, it wouldn't have been in my shop in the first place (DC jacks usually only break from being dropped or bumped too hard). I was just getting ready to offer her a warranty replacement, as I take care of my customers, but she went right to cursing me out.

Up until this point, I had always worked for someone else, I had always been the obedient retail worker, but now I had my own company and I had ZERO tolerance for disrespect. I let it fly. We must have spent 10 minutes going back and forth insulting each other, cursing at each other, and yelling. It felt good if I'm being honest. She was quite flabbergasted. You can tell she wasn't used to being barked back at. We hadn't even coined the term Karen back then, but she was pure Karen. She even asked to speak to the manager and was surprised to learn it was me! HAHAHA!

In the end, once the fighting settled, she threatened to call her lawyer on me and I never saw her again. Had she'd shown even an ounce of decorum, I would have fixed her computer free of charge. Maybe the part she got was a fluke, maybe it was the design, but she didn't even give me a chance to find out.

Since then, one of my company values is: "The customer is NOT always right..."

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

willowsky — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 16:39:16 GMT

Best experience with a customer is when you get an email from them right when they get their shipped item. With how busy everyone is in the world today it amazes me how many people get my product and send me a thank you email. It really makes my day! I know I have ordered countless things online and now I can also send emails to small businesses when I am thrilled with my item. It is just a small thing, but goes a long way. One other way I have learned to give back is to tell others when I love something. The most powerful form of marketing is a current customer sharing with another person.

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

Candlestore — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 17:00:23 GMT

Best Experience;

Brand new customer ordering online, gets 5 candles and writes not one but 5, 5 star reviews for our candles!!

Worst experiences:

People Reviewing us on different sites and have us mixed up with other shops in the area. One recent one was, "What happened to this store it has mostly clothing and jewelry now hardly any candles!" We make over 137 different scents of candles in most sizes from Wax melts, T-lights, 3 sizes of stock Jars with 3 sizes that can be ordered, Plus Pillars in sizes 2x3, 2x6, 3x3, 3x6, 3x9, 4x4, 4x6, 4x9, 6x6 and 6x9 plus our custom made wedding candles. We have a few pieces of jewelry at the counter and a rack of souvenir type shirts and hoodies .... the rest is mainly candles and candle accessories. I know which candle shop here in the Poconos they were referring to because the locals have told me the other one should be called a Gift shop not a candle store.

Re: Question of the Week June 1st!

homeprogreen — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 18:33:16 GMT

I rarely have any bad experiences with customers. It’s a small town so word spread very quickly that if they try and give me an attitude I will just cancel the sale and tell them to take their business elsewhere. Since no other business in a 4-5 county area sells the same high quality brands that I carry people try to avoid reaching the limits of my tolerance

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

JUYBoutique20 — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 19:52:07 GMT

My best customer experience was a lady who had visited months before and was having a bad day. Apparently, she had just received some bad news and was just walking around to different stores trying to occupy her mind. She came back to tell me thank you for being so welcoming and sweet to her. She said that day made her look at people a little differently.

My worst customer experience has not been while I've had my business. When I worked in big box retail, I had customers that came in every week stealing and causing all kinds of chaos with my associates. Being that in big box world the customer is always right there was nothing we could do about it. Hated working for them but took away the kind of environment I wanted to create for my employees.

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

TheRealChipA — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 23:23:33 GMT

My best are still happening. When we first opened the Ice Cream Bar, we were using whole milk soft serve. It didn’t take long to notice that we were turning away lots of folks with lactose issues. For the record, it turns out that a significant portion of the population has some intolerance to lactose, with some being severe reactions. So we started looking around and testing products until we found one that worked for everyone. Not a day goes by anymore that someone isn’t both surprised and thankful at the fact they can enjoy nearly everything that we sell, even shakes! It’s always a great feeling!

The worst happened when I was the Chef de Cuisine for a local restaurant. I had a 4-top that I was called to at least 6 times one night. There was one man at the table who complained about everything from the food, to the service, to the atmosphere, to the prices, to the choice of music. His dining companions were mortified, of course, but he didn’t seem to notice. On my last table visit, he actually had the gall to reach out and grab my arm to emphasize a point he was trying to make. I pulled my arm away and informed him that he needed to keep his hands to himself. Then I informed the table that I was comping their check because of the constant complaining and that “I hope you find your future dining experiences IN OTHER RESTAURANTS to be more satisfying.” Hint Hint. In the end I only made myself feel worse for losing my composure because that is not what hospitality is all about. I actually thought about throwing in the towel that night.

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

TheRealChipA — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 23:27:33 GMT

So true, @PerroneTech . I tell my teen age employees that all the time. The customer is NOT always right. Sometimes it is important to correct them, gently. Other times, you have to decide if that is a hill you want to die on, as it were. Usually it is not worth the effort, as long as you aren’t taking abuse. That is never acceptable.

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

LukeNieuw — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 03:25:00 GMT

I have a combo.

Once I had a customer who went online and sorta started trashing us in a review. A raving fan of ours went to our back and had a heated exchange with this customer that started to escalate. I was able to step in (online) and diffuse the situation between the two.

I invited the upset customer to come out to see me personally and chat about what we could do better and get their take on things...I also thanked the other customer for going to bat for us. That was very cool to see in hindsight.

After meeting the upset customer in person we hit it off. Got along so well and they were happy to give us a try again. From then on not only did they come back multiple times throughout the year but they also frequently engaged with our posts online. This helped us reach more people!

We took what was turning into a really negative interaction and turned them into raving fans like the individual who went to back for us in the first place. One of the things I'm really proud of.

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

Hailey — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 12:53:40 GMT

Oh my gosh what a nightmare experience. I'm sorry that happened to you. The way you described your situation reminds me of a recent one i witnessed in an Ontario, Canada liquor store. The customer was so rude to the clerk, all because she was asked for her ID. If that was me I would take it as a huge compliment that I looked so young haha

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

Hailey — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 12:55:20 GMT

Wow this has inspired me. I often order things direct from businesses but never thing to follow up with a thank you email. I usually always leave a review but in addition a thank you would be a nice addition while im online. Great idea

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

Hailey — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 12:56:29 GMT

A case of mistaken identity! Oh no 😞

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

Hailey — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 12:58:30 GMT

Your BEST story is so heart warming. Its that person-to-person connection that truly impacts our lives. THAT is the type of stuff you cant get from a lot of shopping/business experiences these days. I love small business ❤️

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

Hailey — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 13:04:26 GMT

Chip your worst experience brings back memories of my life in hospitality. I honestly believe everyone should work in the industry at one point in their life just to make sure they NEVER behave somewhat close to how that guest of yours did. Cringe.

But your best experience - oh that brings a smile to my face. I know a lot of lactose-free friends who would appreciate your accommodating offers for sure. One of my best friends is celiac and whenever a bakery has gluten-free treats she lights up.

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

Hailey — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 13:07:26 GMT

Luke that is such a cool story. I feel like its something i could see in a sitcom haha I'm just waiting for the "And now.. me, the upset customer, and the happy customer are all best friends". I think a lot of people forget that there are REAL humans behind businesses sometimes due to the tech age we live in. They leave bad reviews or slander on the internet thinking that the owners wont actually see the comments.

Re: Question of the Week June 1st!

Hailey — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 13:10:07 GMT

@homeprogreen Do you have any "best" experiences to share? 😁

Re: Question of the Week June 1st!

homeprogreen — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 13:18:17 GMT

Not really any best but I do tend to have customers bringing me pies and other home backed goods. Small town life has its perks

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

WildberriesBtq — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 13:39:04 GMT

The best experience is when customers thank me for their purchase. I got a call recently from someone who wanted to let me know that she wore her new blouse and got TONS of compliments and told absolutely EVERYONE where she got it. The worst, well, there are too many. Its the entitled ones that are rough. Sort of "dont you know who I am?". But I guess the best worst story involved my mom and a miserable woman many years ago. Its long, buckle up:

Miserable Lady (ML), to her two companions: huh! they used to have much nicer things in here? Huh! Their prices are so high! Huh, they used to have a much better selection of things!

My Mom (MOM): excuse me, ma'am, but if nothing here meets your exacting standards, maybe just leave, instead of insulting us?

ML: You're not seriously suggesting I leave, are you?

MOM: ma'am, if I told you to get the f*ck out of my store, would you believe me then?

ML, to her companions: Come on, we'll come back when she's in a better mood....

Being the owner, I have desperately wanted to tell customers to get the f*ck out more than once. But killing them with kindness is the wiser choice.

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

WildberriesBtq — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 13:41:16 GMT

my customer base is predominately senior citizens. I can't tell you how many ladies come in just to feel a little better, and to chat with us so they don't feel so alone, which we are so happy to do!

Re: What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

Hailey — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 14:49:14 GMT

Oh my gosh thats heartwarming 💕