How to handle a very rude customer! Need a rational talking to...
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Anonymous
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Grade A bitch. Seriously. I'm very upset and, before acting, would like to know what I should do because I'm not thinking rationally right now.
Have a service industry business. We sometimes offer discounts via Living Social. Customer bought one. The wrong one, I might add. Our business allows you to book an appointment but explain that another date will be offered if a conflict. That is what happened here...mainly as a result of her booking the wrong type of deal. Called customer to straighten things out since she appeared unnecessarily confused. She was VERY rude. Cursing, condescending tone, would not allow me to speak. When attempting to answer her questions, she stated that I was being defensive. I twice let her know that, based on the conversation, it would be best if I contacted Living Social to refund her for the deal. She refused and wanted a service date. I gave her one and he call ended. As I sit here PISSED at how she spoke to me, I'm tempted to cancel outright and let her handle the refund with Living Social. In the business we're in, it's tough enough getting respect. It's even worse when a customer acts like an uppity bitch (she managed to work into the conversation that she had an MBA). My only hesitancy is Yelp. Folks feel free to act like total jerks and, when you refuse to work with them, they complain on Yelp. Debating if I should risk the wrath of Yelp or buck up and provide the service. |
Anonymous
| Buck up and do your job. |
Anonymous
| I hate to say it, because she sounds AWFUL, but you should provide the service. You have to be the professional. As painful as it might be inside, you should do your best to make her happy, because it is the professional thing to do. And...a woman like that will definitely shout it to the rooftops if she is unhappy. |
Anonymous
| Well, she could trash you on Yekp even if you work with her. Something to consider. |
Anonymous
| ^^ Yelp |
Anonymous
| Customer is always right. If this gets under your skin, you aren't cut out for what you are doing. Sorry - probably not the answer you wanted. |
Anonymous
| What's the business name? Want to know to avoid you! You shouldn't post a date if you are not going to stick to it. |
Anonymous
| I would refuse to provide her service. She will rate you poorly regardless. You can respond to Yelp review and simply clarify it as a date that conflicted with prior appointment and leave the other readers to assume this women is the jerk. There is no reason to subject yourself to someone rude if you have control over who you take on as clients. |
Anonymous
OP here. THAT is my main issue. She received a superb offer and we lose money on the deal. I only offer this specific voucher for repeat clients and it's clear that she won't be one, nor do I want her as one. So, I either refuse to service her and risk the feedback or we service her, lose money on the deal and she STILL trashes us. |
Anonymous
Dates are requests not confirmations. That is indicated on the website. New dates are within a day or two of original requests. Moving dates is rare and only happens when a customer fails to notice a restriction (service area, type of homes served, etc). Changing her date was a result of her error. |
Anonymous
If the "service" she gets is great, she may well come back and she may well recommend it to all her bony friends. So let it go, get on with the job and hope for the best. I wouldn't worry about Yelp at all. Full of freaks. |
Anonymous
I agree - and you'd save yourself the loss. As a big consumer of services, I know that you can't please everyone and there's always going to be one or two assholes. |
Anonymous
Business owner here. I have never done living social but face crazies all the time  I am PARANOID about bad Yelp reviews. I would probably accommodate the heck out of her at this point just to make her go away. Go above and beyond. Someone like this WILL write an awful help review. Ugh self employment is really frustrating sometimes!!!
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Anonymous
Wrong, and I suspect you have never worked in the service industry. |
Anonymous
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I have two service and support jobs. My primary day job and a second job that I work part-time.
I know that there are plenty of a$$holes out there, but you need to be professional about it regardless of how you get treated. In this situation, you don't point out that the customer made and error, you just say something like "I'm sorry, but the service you want, Service A, is only available on Fridays and Service B is only available on Wednesdays. Would you like an appointment this Friday for Service A? I'm sorry that this is not what you wanted, but this is all that we have to offer. If you cannot make Friday, we also offer Service A on Mondays, would you like 8:00 next Monday instead?" When she gets obnoxious and rude, you respond "I'm sorry that you had difficulty with our web-site, I'll take that under advisement for the next time I review the web-site with my designer." In this case, you've managed to survive the customer call from h*ll and you have a scheduled service date. Be the bigger person and let it go and provide the service. In the future, if you really want to avoid working with this, make it inconvenient for her to schedule "I'm sorry, but we have no openings in the next six weeks for Service A. If you would like to schedule six weeks from now, I'd be happy to give you an appointment then." As someone else pointed out, when you are in customer service, the customer is always right. You did the only thing you could, which was suggest that you refund the money for the deal. But, once she declines, you just have to bite your tongue and schedule and put up with the shrew. |