What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your job?

[jonezy999]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

Ah yes must not have been as many lawyers bake then.

Rob S

Lawyer by day, baker by night??

[Rob Sandberg]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

Lawyer by day, baker by night??

Sorry my brain didn't do what my fingers told it to do.

Rob S

[Ianizer]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

It's kinda weird that you never hear about customers getting into trouble over the rude and insulting things they say to the copier guy...

Another tech and I were once on a speakerphone conference call with an unhappy customer; just as we were hanging up, we heard the customer mutter "A**holes..." before the line disconnected. Our Service Manager, at the time, called them back and read them the riot act.

There was a guy that pursued our techs into the copy room every visit and proceded to harrass and badger them with unreasonable, unhelpful complaints... The sales rep, who had a relationship with the one who pays the bills, called to discuss the matter...
The mistreatment ceased and I heard later from another end-user that he was reprimanded for abusing vendors. He sheepishly kept his seat and back to us from then on.
I think the poor guy suffered from depression and was acting out.

***

Nothing too dramatic. I was troubleshooting a WC7345... Non-maintenance agreement, hourly paying customer.

Intermittent fault codes with certain, unidentified PCL files... As part of the t'shooting process, and endeavoring to correct the problem, I had reseated several key electrical components and updated to the latest base FW. It didn't fix the problem, but I was, of course, obliged to charge them for my time. I assured them we would continue to research the problem and I'd be in touch very soon.

This was unacceptable.

I was tired, hungry and quite frustrated by this time. Unsmiling, I said, "Well. What do you want me to do? I can downgrade your equipment to the old firmware, refund your money and tell you to have a nice day..."

The customer was speechless, but kind enough to let it slide. We've since rebuilt a good professional relationship.

-I

[RRodgers]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

Does it count if you are dating said customer? LOL Cuz i could tell ya some of the wild convo's we have had.

[Ianizer]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

Does it count if you are dating said customer?...

No.
-I

[pepper38_cnd]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

I guess mine is what is the most Outrageous thing a custommer has said to me.







I told my boss the situation and asked him to call the customer and tell him he could not treat the techs in this manor. What happened with that is he refused and I refused to ever service that customer again.

[Lagonda]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

All: make a note to yourselves to never ever give your cell number to customers

your right, but a good trick is to give them the salesmans own mobile phone number and tell them to call anytime, even afterhours

[kingarthur]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

I had a really stroppy customer once...i was fixing her shredder....she got so annoyed.. she told me i couldn't leave until i fixed it..even if it took all night!!...i said fine....what side of the bed do you want!!..she got quite annoyed until her colleagues started laughing & then she calmed down...we've become good friends...but i never did find out which side of the bed she slept on lol

[prntrfxr]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

The point is be polite, meet confrontation head on, and don’t take shit! Yes they are the customer. But the customer is not always right.

And that is the point. Everyone I've ever known in sales has always insisted that the customer is always right. I've worked all my life in customer service fields and I'll tell you that the customer is not always right, but they are always the customer and should be treated with respect.

I have never resorted to screaming or using bad language. When you do that you lower yourself to their childish level. Remain calm and in control of the conversation. Which means you are not a wimp because you have to be firm. Most clients who behave in a childish way are on a power trip. Turn it around by empowering them. Try not to tell them that you can't do something.

Example:

"I can do A, B, or C. Which would you prefer?" You can elaborate to give them the pros and cons for each, but let them make the decision. If it doesn't work out the way they want, it was THEIR decision, not yours.

If they start with the bad language:

"(sir or ma'am) I can handle the problem with the machine, but not your language. Let's keep this professional, please." If they continue the best thing to do is walk away.

Any manager that won't back you up after you have followed the above steps is not a real manager. Management needs to understand that as a manager your techs may not like everything you do or agree with everything you say, but they should respect you. If you don't back your people when they face confrontations from the clients, you will not have your techs' respect. This can hurt you in the long run. On the other hand, when I was a service manager I NEVER backed techs that resorted to being disrespectful or who used bad language on a client. There was no excuse for that behavior and they knew it. If you can't control your mouth, walk away.

[Ianizer]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

Copy that, prtrfxr. About 100 years ago had a customer lay into me... Closed up my kit, told them we were obviously having a personal conflict, assured them someone would be out to fix there problem as soon as possible, and walked out... Called my boss immediately to advise he might get a call and why. He had my back. I did return at a later date and the customer apologized for being a b**** (her words)... Everybody's entitled to a bad day.-I

[fixthecopier]

Re: What is the most outrageous thing you have ever said to a customer and kept your

When they got the machine, I gave them a good demo, including how to load paper in the universal tray. The first call for " can't find the jam " was the paper loaded incorrectly. I showed them again, and the next call a few weeks later was the same thing.They want another machine now. I laugh and say no. They call back a week later for the same thing. The woman in charge said she wanted a new machine. I replied "Putting a new machine here will not make the people using it any smarter than they already are. " She promptly stood up and walked out, slamming the door behind her. They never called that work order in agai