As much as we wish nothing would ever break or get screwed up, life just doesn’t work that way. Products aren’t made to last forever, people don’t show up when they said they would, and all kinds of things go wrong with service providers all the time.
A glitch in the cable box messed up your dvr recording, the flight you paid too much for is delayed and oversold, the waitress completely forgot your order, your dry cleaning is missing when you go to pick it up, your hosting company had a server outage again, etc., etc. It can be a nightmare sometimes trying to handle bad customer service.
Silent And Clueless Customers
Some people never bother to put up a fight when they have a bad customer service experience. And others don’t even realize what’s going on. Don’t get stuck in this group. There are too many businesses competing for your business these days for you to tolerate bad service. I used to be a silent customer, figuring it was a waste of my time to file a complaint, until I got wise and had enough.
Businesses love silent and clueless customers because they are nice and never put up a fuss. These easygoing folks keep paying their bills without question because they can’t be bothered to ask for a refund or a lower rate. It’s the perfect way for your cable and phone company to rip you off. Take 5 minutes to call in and ask them for a better deal, don’t let them get away with overcharging you or missing their service window!
Screaming And Making Threats
We’ve all seen someone lose their cool before when things didn’t go their way. It’s pretty embarrassing to watch and perhaps it’s happened to you before. Trying to handle bad customer service can create a lot of stress and some people only know how to handle stress by getting angry and yelling. My dad can be this way and it is mortifying. It’s one of his characteristics that I want nothing to do with and I avoid making a scene at all costs.
However, from what I’ve witnessed, it seems that the screamers tend to get their way the most, especially when on site, because the person they’re addressing wants to shut them up as quickly as possible. I’ve never started yelling at someone or made threats myself, but I’d imagine my blood pressure would rise and I’d probably get filled with anger in order to be convincing. That’s just not my style, and I don’t think it ever will be.
Methods For Handling Bad Customer Service
Although I haven’t gotten everything I’ve wanted when I’ve had to handle these kinds of situations before, here are some helpful tips I’ve learned.
- Start with kindness and empathy – A little kindness can go a long way and sometimes just a smile and asking nicely will get you what you seek. From my own experience, women tend to be more receptive to kindness and empathy when confronted and it’s helped me get fees removed from my accounts, free meals when my flights have been delayed, and better replacement routes when my flights have been cancelled. Men on the other hand I feel are more receptive when I’ve been straight to the point when addressing them and skip the rambling on and on about grievances.
- Know who you’re dealing with – the first person you speak with may not have the authority to put a credit on your account or send you a replacement part. Always ask to speak with a manager if your first attempt doesn’t work.
- Come prepared – before you call in or walk up to the counter, have the date(s) of the incidents, order numbers, product IDs, receipts, account numbers, and payment info handy and ready to present.
- Use an authoritative voice – speak with confidence when building your case and lower the register of your voice if you can. Deeper voices tend to carry more weight on the ear whereas mousy voices (like it or not) can come across as weak and unconvincing.
- Be assertive, not violent – don’t put yourself in a worse position by throwing things or threatening to set the building on fire if you don’t get your money back. Most businesses are willing to come to a resolution with you if you state your case well and stay firm.
- Take your business elsewhere – don’t put up with crappy service, especially if it becomes a frequent problem. There are plenty of competitors out there and lots of accessible online reviews for you to research a new company before making a switch. Just remember that no business is perfect!
Readers, what has been your most effective method for handling bad customer service? Are you the type that sits back and shrugs, the kind who starts yelling and waving your arms wildly to get attention, or somewhere in between? Any of you been on the receiving end of customers filing complaints?
Photo: Fish Chaos by Sam.
Good advice. I never thought about the deepness of my voice before, but I bet you’re right. The deeper the voice, the more authoritative that person sounds. Thanks!
Often times if we’re nervous, the pitch of our voices rise! It’s more noticeable on people who have naturally higher voices too. It helps to pay attention to how we sound when we have to call customer service on the phone because all they hear on the other end is our voice!
I’ve found that when I speak with absolute focus to the person on the phone that I get what I’m after. I consider it my ‘force of will’ voice, because there is nothing which will act like a substitute. There’s a difference, though, between ‘someone messed up’ and systemic customer failings. The determination to see whether they stay is placed on how well they recover from the istuation.
Yes, being focused and getting straight to what you’re after really helps! I like how you describe your absolute focus as your “force of will” voice. :)
Along the lines of being kind, stroking the reps ego can go a long way in getting what you want. Saying things like “I’m sure you’ll be able to help me” and “I’m so glad I reached you instead of the person I talked to last time” will make the rep feel good about themselves. This will make them more willing to help you.
Yes! Those are great phrases to use. Building up their confidence instead of shooting them down makes them more motivated to help out. No one wants to be put down or treated mean. I like your positive approach!
I have found that I get much further if I start our kind but firm (I repeat what my issue is over and over and over). I had an exception recently. A company had made a few unauthorized charges on our credit card. When I called to get them taken off I got no where. I stopped being nice and just kept repeating, ‘I did not authorize these charges, take them off!’. I did this for like 10 minutes! When the call ended the rep had given me 1/2 the credit. I told her I was calling my credit card immediately to dispute the charges. Two hours later the reps supervisor called me and said she heard my complaint had not been resolved. Again I repeated my mantra and got my money back. It was totally bizarre!
I’ve used repetition before too and it’s a good tactic. Sometimes it doesn’t work on the first try but following up can do the trick. I’m glad you got those charges dropped! That’s the worst. I had a company double charge me for tickets once and it took a few phone calls but I finally got the dupe removed.
love this post Sydney. i think we all have exp customer no service. your suggestions are right on. being firm, presenting facts and speaking to who counts is key. there have been times when this just doesn’t work, but there are options. this is exactly what gave birth to my sue the airline website. i sued several airlines multiple times over in small claims court and kept getting multi-thousand dollar settlements + airline vouchers up to $1,000 in some cases. i decided to transform my experiences to a niche website. too many people shrug and sit back for various reasons, but they should know that there are options if they can and are willing to pursue.
Thanks Sunil! That’s cool about your airline site and your success getting vouchers and settlements, now that’s determination! Taking action and being patient can make all the difference.
I reserve my explosive yelling for the most egregious examples of bad service. Case in point, my (now) wife had brought her car to a Midas to get an oil change. It started smoking on the way back. Checking the oil, I realized it was overfilled – most likely diagnosis? They never drained the old oil.
The yelling started after she called back and they tried to blame it on her, haha. Big mistake.
Oh man what a nightmare. I’d be so annoyed and freaked out (at the smoking) if that happened to me. I can’t believe they tried to blame it on her. That’s ridiculous. I would have started yelling at that point too!
One of the best ways to get what you want is to keep a level head, and understand that most customer service people do not have absolute authority. Getting all angry and raising your voice won’t make them want to help you any more or faster than the last person. If you can’t get it from the original rep, just ask for a supervisor who has more power and generally a better understanding of procedures.
Plus it’s just wrong to take your frustrations out on someone who most like had no part of your situation. Making it personal towards them just shows your own ignorance and kind of a lack of decorum.
Yep, that’s why I like to ask for a supervisor when I call customer service for the phone/cable company etc where the reps who answer the phones usually can’t take charges off without a higher-up’s approval.
I once had a bad experience at USPS. I came out, called up USPS customer service and made a complaint. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they handled the call. They even gave me a tracking number if I wanted to follow up!
That’s great it worked out well for you. It’s always nice getting surprised on the upside. Mistakes happen all the time that’s why having a responsive, helpful, and nice customer service team can really boost a company’s rep. So far I’ve had excellent support on every occasion I’ve gone to the Apple store when stuff has gone wrong with my devices and it has made me a loyal customer.
I’m always super sweet with customer service ppl. I’ve worked in customer service and I was always nicer to the ones who were polite than the ones who bitched at me when it wasn’t something that was my fault.
So true. A lot of the times the person we first get on the phone or in person had no involvement with the goof up so attacking them doesn’t give them much incentive to help. That’s why it also helps to have as much info as possible on the incident, esp. on the person who messed things up in the first place.
I gotta say, I get annoyed as hell when people start yelling into the mouth piece! It’s like an ignorant person speaking louder to someone who doesn’t speak their language. Come on now!
I always try and ask the customer service rep how their day is going, and whether they have a survey for me to fill out at the beginning of the conversation. A little recommendation goes a long way!
I’ve had people call me before and just start screaming right off the bat. In those cases all I want to do is hang up on them! But I usually just let them rant, take down their info and tell them I’ll call back if it’s something I’m willing to actually help them with. By the time I call back they’ve usually calmed down and are a lot easier to deal with.
Good tip on asking about a survey. Offering to call their manager and give a good recommendation for their efforts usually has really positive results too!
I always try to keep my cool with the service rep – it’s not their fault, they are just the messenger. Sometimes I do let them know when I think something they are doing is crap though.
Yeah we shouldn’t be afraid or hesitate to speak up when something the company or rep is doing to us is bad. If I’m getting nowhere with the person I’m speaking with, sometimes I just end the call and then dial right back and try with a different person! Some reps are a lot easier to work with and more willing to help than others.
I’ve just recently started watching the show Hardcore Pawn, and losing one’s cool seems to be the preferred method of airing grievances on that show. However, given that the people in the shop like to yell just as much, screaming doesn’t seem to help very much. However, I can see how if one were dealing with a different personality type (e.g., a meeker person), yelling might be advantageous.
I’ve never watched that show before but I can imagine the people running a pawn shop have to deal with a lot of rough and fussy types so I can believe they like to yell a lot themselves! I don’t think I’ve ever had a customer service person person start yelling at me before so it’d be quite a shock to get that type of reaction from someone.
Great article! I tend to get impatient with a bad customer service but because I know how I might sound from a side, I try to restrain myself. I never yelled at anyone or threatened. But I did say mean things and regretted it later. Think before you act, people! :-)
Yep, calling or speaking with someone when we’re in a rage generally doesn’t end well or at least gets us unnecessary stress and higher blood pressure! Taking a few minutes to calm down and think through our approach before just blurting things out is smart.
I had to call ATT customer service because they had charged me twice for the upgrade fee when I got iPhone 4s for my wife. They charged me $18 back in September billing cycle when we bought the phone. Then they charged me another $18 this past billing cycle. I called to tell them but she was adamant that they only charged me once. I told her I have proof and she was flat out “NO!” I’ve never experienced such bad service. She eventually gave me and finally looked at the previous bill to confirm that they had charged me twice and she promptly gave me a credit for it. I think if I didn’t call prepared with the previous bill in my hands, I would’ve just hung up thinking she was correct.
oh man, I can’t believe she said “NO” like that. I had horrible experiences with ATT when I switched off of them over to Comcast. It literally took me 3 months of calling them because they totally screwed up my last bill. Finally I got all the charges dropped but it left me with bruises from pounding my head against the wall a dozen times. Nice job getting that extra charge taken off!
Hey Sydney, Great advice. And to your point about talking to a manager if the first person can’t help….I’ve also had good success simply waiting a few minutes and calling in and talking to a different agent. Training varyies between agents and are more willing to help fix problems than others. Definitely being friendly, polite, and assertive is the way to go though!
Thanks! Yeah it’s amazing how you can get a totally different response sometimes depending on who you speak with. I call back a lot and talk to a different person when I have health insurance questions especially if the rep I speak with first doesn’t sound confident they know what they’re talking about.
Great reminders for this time of year. I’m currently dealing with that with Wells Fargo. I’ve tried, spoken to 4 people, now I’m just going to post about how I’m moving my business elsewhere, and let others know my story. The post will be up next week!
I think businesses should remember, you never know what you get when you upset a customer – did you see the FedEx Delivery video posted yesterday? Stuff goes viral all the time, and it can really be bad press if a company is not careful.
Yeah I can’t believe how careless and inconsiderate that delivery guy was. I’m glad FedEx sorted things out quickly for the customer. Sorry to hear about your banking situation. It’s so frustrating when things don’t get sorted out even after talking to multiple people. Best of luck!
I knew there was something to being nice to people! Kindness and empathy will give you the opportunity to get so much farther then just loosing your cool. In one of the econ classes I teach we go over incentives and decision making (Nash equilibrium) and i’m always surprised by how many people just skip right to the sense of entitlement without weighing the circumstances of the situation first. Very appropriate post for this time of year :)
Thanks Nunzio! Too many people are impatient these days. Evaluating the situation and looking at both perspectives helps take the rage away when things don’t go as expected and makes it easier to approach the business/customer service team in a polite yet firm way.
I haven’t had any major issues requiring customer service intervention, but the minor issues I’ve had have always been settled pretty easily. Amazon has great customer service, and has sent me replacement products for delivery mishaps. I hate UPS, on the other hand, as they’ve had issues delivering to me in multiple apartment complexes, and their customer service and delivery people have acted very shadily when trying to sort through the issues.
Amazon has been very good to me too. Sorry to hear you’ve had difficulty with UPS. I know it can be tough getting deliveries at apartment buildings that don’t have a doorman. I always try to get a tracking number these days when I order things to keep track and reference if there are any issues.
I have been at both ends. Early in my career, I was a accounting supervisor and occasionally a vice president would call about some mistake. I learned if I stayed calm I could control the call. When a customer is yelling, they are out of control and many times irrational. The customer that stays focused on the issues and maintains control will win every time. I am pretty good at getting what I want! I stay at it until I a successful.
I’ve been on both ends too and getting yelled at is the worst, especially when it’s due to someone else’s mistake. Focus and control are definitely the right ingredients! Sounds like you are a pro KC!
Great tips! I also try to keep calm and have been very successful by being persistent and firm. I agree that yelling pretty much gets you no where….
Nice Dana! It feels so good when persistence pays off.
What a timely post, during the holiday shopping season. I’ve heard that if you stand while you’re talking on the phone, your voice will automatically sound more authoritative! Thanks for this.
Oo that’s a good one! I hadn’t heard that one before yet I can imagine that it could be quite helpful. I’ll give it a go next time I have an issue to resolve, thanks!
Good tips on how to handle those situations. Unfortunatelly I used to fall into the silent customer category for a long time. I have become more vocal recently but it still takes a lot for me to tell someone how they screwed up. I like the suggestions you had on how to handle it
It was hard for me when I started handling things on my own and still is from time to time. It gets much easier with practice, keep it up and soon you’ll be a pro!
Having worked in customer service, I can tell that “silent and clueless” customers are not taken for granted- atleast not where I worked. You would be surprised at the amount of member perks or incentives were given out to clients who paid their bill on time.
You know that saying “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar”, that is especially true when dealing with customer services reps. I, personally, would go above and beyond for deserving clients even if that meant bending the rules a bit, but I would stick by the rules book for clients who decided that using an “authoritative tone” was going to get them somewhere. I think people forget that it is a person that you are dealing with and a little respect goes a long way.
Having a good track record as a customer and then getting perks is one of the best feelings. It may not seem like much but a $25 credit on a bill can go a long way especially when it’s an unexpected surprise.
Great advice Sydney. I always try to remember the customer service rep. is not the person that created the problem, they are trying to help me fix the problem, well most of the time. Be reasonable, treat them with respect and they will do their best to resolve the issue. For major purchases I always check out the customer service and if it has a really bad reputation I usually go with a different brand.
Me too. I try not to buy anything now without checking reviews first, especially if I’m buying something online where it’s usually much more of a hassle to deal with returns and refunds.
I haven’t had bad customer service in awhile. Perhaps cutting back on purchases lessens my exposure.
I usually say to bad customer service that I am blonde and need a little more time to process the info. It gets a laugh and helps me reach my goals.
Threatening to set the building on fire… haha! Talking to the manager can help out, but worst case, take your business elsewhere.
I was pretty unhappy when a local computer store tried to shaft me out of $200 after I returned a motherboard; their excuse was that a pin was bent. Be that the case, it turns out that the box was missing parts and they had sold me a return. I refused to leave the premises and I stated clearly that I was not happy, and that regardless if they didn’t want to accept the board back, I wanted the parts I had paid for. My blood was boiling when the guy was looking at me in the face and basically said “sucks for you”, but I held firm.
In the end a manager came and they gave me another board that they “confirmed” was new. I was happy that they did that, but I also learned my lesson and will refrain from shopping there in the future (I should have learned the lesson before as this is actually not the first time something like this has happened with them). They did prevent me from going viral since they did make it right in the end.
[…] much as we wish our clients and customers knew the right way to get better customer service, there will always be those who will be angry and irrational. Our mission, should we choose to […]
[…] their faults or agree with me or not, but I think my reasoning makes sense. In my own experience, being nice is the best way to get good customer service after all. But obviously they don’t think so. Sigh. Why can’t we all just get […]