Working in customer service we can often undergo quite a bit of verbal abuse from our customers - especially on the phones. It’s so much easier for people to let you know how they feel over the phone and for us it’s so much easier for us to just hang up on them -which, I admit, I’ve done a couple times!
However, one thing you should never, ever, ever, ever do is lower
yourself to the abuser’s level and retaliate - as Jam Mayer of CallCenterScript reminds us. Always remember that their negativity is THEIR problem and not yours. Don’t take it personally. Take it as a challenge to turn the situation around and make that customer smile!
If you need to calm down, do the ole count-to-10-backwards routine or get out of the office for five minutes to regain your composure. You don't want to take out your frusteration on a fellow coworker or another customer!
» Dealing With Abusive Customers Via Email from CustomersAreAlways
I agree with many of the commenters in that I would have simply refunded the $5 - no questions asked. This would have prevented wasted energy over a measly $5. Now that person who obviously has issues with controlling his/her anger is going to tell ten... [Read More]
Tracked on: February 16, 2007 8:45 PM | Permalink to Trackback