upset customers

Have you ever felt like you have to put on full combat gear and map out a plan of attack just to deal with someone in customer service?  Please tell me I’m not the only one!

Last week we took our car to the dealership because we had an issue.  An issue that is still covered by our warranty.  Imagine that!  The dealership sent us to the body shop for them to take a look at our car.  The guy at the body shop was less than personable.  He checked out our car and proceeded to tell us that it had already been repainted.  I was completely confused since we bought our car new (not the wisest investment I know!) with only 4 miles on it.  And we put those 4 miles on it during the test drive.  When we questioned the expert on his assessment he just kept chanting the same line over and over again…

“It’s not up to me.  I just check out the car, tell the dealership what I see and they decide what to do.  This car has been repainted and that’s what I plan on telling them.”

Not once did the gentlemen actually recognize our real concern.  It wasn’t if the dealership was going to take care of our problem under our warranty, it was understanding how a car with 4 miles on it could have been repainted.  We’ve never been in an accident (knock on wood), we have never had it painted and we are the only owner.   Even after expressing our concern he just kept repeating the same line.  He did expand on his chant only to tell us he had been doing this for 40 years and knows when something has been repainted.  I wasn’t questioning his expertise or the fact that the car had been repainted.  I wanted to know how this could possibly happen!

The minute we got home we started to do some research.  We found out that there are several hundred other owners with the same car, the same year, that had the same problem.  We printed pages and pages of information ready to go into battle when the dealership called.  I had my weapons drawn, my armor on and my war plan in hand.  All of this could have been avoided if the body shop guy would have just taken the time to understand us and our concerns.

I realize the body shop couldn’t solve our problem.  We weren’t expecting them to.  Regardless of who’s at fault or whether or not you can solve the problem there’s an opportunity here to create a positive experience and diffuse a potential battle with these 4 simple steps.

1. Listen.

The key here is not to interrupt when the customer is talking and not to jump to any conclusions.  You also want to make sure you give the customer your full attention.  Avoid thinking about what your going to say next.  And definitely avoid drawing your weapons!  Focus on what the customer is saying, what’s happened, how they are feeling and what they want.  Ask yourself, “what is the customers true concern?”  Don’t just take a guess at what you think it is or you won’t satisfy your customers needs.

2. Empathize.

We bought our very first new car with only 4 miles on it.  Did I tell you that already?  It would have been nice to hear something along these lines, “It’s definitely disappointing to find out your brand new car was repainted.”  Why yes it is!  Empathy will help to diffuse emotion and it shows the customer that you were in fact listening and understand how they are feeling.  When there’s a problem realize that customers are not logical beings.  We are emotional.  So recognize that emotion.  How would you feel?  What would you want to hear?

3. Apologize.

Often times you probably didn’t create the problem the customer is having.  All the same an apology can go a long way in building good karma with your customer.  Apologizing doesn’t mean you agree with the customer.  It’s just a simple statement.  Again it will help to diffuse emotion and increase logic.

4. Educate.

As I stood there in the body shop in disbelief I wanted to know how on earth a brand new car had already been repainted when we didn’t repaint it.  Help me understand.  All it would have taken is for the service rep to tell us how this could have possibly happened.  Come to find out, after our own research, sometimes cars get damaged in transport to the dealership.  Sometimes they get damaged on the lot.  And sometimes that’s just how the car was built and painted originally.  Who knew?  Certainly not me.  I am sure that the service rep did know though.  Because when we came back to drop off our car, he explained that.  A little too late if you ask me.  There are things about your business that you know that the average customer doesn’t know.  Don’t quote policy.  But instead educate and explain the possibilities.   Not only will it save you a headache later on it will also build good will with your customer.

I am happy to say that the dealership did take care of our problem at no cost to us.  I put on my combat gear for nothing!  I did second guess our original purchase and for the first time in 3 years experienced buyers remorse.  I also said to my friends and family that we would  never buy a Dodge again or anything from that dealership.  It wouldn’t have taken much for this to be a non-event for us.  If only the service rep had these 4 tips.

What would you add?  What’s been your experience as an upset customer?  What’s been your experience in dealing with an upset customer?  We would love to hear your story and what’s worked for you.

{ 8 comments }