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When is this outlandish term going to be abolished? I work in customer service for a living, been doing so in the telecommunications industry for 15 years now. Before that, I worked for three years at a major grocery store. In all that time, I have seen and heard so many outlandish requests from customers, and will back up their request with “The customer is always right.” That just doesn’t fly any more.
Good example: I was at the local Publix the other day, and this lady was holding up the line because her Nestle coupon was not acceptable to get her a discount on Haagen Daas ice cream. The two companies are not related, yet she insisted and quoted “The customer is always right”. Lo and behold, the managers let her have it! When I questioned them on this, they stated that she did this every week, and this was the best way to get rid of her and get the lines moving again.
It’s time to put this ridiculous phrase to rest. Companies worry about losing customers, but this can also hurt the company anyway. If one abusive customer can get away with something, then every one of them will catch on and be allowed to do it as well. This leads to loss of revenue, thereby putting a company out of business.
I was a toll operator for a major phone company. This lady, who I will never forget, called in totally upset and ugly, demanding that I interrupt a busy line for her. It turned out this was her doctor’s office, and every time she called it, she was immediately routed to an answering service that picked up only when the line was in use. I, trying to keep calm for her, told her it was not a problem, but we could not guarantee the party on the line would agree to clear it for her. I then asked for her name, to which she would only say “Valerie”, but would not provide her last name. I advised her I may need her entire name being the parties on this line may not be familiar with just the first name and therefore may not agree to release the line to call through on. She became enraged and demanded that I provide my entire name. I told her my first name only due to company policy. (Due to hostile customers, it has been well known some customers will try to look up an employee they spoke to in order to get revenge later on) “Well, you said you needed my whole name, so I should be entitled to yours!” She then in an ugly tone of voice demanded I clear the line for her. When I went into the line, the parties would not agree to hang up being it was a patient dealing with an emergency with one of the doctor’s nurses. When I came back to Valerie and advised her, she demanded a supervisor, which I was happy to connect her to.
The next thing I know, because “The customer is always right”, I was written up for “abusing” Valerie. She had advised my supervisor that I was rude and condescending to her, saying I was refusing to provide my entire name to her when I “demanded” hers. Of course, I fought it and had this black mark removed, but it took nearly six months of meetings to do it.
Meanwhile, it had also turned out that Valerie not only made me pay for her upsetting day, but had also done everything she could to have that nurse fired, the one who would not release the line. It didn’t matter what the nature of the emergency was that this nurse was dealing with, somebody was going to pay with their blood because this woman was having a bad day. She was out to even cost one or more people their careers because of her bad day. Meanwhile, our managers coddled this woman to death, no matter how wrong she was. (It should also be mentioned a month or so later, I got her again, and when I got her, I immediately gave her my supervisor without any preamble).
The other incident I recall is the man who had his phone shut off for not paying his bill. My job was customer service, not collections, yet this man did everything he could to get around being connected to that department. I politely advised him that the phone had been shut off for non-payment and that I could connect him to the appropriate person to help him. He interrupted me, saying he had a statement in his hand showing his bill was due later in the month and that we had no right to shut off his service. I explained the bill is correct in that the current charges were due later in the month, but the past due amount was unpaid and needed to be paid to restore his service. He became hostile, told me to stop interrupting him and let him talk. Okay, not a problem. He again proceeded to read the bill (conveniently forgetting a past due notice had been mailed to him) and insisted the bill was showing it needed to be paid later in the month (pause). I responded again with the fact that it related to the current charges. Next thing I know, it was like a bomb had gone off. “You keep interrupting me and calling me a liar!” Trying to keep cool, I advised him that we could connect him to collections to resolve it, to which he said “no, you will deal with this yourself or you will give me a supervisor”. I again told him billing does not handle this type of issue, but collections could. “You’re doing it again, interrupting me and calling me a liar! Get me your supervisor.”
By this point, I gave up and went to hunt for a supervisor. It took ten long minutes to do it. Every two minutes, per requirement of the job, I had to come back and tell him we were still waiting to get a supervisor. Each time I came back he would tell me to stop talking to him and get him what he wanted. After ten minutes, one came on to the phone, and I got to listen in. This guy advised my supervisor that I was calling him a liar, kept overtalking him, and kept speaking to him after placing him on hold to tell him about a supervisor was on the way when he told me to stop talking to him. It took five more minutes just for my supervisor to explain the policy of hold times, and employees could be terminated if the customer was on hold for a lengthy amount of time. But, after that, my supervisor apologized for my behavior on the phone, assuring him I would be dealt with accordingly! Also, she agreed to turn on his phone, not require him to make a payment, plus waived the reconnect fee normally billed for non paying customers. Meanwhile, this man’s phone history spoke for itself. Every month, he would call in after the phone was shut off, and the moment a courteous person would talk to him, he would purposely become hostile, would not allow the rep to transfer him to collections, and would do the same thing about how rude the rep was to him. In nearly five of these calls, supervisors all sided with this customer, and all of them agreed to provide outlandish things, like two months of free phone service, and no reconnect fee be billed.
It didn’t matter in either of these cases how outlandish and unreasonable these two customers were. In each case, managers all sided with the customer for fear of losing their business. As with the second story, that man had cost the phone company a few hundred dollars with the free services he received for his ugly, nasty behavior, and Valerie in the first story got her way no matter what. It makes you wonder if these are the type of people who would commit murder to get what they want.
“The customer is always right” should be thrown out the window. It’s costing companies revenue, plus employees careers are being raked over the coals because of it.
Good example: I was at the local Publix the other day, and this lady was holding up the line because her Nestle coupon was not acceptable to get her a discount on Haagen Daas ice cream. The two companies are not related, yet she insisted and quoted “The customer is always right”. Lo and behold, the managers let her have it! When I questioned them on this, they stated that she did this every week, and this was the best way to get rid of her and get the lines moving again.
It’s time to put this ridiculous phrase to rest. Companies worry about losing customers, but this can also hurt the company anyway. If one abusive customer can get away with something, then every one of them will catch on and be allowed to do it as well. This leads to loss of revenue, thereby putting a company out of business.
I was a toll operator for a major phone company. This lady, who I will never forget, called in totally upset and ugly, demanding that I interrupt a busy line for her. It turned out this was her doctor’s office, and every time she called it, she was immediately routed to an answering service that picked up only when the line was in use. I, trying to keep calm for her, told her it was not a problem, but we could not guarantee the party on the line would agree to clear it for her. I then asked for her name, to which she would only say “Valerie”, but would not provide her last name. I advised her I may need her entire name being the parties on this line may not be familiar with just the first name and therefore may not agree to release the line to call through on. She became enraged and demanded that I provide my entire name. I told her my first name only due to company policy. (Due to hostile customers, it has been well known some customers will try to look up an employee they spoke to in order to get revenge later on) “Well, you said you needed my whole name, so I should be entitled to yours!” She then in an ugly tone of voice demanded I clear the line for her. When I went into the line, the parties would not agree to hang up being it was a patient dealing with an emergency with one of the doctor’s nurses. When I came back to Valerie and advised her, she demanded a supervisor, which I was happy to connect her to.
The next thing I know, because “The customer is always right”, I was written up for “abusing” Valerie. She had advised my supervisor that I was rude and condescending to her, saying I was refusing to provide my entire name to her when I “demanded” hers. Of course, I fought it and had this black mark removed, but it took nearly six months of meetings to do it.
Meanwhile, it had also turned out that Valerie not only made me pay for her upsetting day, but had also done everything she could to have that nurse fired, the one who would not release the line. It didn’t matter what the nature of the emergency was that this nurse was dealing with, somebody was going to pay with their blood because this woman was having a bad day. She was out to even cost one or more people their careers because of her bad day. Meanwhile, our managers coddled this woman to death, no matter how wrong she was. (It should also be mentioned a month or so later, I got her again, and when I got her, I immediately gave her my supervisor without any preamble).
The other incident I recall is the man who had his phone shut off for not paying his bill. My job was customer service, not collections, yet this man did everything he could to get around being connected to that department. I politely advised him that the phone had been shut off for non-payment and that I could connect him to the appropriate person to help him. He interrupted me, saying he had a statement in his hand showing his bill was due later in the month and that we had no right to shut off his service. I explained the bill is correct in that the current charges were due later in the month, but the past due amount was unpaid and needed to be paid to restore his service. He became hostile, told me to stop interrupting him and let him talk. Okay, not a problem. He again proceeded to read the bill (conveniently forgetting a past due notice had been mailed to him) and insisted the bill was showing it needed to be paid later in the month (pause). I responded again with the fact that it related to the current charges. Next thing I know, it was like a bomb had gone off. “You keep interrupting me and calling me a liar!” Trying to keep cool, I advised him that we could connect him to collections to resolve it, to which he said “no, you will deal with this yourself or you will give me a supervisor”. I again told him billing does not handle this type of issue, but collections could. “You’re doing it again, interrupting me and calling me a liar! Get me your supervisor.”
By this point, I gave up and went to hunt for a supervisor. It took ten long minutes to do it. Every two minutes, per requirement of the job, I had to come back and tell him we were still waiting to get a supervisor. Each time I came back he would tell me to stop talking to him and get him what he wanted. After ten minutes, one came on to the phone, and I got to listen in. This guy advised my supervisor that I was calling him a liar, kept overtalking him, and kept speaking to him after placing him on hold to tell him about a supervisor was on the way when he told me to stop talking to him. It took five more minutes just for my supervisor to explain the policy of hold times, and employees could be terminated if the customer was on hold for a lengthy amount of time. But, after that, my supervisor apologized for my behavior on the phone, assuring him I would be dealt with accordingly! Also, she agreed to turn on his phone, not require him to make a payment, plus waived the reconnect fee normally billed for non paying customers. Meanwhile, this man’s phone history spoke for itself. Every month, he would call in after the phone was shut off, and the moment a courteous person would talk to him, he would purposely become hostile, would not allow the rep to transfer him to collections, and would do the same thing about how rude the rep was to him. In nearly five of these calls, supervisors all sided with this customer, and all of them agreed to provide outlandish things, like two months of free phone service, and no reconnect fee be billed.
It didn’t matter in either of these cases how outlandish and unreasonable these two customers were. In each case, managers all sided with the customer for fear of losing their business. As with the second story, that man had cost the phone company a few hundred dollars with the free services he received for his ugly, nasty behavior, and Valerie in the first story got her way no matter what. It makes you wonder if these are the type of people who would commit murder to get what they want.
“The customer is always right” should be thrown out the window. It’s costing companies revenue, plus employees careers are being raked over the coals because of it.
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