Unreasonable Customers Drain Your Company
Dec 19th, 2006 by Jeremy
I won’t write a long tirade on this one, at least for now, but I read this blog post today and thought I would share it over here as well. If you have ever dealt with customer service for a company, you know exactly who the vocal minority are I mentioned in a previous rant. They are the ones that make your life miserable, usually because a) they can, b) because they are mad at the world and know they can take it out on you, and c) they likely want something for free when it really shouldn’t be. Homestead.com’s CEO has good advice, fire ‘em. That’s right, get rid of those customers that are a drain on your company, allowing you to do more with those that both appreciate what you do, and are likely more profitable in the end.
Homestead.com is an outfit that provides hosting and web site creation tools. They have been around while, and years ago I remember trying out their free version. I haven’t done anything with them since, so I can’t comment on their specific situation. What is commented here generally though I have to agree is good advice for any service oriented company, particularly in the tech world.
From what I have read, this is quickly becoming a hot topic to discuss, with strong messages on both sides of the argument. I can understand this to be seemingly idiotic and business suicide from a customer perspective. This policy can also be abused by always thinking the company is right - there has to be some balance. Be willing to be wrong, but also be willing to act when someone else is wrong. We have all grown up hearing that the philosophy “the customer is always right” is the key to a successful business, but in today’s world I can’t always side with that. There are a lot of demanding, unrealistic customers that are simply trying to get ahead at your expense. If they can get it cheap, free, or otherwise come out ahead, it doesn’t matter what they have to say or do to get there. That includes lying, cheating and acting like you have somehow committed an atrocity at their expense.
What makes this worse is the number of fraudsters out there using tactics against customer service departments, knowingly working the system simply to get something for free. Chargeback routines, threatening BBB and attorney general reports, and claiming shipped orders never arrived are just a few of the common practices people will use. This has grown to a level that even people you would never call an outright thief will do it, justifying that these online companies can afford it, so it is somehow ok to do.
On a level less thieving is the tech company’s worst nightmare - the bargain minded business enlisting their services. Small web development firms deal with type constantly. I spent years acquiring customers for my outfit I ran with some partners and great friends. We worked very hard to keep ourselves in business, and I am afraid often because we were willing to take on almost any contract, no matter the amount of work we had to agree to at any rate, just so as we had work and income coming in. I was likely the worst at this admittedly. We had a good business, though, and we enjoyed ourselves. Eventually I left this company to pursue some other opportunities, which was a catalyst for some necessary changes in the company. Along the way, they changed their policy to “let go” the noisy, demanding and otherwise unprofitable customers and to better organize their bidding and billing procedures. Sure, they had some unhappy customers that went away, and some that stayed but complained about the apparent price increase; but in the end they are more profitable and living more sane lives as a result.
We can’t please everyone, especially those that can never be pleased. As a business, shoot for pleasing 90% of your customers, and in the end you will be more successful. You will spend your time building and offering services or products that make the bulk of your customers happy, and you won’t be wasting time with the vocal minority that drain your resources trying meet their demands. This is a valuable lesson for any entrepreneur to learn, hopefully sooner than later in their business growth. Some sage advice, from a big time CEO (Homestead) as well as a small time guy like me.
Ahh yes the joys of customer service! I have to say I have had my annual bellyfull of rude & unreasonable customers especially in the last couple of weeks. What ever happened to Christmas Cheer??
Suddenly the need for a new pie maker has become a matter of life & death & they need to talk to a salesperson NOW…no they cant possibly wait while he finishes with the customer he has….he should be interrupted for them NOW !
Last weekend I had a rather obnoxious lady call asking for the computer department. I told her, as is the norm, that I would page that department. Bear in mind this is one week before Christmas & we’re ever so slightly more busy than normal. So…I put her on hold & page the department…within 30 seconds she hangs up & calls again. Once more I page the department…once more she hangs up..and then calls again….Same scenario a 3rd time……she starts to get crappy…I explain we are busy…but there is a saleperson just a few feet away & he will take her call in just a second….she goes back on hold,., & the sales guy goes to the phone to take the call. She has hung up once more. Bear in mind she has waited on hold for less than 1 minute per episode. She calls once more. This time I get a mouthfull from her about how all I have done is put her on hold & ignore her. I explained that in fact her call HAD been taken but SHE hadnt waited long enuff to find out. At which point the dooley hits the fan. SHE accuses ME of having a bad attitude. I apologise if she feels that way but insist there was no attitude. She starts to babble that all she wants is her laptop fixed. So I ask how old. 3 months. Ok Ma’m u need to call the manufacturer & have them repair it under warranty.
Customer : So who do I call?
Me: who is the manufacturer?
customer: TOshiba
Me,. then u need to call Toshiba.
Customer: SO WHATS THEIR NUMBER??
Me : I dont have that number to hand madam..perhaps I could find that out for u & call u back ?
Customer: UGH! I just want the number!
Me: do u want to give me your name & number so I can call u back or do u wish to wait?
Customer : Wait.
Me: Ok I will have to put u on hold is that ok Madam?
Customer: ( uses f word)
Me: Pardon madam????????
Customer: Just go get it now!
breathing slow & deep I trot off in search of the number as fast as possible…ignoring all other customers pleas for assistance. Having had to go onto the internet to find it I return triumphant….only to find her GONE again…but not gone far…she HUNG up & REDIALLED & complained to the manager about MY rudeness!!
Did it end here? NO… Thursday night…she calls again..
Customer: Help Number for toshiba laptops
Me: Ok I’ll look that up for u…I may be a few moments hold the line please…
CUSTOMER HANGS UP!
And a Merry Christmas to you too!
Thank you for writing this great article. Bravo! FINALLY! Someone who gets it! I am so tired of seeing all these articles on how to try to “fix it” with some of these extremely unreasonable and difficult customers! I mean, we make bras and some of them come back after 2 years and they want to exchange it for a new one! How can you possibly work with a customer that simply wants items for free? That’s why this article was so great! Thankfully these bad customers are less than 10% (at least for us) so it’s nice to read an article from an author who knows what actually works in the real world and why these such customers should be fired and why companies should stand up to customers like these.