When a Customer Gets Upset, I…
Monday morning starts smoothly after breakfast as you review a list of daily tasks and prepare to fulfill orders in the morning and market in the afternoon.
The phone rings just after 10 o’clock. It’s a customer, and she’s not happy.
The gift basket she ordered for delivery on Friday didn’t arrive. She wants a full and immediate refund and says if you don’t take care of this right away, she’ll call her credit card company and start a chargeback.
You apologize and begin opening your file to see all the order and delivery details. You assure her that you’ll find out what happened to cause the problem and promise to call her back right away. She’s not listening; all she wants is a refund no matter what you learn.
Now your day is disrupted, and if this is your first call from a disgruntled customer, the call actually makes you nervous.
This situation happened to me in the late 1990s, and I can tell you that my heart was racing as I spoke to the customer.
When you own a business and are in charge of every detail, there’s no one to investigate this dilemma except you, and because of that fact you take every problem personally.
What is your first move? Do you have a written plan of action for this situation, such as mailing the client one of the Top 10 Letters, or will you start to document a procedure as you go through this morning’s motions?
I remember how I handled my first dissatisfied customer. What did you do, and if you’ve not yet received this type of call, what will you do when it happens?
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Ironically this just did happen. What I did was send two emails. One to address the situation and that it will be handled. Then I did a partial refind and ended the email with I hope this will bring your experience up to satisfaction. I want my clients to know that I stand by my gurantee.
This was good follow-up, Mireya.
Addressing the issue right away and instituting a partial refund when the problem was on your end will probably be satisfactory for the customer, and with consistent post-sales marketing, he or she will most likely order again.
Several years ago when I was still working full-time and selling my baskets occasionally to co-workers I had a disgruntled customer. She ordered a spa basket for Mother’s Day. Apparently, her mother did not like it. The co-worker returned the “opened” basket to me. I immediately refunded her money. Unfortunately, this person created problems from time to time in the office. In order to avoid her spreading unneccessary negative information, I thought that a complete refund was the best action to take. Needless to say, she never ordered from me again. However, my other coworkers continued to support my business.
Very good move on your part, Consuela.
It’s good to recognize when there’s no point in mediation, as this situation would have escalated for no good reason.
A friend of mine has a local gift basket business. She always sends out a confirmation upon delivery of the gift basket, and checks all confirmations at the end of the day to make sure everyone got one. She knows she can’t control out of town deliveries, though, but she’ll follow up on them bulldog like just the same. Best customer service business person I’ve ever met.
Hi Mitch,
Now that’s a designer after my own heart and one who provides the type of service offered by most, if not all readers visiting this blog (some designers here are very new and haven’t yet put customer service methods to work).
It’s wonderful to read that a person who’s part of this industry is tops in all fields.