How do you handle frustrated customers? 😡

[ElisabethB]

Every business has them from time to time - frustrated customers. While some businesses adhere to the old saying that the customer is always right, that isn't always a realistic approach. How do you handle unhappy customers? What was your best or worst experience with a customer? Reply to share your tips and success stories (or horror stories! 👻) with us!

[FreshPrintsSW]

I definitely agree that the customer is not always right. And I also have no problem telling people they can shop elsewhere. They say that 20% of your customers are responsible for 80% of your headaches, and that seems to be accurate. Remove those 20%. You don't need the headaches.

[JUYBoutique20]

Thank God I haven't had to deal with that yet in my business... Coming from working in big box retail companies I was always told the customer is always right.... A statement I've never agreed with and one of the reasons I wanted to run my own business.  I had to stand up for my associates because corporate definitely wouldn't.  I'll never forget this customer we had when I worked at Dillard's.  She would come in every other week and spend $1,000 or more in handbags but would then bring them back to get refunded every month.  It was so bad she had to have a management override in order to return in my area because she returned so much.  Her husband was a local doctor and would come in often to get his clothing.  One day in particular they so happen to be in the store at the same time.  On this particular day she was causing a fuss because she wanted to return bags past the return date again.  I was paged to the handbag counter and as I was going her husband stopped me to say hi and actually walked downstairs with me (he was a bit of a flirt 😆).  When we made it down there, she was being very rude and acting very entitled with my associate.  Her husband walked up to her and asked her what she was doing there and why she was acting the way she was.  She yelled because you won't give me money to shop anymore and you left me. Apparently, they were going through a divorce, and he had cut off her allowance and she was using us as basically a rent the runway type of operation.  They argued back and forth for a bit and then she packed up her bags and left.  I guess she was so embarrassed that we all now knew exactly what was going on and because her hubby called her out on her behavior she didn't come back to our store.  Hmmm I wonder if they ever worked out 🤔?    

[TheRio]

My day job is handling angry homeowners via email all day for the past 4 years.

Staying true to your policy and avoiding the “But you” and the “You said” sentence starters to make them feel more self-righteous can take away anger when you are restating a policy (if that is broken).

As far as complaints on the product production and outcome, I ask for specifics as to what is wrong. Me and a customer has a misunderstanding because they did not read my item description. But just gently defending yourself is okay if you have already addressed it🙌 Asking also can catch anyone who may be making a fuss about something that has already been disclosed and/or catching people who just want a refund or replacement.

That same 1 star reviewer changed their review to a 4 star after hearing me out. I addressed calmly but affirmatively. They wanted a replacement out of me but sticking to my policies and going through my inventory for “production” issues they sought to point out helped do a 360 for them. 

Its also worth mentioning that if you have to repeat yourself twice, they are simply not there to hear it. If a third time is hinted, don’t repeat yourself, give a brief description of your previous statements, what you will do to help, and what you will not. If they can not abide by them, don’t bother yourself further with them. (Add these to your regulations of returns and refunds to avoid in the future)

As now I am drafting regulations for any returns and refunds to disclose with customers to avoid this problem again.

Customer service takes patience and time. Sometimes you just need to see the signs of wanting a reaction, refund, replacement, or genuine complaint out of you.

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[EXCLUSIVECS]

You're absolutely right about every business having frustrated customers from time to time. I handle unhappy customers with open ears and questions. I ask the customer what was the problem with the service provided. And also how can the problem be corrected.

I think the worst situation I personally had with a customer was at a hospital I was working for. I was a housekeeper for this hospital and the linen was not the best at that moment in time. The linen that was provided had stains and or small tears/holes in the linen. For my rooms I typically would choose the small tears located at the bottom of the linen because they always were in hidden areas . I just personally preferred hidden tears than stains in the linen. Neither option was a good one but I made the decision. By the lighting and age of my patient she could see tears and/or holes far more than she could see stains on the linen. She was very upset by the tear in the linen. The supervisor was brought to the room and the room was inspected and cleaned completely over and the bed linen was changed. After the room was complete I was told to come take a look and as I approached the bed I saw a yellowish tone on part of the sheet. I realized that It was typically hard for the patients to see the stains. I was not pleased at the fact that I had to make a decision like that and that it was a thing. But at the end of it all the patient was happy and I was happy that the patient was happy with the outcome.

[Geno1967]

Sometime you have to fire a customer. I have been in retail for over 40 years now. Our most recent occasion occurred just a few months back. I work in the automotive industry. We had a customer bring in a vehicle for repair and when she came to pick up her vehicle she claimed that we had damaged her front spoiler. 

Fortunately we have an alignment checker, that when the customer pulls in, not only does it check the alignment, but it also takes 36 high resolution pictures of the vehicle. We pulled up the images and found that the damage was present when the customer arrived. Not only was the damage present, but someone had attempted to make a temporary repair with DUCT TAPE. 

We showed the images to her, where she proceeded to blame her brother. The damage was obvious from almost any direction. 

I spoke with the service advisor and she said that the customers tries to claim damage each time she comes in. It is an older vehicle that has not been taken care of. Not only does she claim damage, but she is very rude to the staff on each visit. I informed the service manager and scheduler, that is she calls direct the call to me.

Last Monday she called to make an appointment and I told her that she was no longer welcome at the store and she should find another repair facility. She didn’t seem surprised, but when she started to cuss, I politely ended the call.

I was scheduled to have lunch with one of our vendors on Wednesday and the topic of bad customers came up. I proceeded to tell him the story and he asked if the customers name was, well lets say Jane Doe. I said how did you know? He said they had to kick her out of their shop. (He sells tires and is a local distributor)

So there you go, sometimes you have to fire the customer. 

[KennyBradley]

My best tip is to listen. Never say, "I am sorry...." or "I apologize...". Always use, "I understand..". Keep your speech low and around 200 words a minute. It's not much but i promise it will make a difference.

[Stacelyn24]

First and foremost, understand that every client/customer is not necessarily your ideal client/customer.  I own and operate a nail studio.  We're predominately appointment base with a strict cancellation policy (set up in order to protect everyone...the business, the nail techs, and clients).  Without fail when the seasons change we get what we call "repeat offenders" 🙂 that will either wait until the last minute to cancel or are offensively late.  If I discover that its a patter I usually will speak to the client about the situation...explaining why the cancellation policy is in effect and/or why they need to respect the grace period with being late. 9 out of 10 times they correct themselves, but for the 1%....oh that's when I'll explain why we're not a suitable fit and I'll give them other options that they may pursue.

Create your ideal client and cater around that avatar.  Again, every client/customer is not for you.  If you remember that you won't have such a hard time letting go because you know you're doing what's best for yourself and the business 🙂

[Abigails_stl]

Kill them with kindness! Usually that does the trick if they are being a little “jerky.” Also, just listening. Usually it’s something small that will turn their frown upside down, and my managers and staff all know that they have the freedom to go ahead and do what’s right by the customer without giving away the farm. Thankfully I haven’t had to deal with too many upset customers in the 8 years we have been open. I had to deal with sooooo many when I was in big box retail and it was always the worst part of my day.

The worst thing we had to deal the last 2 years with was people not wanting to wear a mask when the city was under a mandate. Most people were understanding and would wear one, some were polite with their choice to not shop at our store, and a very few were super big jerks that had to be asked to leave because we wouldn’t allow them to talk to our employees like jerks. 
that is a dealbreaker for me… if you are an a**hole to my people, I don’t want your business. 

[Abludoodle]

I had a young couple come and order a Strawberry Shortcake from me. I should have known it was going to be trouble from the very beginning,because I had to meet with them after the bakery had already closed. The couple both had different ideas for what they wanted the cake to look like but we came upon a compromise of a mix of two photos they had sent me. I went through due diligence as always and confirmed what they wanted the interior of the cake to look like before I made and assembled it. It was approved. I make the cake the day of pick up,and send photos while is being assembled. I get replies of,”looks great, awesome,I can’t wait to try it” She comes and picks up the cake,within ten minutes she’s calling me back saying her boyfriend is upset he says it doesn’t look like what he wanted. She now wants to bring the cake back and get it “fixed”. Against better judgment I allowed her to not only come back but BRING A CAKE THAT HAD LEFT PREMISES BACK TO THE SHOP!! I attempted to fix the cake how they now said they wanted the cake. I sent photos,she eventually asked could she come and fix it the way she wanted to. I told her fine but at this point I’m. I longer liable. She “fixes it”. I send a text the next day checking to see if they enjoyed the cake. Sue then tells

me that her boyfriend just wants his money back. He tried it at 6 am after it had been in the refrigerator all day,and he didn’t like it. No ma’am,there are no refunds. I explained to her,the fact that she came back,and all

the extra I went through was enough. They attempted to argue back and forth. I blocked the number.

[Geno1967]

Happy Easter!

If you were to have 5 people involved in the process, they would have 5 different ideas on how it should look and probably even taste. I agree, that allowing customers to name their own hours for your shop is not a good idea. I grew up in the restaurant business with my family and I know you work enough hours as it is.

You had positive feedback before and during the process. I do not see a problem with you letting the customer “fix” what she thought needed to be changed and yes at that point it was her cake.

I would not really care what the boyfriend thought after they consumed the cake. Many shop owners will agree that you will have customers that operate like this. He didn’t like the cake, she didn’t like the way they set up the tents, he didn’t like the music the DJ played, she didn’t like the chicken the caterer served and so on. You get the idea. Some people even see it as a challenge to see how much money they can save by complaining. 

You did the right thing. If the threaten to leave a negative review if you do not refund their money, contact the police and report the attempted extortion. I have done that in two situations and the police gave them two options. I am sure you can guess what they were.

Gene 

[Yourcupcake]

Hi Elisabeth, 

My worst experience with a customer was a few years ago. I drove out to their home to do the tasting. The Bride complained about the price of my cake, and the groom redirected her, stating that she just did a tasting with us, her time, labor, supplies, and she's delivering our cake. Two days before the wedding, the bride contacted me that they had moved the wedding from the venue to their backyard. I said make sure to have XYZ space in the refrigerator for the cake. When I arrived no refrigerator space, the kitchen was a disaster, the chef occupied their kitchen, food was everywhere, and the bride had poison ivy. They had to put the cake in the bedroom under a fan. The cake was beautiful everyone loved it, especially her bridesmaids. She asked me if I could give her the extra flowers for her table arrangement, and I presented them to her. At 4:00 pm, when the wedding started, the bride texted me that she wanted a refund, stating that there were post-it notes inside the cake. Please clarify the post-it notes on the paper with the lines, and she said yes. I knew they were setting me up as I overheard them talk about not having enough money to pay the DJ. I offered to pick up the cake and inspect myself. She said no, you couldn't come back here. Just give me about half of my money back. I refused since they wouldn't allow me to come back to inspect the cake and then claimed that they threw it out. The bride started to threaten me. The bride's cousins began to call my business line and made threats. They went onto my social media pages and threatened me. She then said she would take me to court, and I told her to let's do that. You signed a contract. You should review it before making up lies and making threats. The bride found me via Thumbtack. Thumbtack called me and didn't support me, citing the bride had a bad day. I said the bride's lousy day had nothing to do with me and laid out everything. Since Thumbtack supported the client, not the seller, I closed my account with them. They begged me not to as I was acquiring many of the bookings. 

I have my contract updated by a well-known law firm in NYC every few years, and I uploaded it into Square Invoicing. If the client doesn't sign the contract, I don't deliver the cake. I strongly advise food and beverage clients to have a contract to protect themselves. 

Now, I had a few moments where a client wasn't happy, I owned it, and offered a discount on their next order, a credit, or a partial refund to the client. 

[urmom]

i havent had buyers yet

[PhilOnTheRoad]

I agree that "The Customer is always right" certainly doesn't leave any "wiggle room", but is a good starting place for the attitude, if nothing else. This story is not related to my current business, but illustrates how to turn someone around by listening (as previously mentioned) and helping the customer understand how the business works. As an insurance agent, I had a furniture store as a commercial client and one day the owner of the business walked in and wanted to insure his personal vehicles. I quoted him a price that he thought was too high and he started to become indignant that I wasn't giving him some special treatment because of his business. I explained the reasons for the high price (his driving record) and he said words to the effect of, "do you have to tell the company about this?". I said he should take his business elsewhere but he said he wanted me to write the policy. When I asked him why, his answer was, "because I can trust you". I said, "The company can trust me too--sign the paper". His attitude changed completely. Sometimes you have to remind people why they are doing business with you.

[CindyKr]

I'm with sugarlab.  Just listen to what the customer has to say.  You can't always make it right.  I will generally listen to them, give them an honest explanation; most customers can tell when you are blowing smoke, and in the end usually offer them a discount on future purchases, refund the item they are complaining about, or offer them a free coffee on their next visit.  

It will cost you a bit but in the end I would rather have someone happy when they walk out the door,, then unhappy.

People will tell more people about a bad experience than a good experience.

[SparkPlug-Jake]

I used to work in the hospitality industry (short-term rental) and needless to say, I have faced some of the most entitled guests. What worked for me almost every single time was being EXTRA hospitable in messaging them.

I always start with a compliment "Thank you so much for being such wonderful guests" or "We appreciate you taking such good care of the home" and a lot of Sirs and Ma'ams, then proceed to acknowledge their concern. This makes them feel listened to, and that's just what they want most of the time. The icing on the cake is looking for common ground with the customer and stitching it up with empathy phrases. 100% of guests/customers calm down and become more careful with their words after this. That's when I offer solutions to their concern. If their request is impossible, I always set expectations and kindly let them know that it is out of my control. I always end with "please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you!"

[mksavage]

My first approach when dealing with a frustrated customer is just to listen and to validate their experience. Most of the time, it seems like people just want to be heard and to know that they/their experience matter. What is really important to me is to host the customer well, even through a bad experience. That requires an openness, and setting down our natural defensiveness or urge to explain ourselves, which isn't easy -- especially when we feel justified. Sometimes we offer the customer a "comp card" or a discount for a future purchase, sometimes we just offering a genuine apology, sometimes we refund their current order. It all depends on the situation. My team knows that I trust and support them to handle those situations however they need to in order to make sure the customer has the best experience possible. Afterwards, I'll regroup with the team to understand what happened and to learn what we can from the mistake (if there was one). Those situations can be really draining for our team, so I try to stay engaged with them, step in when they need support, follow-up to see what they need -- it helps them a lot when they feel supported. They can care for customers better when we're also caring for them.

[QuokkaCoffee]

I always have to remind my team that comps/voids aren't necessarily a bad thing. As a cafe, we rely so much on recurring trade that a single unhappy guest means thousands of dollars of lost revenue both from that one person and everyone else they keep away through bad word of mouth.

My favorite thing to do is when we catch a mistake right at handoff, which happens typically with large orders, i.e. an office coffee run. The protocol is always to clarify with the guest 1) what the mistake was, 2) what they actually wanted, and 3) promptly get the right product into their hands free of charge. This all happens in under two minutes and they're almost always surprised at how quick the turnaround is; usually they offer to pay and we insist they 'do us a favor and make a new friend!' with the extra product.

Of course, you get the odd guest who feels the need to verbally dress down my young team--we accidentally served a full-fat flat white to someone who struggles to digest anything but hi-lo/skinny milk--but was too preoccupied with the phone surgically attached to his ear to realize we wanted to comp his coffee that day. 🤷🏻

[mksavage]

It's the same for us, @QuokkaCoffee -- so much of our business is repeat customers (at least 60% every month). We also know what a huge impact word of mouth has on a local establishment, whether positive or negative. Both one unhappy customer and one happy customer have a ripple effect that goes far beyond just that person. So, we do our best to make sure they leave delighted. Beyond that, it also is nice to be able to "redeem" a negative situation -- when you see someone get frustrated and you can do something relatively small for you, but that totally turns it around in their mind. It's actually really satisfying.

[mksavage]

It's the same for us -- so much of our business is repeat customers (at least 60% every month). We also know what a huge impact word of mouth has on a local establishment, whether positive or negative. Both one unhappy customer and one happy customer have a ripple effect that goes far beyond just that person. So, we do our best to make sure they leave delighted. Beyond that, it also is nice to be able to "redeem" a negative situation -- when you see someone get frustrated and you can do something relatively small for you, but that totally turns it around in their mind. It's actually really satisfying.

[saydad]

Handling frustrated customers can be so difficult, especially when mentally, physically, and emotionally you are drained from the daily grind of working with people. Dealing with various characters during long shifts. I would say that one of my biggest go to phrases of handling difficult customers has to be, "kill everyone with kindness and love, no matter how frustrated they may be, because at the end of the day, maybe all they need is balance" When we talk about difficult customers, it is about having calm and poise throughout the entire situation.  I truly believe there is always an underlying personal issue in those difficult people that come across that we have to handle. 

[doc_choc]

Worst experience was a member of the public having to discretely call in the shopping centre security because a customer asked for a plain gelato, but did not realise he could have free chocolate sauce with his plain gelato. He kicked off, requiring three security guards to remove him from the shop.

If you offer free chocolate sauce with your gelato always remind them its an option.