The customer is always right? I don't think so!

[Jack T. Chance]

The Golden Rule of Customer Service

I can't stand the way customers abuse that "the customer is always right" philosophy! Every one of these idiot managers needs to be flogged to within an inch of their life, and then retrained! They need to be taught the TRUE Golden Rule of Customer Service:

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE!

These companies need to make THAT their customer service philosophy, post it prominently in their stores, as in plastered ALL OVER THE STORE, and most importantly, they need to EXERCISE THAT RIGHT! Managers in some of these companies need to be made to refuse service to a bad customer at least once or twice a day, so they can get accustomed to it. That would solve a lot of the problems caused by bad customers! It's amazing what a good manager that actually has a big brass pair can do for a company! By refusing to play the customer's games, he can protect the company's bottom line and make his store more profitable!

[greensinestro]

Uh oh! I see I've created a monster here. LOL. I'm so glad other people out there feel the same way I do. This is the 21st century and much has changed in the customer service industry, mainly with customers.

I failed to mention at one time, some of the local Publix stores had signs that said "Century Village residents are not welcome here." This is a small retirement community for 55 and over, and many of them would do nothing except come in on the bus and cause trouble. In 1971, my father was in a Publix and a busload of thirty or more came in. Each and every one of these people took a shopping cart, filled it up overflowing with groceries, then demanded a senior citizen discount. When the manager politely refused to do it, they all got back on the bus and went home. Imagine one cartload of groceries to put back, but thirty is a hellish amount of go-backs.

Later on, I heard this stuff went on quite often at Publix and other grocery stores. Publix had the worst attendance record of these people and decided to put those signs up in their windows. Of course, after a lawsuit, they were forced to take them down, stating discrimination. Well, to me and others alike, it is not discrimination. If you have people like this not buying anything but coming to cause trouble, thereby giving managers and other employees unnecessary work to do other than service the loyal customers, then something like this should be done. A message should be put out to troublemaking customers that their kind is not welcome in a business. Take it elsewhere.

Call is discrimination if you want. To me, I call is protection. Protection for the loyal customers and the business end. We should not have to deal with or tolerate nasty, ugly, rude, and troublemaking behavior from assholish and shitty customers like this.

[danegrous_21]

these stories are completely unbelieveable, i cant believe the managers just gave in. like somebody said earlier, this just encourages them, i should shop there and get that phone company. seems like i dont have to pay a thing, just complain about how inept your people are and get my way. wow, the confirms my loss of faith in humanity.

[AFpheonix]

The customer is occasionally right, but needs to stay reasonable.

Good lord, there's some managers out there that need to be roped down and made to repeat, "No soup for you!" for 3 day straight.

[Lehk]

"the customer is RARELY right.... and usually stupid"

[Becks]

As seen in a Ziggy cartoon: The customer THINKS they're right.

[ArenaBoy]

And good employees being blamed for it? That's another injustice.

Dammit! I hate it when customers get away with it!!!

The world of Customer Service is infested with idiots. I actually got yelled at for doing the proper thing with a customer who whined about their parking. I do what I'm supposed to do and I get yelled at. For gord's sake, if you don't like that way, do it yourself.

[wagegoth]

All the posts about the management behavior and entitlement SCs behavior at Publix have made me determined to never shop there.

[Getoutofmylobby]

Good example: I was at the local Publix the other day, and this lady was holding up the line because her Nestle coupon was not acceptable to get her a discount on Haagen Daas ice cream. The two companies are not related, yet she insisted and quoted “The customer is always right”. Lo and behold, the managers let her have it! When I questioned them on this, they stated that she did this every week, and this was the best was to get rid of her and get the lines moving again.

***
But, after that, my supervisor apologized for my behavior on the phone, assuring him I would be dealt with accordingly! Also, she agree to turn on his phone, not require him to make a payment, plus waived the reconnect fee normally billed for non paying customers. Meanwhile, this man’s phone history spoke for itself. Every month, he would call in after the phone was shut off, and the moment a courteous person would talk to him, he would purposely become hostile, would not allow the rep to transfer him to collections, and would do the same thing about how rude the rep was to him. In nearly five of these calls, supervisors all sided with this customer, and all of them agreed to provide outlandish things, like two months of free phone service, and no reconnect fee be billed.

***
“The customer is always right” should be thrown out the window. It’s costing companies revenue, plus employees careers are being raked over the coals because of it.

This makes my head explode. People who make mistakes and deal with them honorably and politely get punished while assholes like "Valerie" and the Past-Due Dude get rewarded. All because they have bigger mouths and bigger egos than most people.

And on top of that, now they're encouraged to try the same tactics wherever they go. They think they're paying too much for a hotel room, bitch about it! French fries a little on the cold side, bitch about it! And i'm certain they're telling their friends and family about how they "told off" the pissant employee and "intimidated" the manager into getting them what they want.

And good employees being blamed for it? That's another injustice.

Dammit! I hate it when customers get away with it!!!

[Lace Neil Singer]

Or it should be changed to "The customer is wrong... until proven right." Cuz most people who are right, don't ever use that phrase. In my experience it's the freebees, the psychos, and the bullsh**ers who use that phrase.

[karma_gypsy]

Ouch, those were some painful stories to read . . . My condolences with having to deal with those SCs, greensinestro. Those SCs need to get over themselves and realize that they're other people in the world other than themselves. Trying to get people fired over a phone call . . . how asinine is that?

And the phone bill? Wow, I didn't think a person could get away with stuff like that . . . That's not fair to the rest of us who do pay our bills . . .

I, too, think that phrase should be banned . . . it's no way to run a business. Or used only when the customer truly is right . . .

[Worker-Intellectual]

"The customer is always right" is the first rule of the Complete F***ing Moron School of Business. Incidentally, over 70% of managers in the retail industry have degrees from this institution.

[tintaglia]

Ooooo short story, if I may
Guy came in asking about gravel for the bottom of his fish tank.
Dead easy, I showed him where the selection was. He wants one out the window display (and my heart sinks, cos it's a nightmare to get in and out of) however, I ask him which bag he wants.
Very happy man takes me outside to point out the gravel he wants.
There are some of these on the shelf in store (ah relief, I won't have to risk life and limb after all!)
I tell him we have more of that type, and we go inside for me to prove it.
He stops being happy
The stones are a different size (its a bag of gravel, I'm sure no 2 bags have exactly the same size stones in them)
I tell him it's the same type, from the same company, and are the same as the bag in the window
'If they are the same, then you can just get me the bag from the window'
'Theres 12 bags of the same type on the shelf' (it was busy, and would have taken too long to dismantle the window enough for me to get in, and to dangerous for me to climb in, esp when there was 12 bags of the same product easy to get to)
He goes on a bit about if it's just the same, I can give him the window display ones, and the stones on the shelf are a different
size until he roars at me
'So much for the customer always being RIGHT!' and glares at me.
Not my finest moment, but I tell him 'But your not right, youre talking mince'
he left, and my deputy rolled her eyes

[rvdammit]

I am your customer. I have a cartload of stuff. You will sell it to me for a penny. The customer is always right.

[Tito]

Sadly, as long as there are spineless managers who'll cave to customers no matter what, there will be customers with this type of attitude.