My Anger Meltdown over Service Dept.

joshuajim wrote:
First off, I find a lot of the responses on this post to be condesending. Too many have implied that it’s a simple process and if you don’t know how to do it yourself “you are an idiot”. I don’t know the OP’s age or physical ability so this is a totally wrong premise.

Second, what ever happened to “the customer is always right”, the tenant for good customer relations and increased business. I used to own and operate a transmission shop. We would get customers that were very “angry” about their situation which could be costing them thousands of dollars and that they felt was not their fault. Sometimes it was and sometimes it wasn’t. BUT in any case, it was the service writers REQUIREMENT in my shop to calm the situation, explain to the customer what may have caused the situation, assure them that we would be doing everything possible to remedy the situation and move forward. In most cases just letting the customer vent and not responding until they are done calms the situation. Most people calm down after they have had an uninterrupted vent.

Finally, if one of my service writers hung up on a customer, that service writer would receive a day off without pay and I would cover their job for a day.

I had many repeat customers and referrals.

The customer is NOT always right. Yes, it is best if the company employee can "hold out" while the customer vents and then find a way to appease the customer while protecting the business. But employees are people too. Sometimes the customer is simply too abusive, violent, whatever. Sometimes the employee is too sensitive. But for whatever reason that one interaction doesn't go smoothly. And sometimes the customer has learned that if they b!tch enough and make a scene they are likely to get extra. Abuse is abuse and should not be tolerated. A bad day can be brought down.

I have a co-worker who argues the "customer is always right". Every week she has a tale of how a business tried to rip her off and she had to get in their face to protect herself. But, if you let her keep talking, you will find out that she knew they weren't "ripping her off" - she just purposely misread the signage/agreement in order to get a better price. She has no concern about the person at the other end of her tirade - she just goes off on them "because when she worked retail, people did that to her all the time". She's even had her boyfriend come and argue with her for a buck. This is someone who has learned that customers must be bullies.