Dealing with angry customers

An incident happened in a doughnut shop.

“Look at this mess!” roared an angry customer at a local cafe, pointing to his squashed doughnut.

“It’s just as you ordered it, sir,” the waitress replied meekly.

“What do you mean?” barked the customer.

“You told me to bring you coffee and a doughnut and step on it.”

No wonder the customer is angry.

Meanwhile, a tired, frustrated hard worker says: I work in customer service, “because I’m good at apologizing for things that aren’t my fault.”

Have you ever met an angry customer? Better still, have you ever been an angry customer yourself?

After waiting almost a year for this credit card company to make good on its promise to communicate with me and fix my request to reverse an annual fee, nothing happened. So, while waiting, I shifted to using my other cards. The monthly billings went down to nearly zero. And then, the same card company slapped me again with another five thousand pesos “membership” fee for the new year. And I still get offers from them to sign up on their new cards with the promise that if I did so, there would be no “annual fees” charged – “Forever!” Ugh, infuriating!

I called them again, and after about 20 minutes on the line waiting for a member of the human species to answer my call, a miracle happened! I talked to a person!

The lady on the other end was kind, her voice soothing and calm. She checked the records of my past transactions and conversations, acknowledged that multiple requests of the same concern occurred, and apologized for not resolving it.

I fought the urge to be angry but reasoned that it was not this person’s fault I was inconvenienced. She is doing her best to serve and perhaps preparing to withstand the onslaught of my rant, verbal abuse, and tirade against her.

She patiently listened to my story, apologized constantly, put me on hold for a few more minutes, and came back and said, “Sir, we have reversed the charges, and if you have your mobile device, you can immediately see that it has been done. I will also send you an SMS to confirm this reversal, and I apologize for the inconvenience caused you.”

I pushed it further, knowing that my subsequent request would not be possible, but hey, no harm in trying, right? “Can you reverse the “fees” you slapped on me last year? This time, she was ready. And she said, “Sir, I already checked, but I sincerely apologize that I will not be able to...” Even without her finishing the sentence, I said, “That’s all right, I understand, but let me say that you are the first person who took action on my request. Where have you been all my life? I should have met you earlier, and things would have been better. Just like a line from a K-drama?” I heard a stifled laugh; she quickly regained her composure, returned to the business, and said, “Sir, thank you. I have forwarded the SMS indicating the reversal of the charges. Will that be all, sir, or is there anything else I can do for you?” This lady should be rewarded because I was moments away from canceling my card and moving the business elsewhere, but she saved it.

Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in handling customers effectively.

Summarizing the experience, we can see different principles at play here:

1. Transparency

This is the foundation of trust and credibility in any customer interaction. When faced with difficult questions or challenging situations, being honest and direct with customers is essential. Avoiding their inquiries or providing evasive answers will only aggravate their frustration.

2. Empathy

In customer service, empathizing with customers’ emotions is vital for building rapport and resolving issues effectively. While customers may have specific problems, their emotions often drive their reactions. Therefore, it is essential to focus on relating to their feelings rather than the technical aspects of the problem.

3. Address specific concerns

Customer service representatives should tailor their responses accordingly. Customers can sense that someone is reading off a script, which infuriates them even more.

The key is to combine transparency and empathy and act on the complaints immediately. Never offer false promises, as the previous people in our story did, but keep the customer updated on the progress.

“When things go well, the owner gets the credit, but when things go wrong, the worker receives the blame. Someone must take responsibility.”

And she did. By the way, that quote is taken from another K-drama series.

(Francis Kong’s podcast “Inspiring Excellence” is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms.)