The customer is always right? My ass!

[Alex Warfield]

Whoever came up with that statement must never have had to deal with customers directly. I work at Uhaul in Jacksonville, Florida, and almost every single person that calls there is pissed off when they pick up the phone. I get harrassed daily by folks who whine non-stop about every little thing that has to be done to reserve equipment. I know moving is a stressful event, but come on, people. No one is willing to be put on hold, even for ten seconds. No one is willing to give you their number to be called back in ten minutes. Just today I had a woman tell me "I'll tell you where you can stick it!" There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of behavior. I often have to work the phones by myself, and I am as kind to everyone that calls there as I can be. I do everything in my power to make sure everyone gets exactly what they are looking for, but no one is willing to understand that we run out of in-town trucks sometimes. Luckily, I work for a boss that will not help someone if they get too far out of line. You are allowed to have problems, you can say if you don't like the way something is done, but don't start yelling, or calling myself or one of my co-workers names. There is no excuse for this type of behavior.

I'm done ranting for now, and if the mods see reason to delete this thread, then so be it.

AlexWarfield- Reminding everyone to be polite, and have patience.

 

[Grad]

Welcome to the world of customer service. Might as well deal with it and thank your lucky stars that you aren't a telemarketer.

 

[BigJim]

I'm hearing you on FM dude...............

Hey man, I sympahise with you totally. Guy on the ground like us always get the s**t from the "customers" when the rules and regs are made by someone else who expects us to deal with it.
Of course in my job, I usually have drunken soldiers for "customers," so not only is it depressing, but sometimes physically dangerous too. lol Hey-ho.

 

[primetime]

Alex, i feel you man!!! general society has a LOT of idiots. i too work customer service for a public utility and i work in the "collection" department, which is obviously an "interesting" job. look people, WE KNOW you dont have the money to pay. we know that you lost your job, you have sick handicapped children, we know you have to pay rent and other bills, but dammit, dont get mad when we shut your a$$ off because YOU didnt pay. it is YOUR fault, not OURS. i do not have a problem with past due people. i have a problem with past due people who think that they should have their utility and not have to pay. dammit, when we send you a disconnect letter, READ the notice, then pay the ENTIRE AMOUNT that it asks for by the deadline date. the "check in the mail" crap DOES NOT work. when i am told this, TOO BAD, SO SAD. when we disconnect you, it IS NOT a "slap on the wrist" and to encourage you to pay later. it means PAY NOW. not tomorrow, NOW.

whoever came up with the "customer is always right" is in dire need of customers because we all know customers LIE their asses off. look people, a lot of us are smart and we can see through your lie. whatever you do, DO NOT cuss the person out. why? because we will find any little thing to keep your ass off, PLUS if we ever decided to go crazy, we have your address, ssn#, DL# and other pertinent info to screw you. all i am asking is 1) BE NICE 2)when we say NO, we mean NO. stop asking the dumbest question in the world "is there anyone else that can override your decision?" like we are really going to give you someone to make us look like a fool. 3)UNDERSTAND that companies are out to make money, not give you charity. 4)ALL public utilities have certain guidelines to collect money, WE ARE ALL NOT THE SAME. stop comparing us to other utility companies.

i could go on and on and on, but i had to get that off my chest. treat people with respect. yell if the company messed up, but if it is YOUR fault, be humble and HOPE that you can be helped. that's all for now....peace...

 

[shark]

I also used to work in the service field. Some in the public tend to think of employees like personal sounding boards.At least in my field,
construction,there is a certain gray area for communication.

There might also be options for people who have legitimate problems with money for bills.My utility companies have special funds for such purposes.As for those who just "fall behind",All I can say is ask for terms...most companies just want paid and might settle with you on terms.Then,learn how to budget to avoid this problem in the future.

As far as telemarketers,let's just say that my phone company has a Do Not Disturb service to tell solicitors that their calls won't be accepted,but some still call through anyway to find my answering machine.I'm a lousy bluffer,so one can figure that I'm serious when I say something.While many are just making a living,I personally see the "industry" as a pain in the ass.

Then you have the medical offices.............................

 

[Haltickling]

While I totally sympathize with your anger at idiotic customers, allow me a few remarks, please.

I've worked in different parts of the Travel Industry for 25 years, both with retail and wholesale. And I've actually trained newcomers in dealing with problematic clients. I never taught them that the customer is always right. All I ever taught them was to 'make the customer believe that he's right', then do whatever they have to do.

AVIS rental offices in Germany have a big sign over the counter, with the company's rules for employees dealing with clients. Rule #1 is: 'Nobody has ever won an argument with a customer!' Right, either you lose the argument or the customer...

While I always wore a smile when speaking to a difficult customer, don't ask me what happened sometimes after the idiot had left... It feels so good to vent the anger sometimes!

 

[TicklingDuo]

I totally agree with Alex. Customers should not take out their frustrations on employees. Half the time, that employee has no control over the situation. Case in point...

We reserved a truck from U-Haul when I was moving down here to be with Drew. The morning of the move, we called to see if we could get the truck a little earlier. We were informed that, not only was that not possible, but that there would be no trucks for the next couple of days. They had booked many more trucks heading west than they had heading east. So, half of the east coast was short of trucks. While we weren't thrilled about the situation and thought that they should have had the courtesy to call and inform us of the problem, we didn't jump down their throats. We simply went elsewhere and ended up getting a better truck for less. Go figure!

From the flip side...

We've just purchased some additional computer equipment from a local discount store. While we went in looking for a little help, we weren't expecting people falling all over us or anything. It's a good thing! All three times that we were in the store, we had employees banging into us on their way past to talk to fellow employees...none of them acknowledging that they'd done it much less excusing themselves. When we finally did get someone to acknowledge our presence, they were less than informative and seemed anxious to get away from us. (and we'd even showered and used deodorant! lol)

As a regular customer in many places, I've often been annoyed by lack of professionalism and courtesy. However, the one I choose to jump on when things go wrong is the manager/supervisor. I don't like to jump down the throats of people who have no say in the problem. It's those above them who I take my complaints to.

We just switched over to cable internet. It took them 5 weeks after the installation to get us up and running. During that time, I was on the phone to techs on 8 different occassions and they had 3 techs come to the house. We had also received two bills during that time. Though I was very annoyed by the problem, I was pleasant to all of them. I finally went to the local office, asked for the manager and read him the riot act. We were up and running 2 days later. (Of course, I expected that after giving him a deadline for resolution of the problem before I got on the phone to the AG's office and the local news station.)

Bottom line? Even when we're upset about something, we don't have to be jerks about it. We can accomplish our objective calmly and without killing anyone.

Ann

 

[shark]

I am single,so I don't cook very often.If you want my advice on eating out,Find a favorite place,or places,so you are known.Treat the waitresses and/or bartenders right,and don't forget the tips.I found out that a tip above the customary 15% does wonders for service.If not,go elsewhere.Complaining too much for nothing only pisses everyone off,and who wants to eat with that going on?

 

[primetime]

maybe i should be a little more specific. i actually work for a cell phone company, not a "life necessity" public utility, like water, electricity and gas. so my rants are regarding cell phone users. look people, we all understand bad things happen in life. but if it is YOUR fault, why call in and demand things when it is your damn fault. like i mentioned earlier, if the company did something wrong, i can take that better, although i still dont like the yelling. but hey, if it is OUR fault, you have a right to be mad. but it is the morons who call in a expect the world, when they are the ones who dont pay. there is no company error, they just flat out didnt pay. they actually say things like "you people have the audacity to turn off my phone when i dont make a payment?" yeah, people, that was an actual comment. and it isnt by one person, SEVERAL customers have actually muttered that out of their mouths.

the customer is NOT ALWAYS right. like i said, i could tell many stories of the idiots that call in. it really is a sad, sad society....

 

[Alex Warfield]

Sorry to add more to this ranty thread, but I can't resist.

I answer phones most of the day when I am at work, and virtually every person who calls either talks so low I can't understand them, or they scream loud enough to be heard across the freakin' store! The ones that talk quietly and mumble get very pissed off if they have to spell the name of a street, or whatever. "You don't know how to spell 'Plymouth?'" It's very easy to spell when you can actually make out what is being said, and when it doesn't sound like they live on "Fifmin" Road.

 

[Knightshade]

A note on idiocy...

Here's one... Where I work we have always closed at 5:00 on Fridays, at least since 1998 when I started here. Anyways after work one Friday I'm sitting across the street waiting for my ride, and it's about 10 after 5 if I remember correctly.

A guy pulls up, runs up the steps and pulls on the door to get in. No dice, he pulls on the other door, nothing... he looks in, no lights on. He stands there puzzled, then tries the doors one more time before turning to leave, sees me and says "Are they closed?" Pointing back at the buliding.

"Yup, about 10 minutes ago." Keep in mind that there's a huge clocktower right across the street where I was, and our hours are posted on the door.