Comments on: Approaching the Irate Customer

By: Mark Dolder

Mark Dolder — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:25:42 +0000

Jen, another good article! It gave me inspiration to go back to the sheep killer and apologize for my reaction to his horrific explosion of programming costs. My manager was able to retain his business, with a pretty large loss, however I have not followed up with him since then. Now you have my attention. I just need to sit down and write down what I need to say, practice, then call him. Thanks again for the inspiration to do what is right. Cheers!

By: Jake Hillman

Jake Hillman — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:27:16 +0000

Jen, I totally love this and have used this technique to train employees on how to handle irate customers. It’s good to know that I’m not the only person who has had to deal with the baggie-nazzi at the Air Port. What’s interesting to me is that many don’t feel that they should have to apologize, claiming, “It’s not my fault”; to which I reply, “so what, get over yourself”. Apologizing is taking responsibility for someone’s request, not admitting fault. In a recent attempt to purchase computer equipment (my first mistake) lead to mistake on the retail store’s part. While the mistake was upsetting, my iritation turned to boiling point when the manager stated, “If you don’t know who you talked to, I really can’t do anything about it”. A simple “I’m sorry that happened” would have been the ice cube in the boiling water, however, she just turned up the heat. Thankfully, extensive training has taught me to be professional, no matter if I’m the culprit, or the victim, so I just left before anyone got hurt.
Thanks for the awesome words and great reminder. I’m definitely going to pass this along.
Blessings, Jake

By: Handling an Irate Customer

Handling an Irate Customer — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:43:20 +0000

[...] gives a bit more guidance and is grounded in research (seriously), case studies and psychology. Approaching the Irate Customer Consider allowing your employees to read this as a starting point to addressing difficult customer [...]