The Customer Is always Always Right !!!

Prada's Meadow

Prada's Meadow

Member
Jan 23, 2006
15,831
24
#1
Err not always !!


I have stood in line many of times listening to a over Zealous customer's who are clearly in the wrong, demand that they get thier way.

Whats your opinion ? Is the Customer always right ?
 
#2
Pradasmeadow said:
Err not always !!


I have stood in line many of times listening to a over Zealous customer's who are clearly in the wrong, demand that they get thier way.

Whats your opinion ? Is the Customer always right ?
Click to expand...

Nope.
 
#4
Not always. I think the phrase should be more along the lines of "even if the customer is wrong, chances are they will get their way".
 
#6
lol not even close. there are a lot of terribly unreasonable people out there. last week these two rednecks came in demanding $100 off our cheapest side-by-side refrigerator (we don't even make that much on it as a store) and free delivery up front (basically another $50 off - they weren't willing to do the normal mail in rebate), which basically means the store loses money on the sale. their justification? they've spent $1600 dollars in the store since novemeber...just to give you an idea, we take in, as a store, over $100,000 a day. double that on a weekend day. we usally ring up several $5k-$7k sales a day.

these people are NOT vip customers, lol. and we're not a yard sale. it's the equivalent of someone who bought a wallet at LV a couple years ago demanding to be invited to VIP events and get first dibs on LE bags. it wouldn't have been nearly as bad if they weren't so RUDE about the entire thing.

another lady flipped out when we couldn't do telephone transactions - it's not *my* fault that we don't have a system to do that. i literally have nowhere in the register to type in a credit card number - it HAS to be swiped.

the vast majority of customers are wonderful and so nice - but these people ruin it for the rest of them.
 
#7
I think it depends on the situation. Being a smartass prick to the sale person and demanding to be treated like your sh*t smells like roses won't get you anywhere, just as an arrogant smartass prick sales person won't get my business if I don't like the way he tries to sell his products.
 
#8
ayla said:
Not always. I think the phrase should be more along the lines of "even if the customer is wrong, chances are they will get their way".
Click to expand...

I completely agree with ayla on this. I think a lot of us have experienced both - clearly, all of us are consumers/customers, and a lot of us have worked in retail or customer service in one way or another. It really boils down to the individual case - I remember being more receptive to customers (when I worked at Anthropologie) who spoke to me calmly and with courtesy, whereas it was hard to respect those who were outright belligerent. Even if you've been wronged, there is a way to calmly "demand" action or something to right it versus outright yelling and causing a scene.

I just had an experience where I had to call out an account rep from one of our vendors here at work. It basically boiled down to the fact that our rep was not doing his job, despite being the nicest person ever. I made the decision to contact his supervisor, and calmly and logically pointed out point-for-point why we needed a new rep assigned to our account. We were assigned a new rep, and I met with her yesterday. She told me that she saw one of my e-mail exchanges, and thought that I was very nice and understanding despite the clear failures of the old rep. She told me that she was surprised that my company wanted to continue a working relationship, and because of how I handled the situation, she pledged to be communicative and to work to right the failures of the previous rep.

So, basically, I guess my long-winded explanation shows that it really depends. Ultimately, I think most customers get their way, but I really think it would be easier if people were more understanding and CALM.
 
#9
The customer is definitly NOT always right. Whether they get their way or not depends on what they're putting up a fuss about. If a customer is incredibly rude to the sales associates, I've had managers tell them they can simply can not be accomodated ( wanting to use expired promotional coupons) and just walk away. If they're *****ing about wanting cash for a return ( that they have no receipt for) I've seen my managers let them do it.

I think it always works to be pleasent, we've let customers who we know are total sweethearts get away with things crabby customers wouldn't be able to. :smile: ( like giving them extra samples or whatever.)
 
#10
Well in some cases when the customer is right, they still don't get their way. My bf and I had to attend a party for our friend's daughters First birthday. We couldn't make in so we decided to send flowers. We called the florist to have them arrange a bouquet for $150 and have it sent to the restaurant while they were there. Sat at 9 oclock. We speak to our friends the next day and they didn't receive anything. They call the restauarant and say they received the flowers at 12 on Sunday. We told the florist numerous time SAT 9 pm and since we called earlier SAT morning we asked them if they would be able to do it in short notice and they said NO PROBLEM. We called the florist and the owner, who didn't take the order told us it was IMPOSSIBLE THEY HAD MADE A MISTAKE. THEY NEVER MADE UP A MISTAKE IN HISTORY THEIR BUSINESS HAS BEEN THERE. My bf and I were furious. If they had said , we apopligize we made a mistake we would have left it alone but because they were soo rude and uncompromising we called the credit card and stopped the payment. Sometimes the customer is right and they are wrong. Well they aren't getting our business again.
 
#11
I agree! I don'tknow what's more annoying. The customer who is clearly wrong that claims his right or the company who can do no wrong and it is the customer who is always wrong. I outright boycott companies like that.

I read some study where they said that an unhappy customer tells an average of 75 people about their bad experience and roughly 1/3 of the people will be affected and not shop at that particular store due to the negative experience. So maybe that's why they say that the customer is always right.
 
#12
I'm totally with Amanda on this one. I worked in a retail furniture store for 5 years and know exactly the kind of customers she is talking about. Some people are just completely unreasonable. They think because they drop $1000 that you owe them something, when we would have about 20 people spending $1000+ in week and not expect to be treated like they're the most valuable and important customer to ever set foot in the store.

I don't know if many of you have seen "Mallrats" but I love when Ben Afflecks character says to Jeremy Londons character "Let me tell you something. The customer is always an ___hole!" I thought that was so funny. Obviously it's not true of all customers but it's the jerks that make everyone hate their jobs in retail.
 
#13
Customers are not always right..

but a Sales Associate should never talk back or be a *****.. when I worked... if I had a problem with a customer I would smile and call my boss who would do the "deed" for me.

It's always better for the boss to be the "bad guy" then the poor SA's
 
#14
whatzerface said:
I'm totally with Amanda on this one. I worked in a retail furniture store for 5 years and know exactly the kind of customers she is talking about. Some people are just completely unreasonable. They think because they drop $1000 that you owe them something, when we would have about 20 people spending $1000+ in week and not expect to be treated like they're the most valuable and important customer to ever set foot in the store.

I don't know if many of you have seen "Mallrats" but I love when Ben Afflecks character says to Jeremy Londons character "Let me tell you something. The customer is always an ___hole!" I thought that was so funny. Obviously it's not true of all customers but it's the jerks that make everyone hate their jobs in retail.
Click to expand...

lol "the customer is always an a**hole" i completely forgot about that line.

we had people today that dropped $3k and didn't ask for a discount or special treatment or an acception to store policy or ANYTHING. i wanted to hug them.
 
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