IUP Publications Online
 
Recommend    |    Subscriber Services    |    Feedback    |     Subscribe Online
 
Home About IUP Magazines Journals Books Archives
     
 
Effective Executive Magazine:
A Complaint Is a Gift : Recovering Customer Loyalty When Things Go Wrong
 
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It's not easy to listen to complaining customers all day long. The following tirade by a service representative venting on the Internet is not all that different from many we have heard in person. You can hear the conflict this service provider is experiencing about the job, especially when, one has to confront an upset customer.

Customer complaints suck. Customers complain 90% of the time because they have had a bad day and need someone to take it out on. I work for a wireless company and I get so many complaints that it is sickening. …My job is to help the customer but there is a limit that any employee of any company can tolerate. I am sick of customer complaints. No matter how hard I try customers are not satisfied within the limit of what we as employees can do by company policy…but when a customer comes into an establishment with an attitude from the start it is hard to keep a level-headed when they are screaming at you and accusing you of being rude.

Imagine a friend comes to visit on your birthday with a lovely present in hand. The first thing you would say after greeting him or her would, most likely, be an expression of gratitude. "Thank you. Thank you for coming and thank you for the lovely present." Your entire verbal and nonverbal language would signal your pleasure at seeing your friend and receiving the gift.

 
 
 

Effective Executive Magazine, Customer Loyalty, Customer Complaints, Wireless Services, Wireless Companies, Self-Service Technologies, Insurance Agents, Psychological Blocks, Wegmans Food Market, Customer Service, Business Goals, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Social Skills, Emotional Intelligence, Service Management, Diagnostic Tools.