Actually, when I piss customers off, my boss is usually right there backing me up. I have no qualms with certain people never coming back, or telling all of their friends never to shop at my store. Case in point, a woman buys an old P2, used, for $150 with monitor. She loves it, takes it home, then calls for the next two days because we didn't include Office. I think it goes without saying how unreasonable it is to expect a product worth $300-700 with a $150 purchase. So, she calls and says she's bringing it back. no one ever said we'd take it, she just declared she'd bring it back. I volunteered to deal with it, as I enjoy difficult customers. she came in, and claimed it was no good. She said it worked fine, that I never told her it had Office in there, but rather, that she had made an assumption. She said I should have told her about such a thing. I replied that if I was obligated to tell her everything the computer had in it, I would be waxing poetic for an hour about the motherboard. Now, if I was further obliged to tell her everything the computer DIDN'T have, I'd be there all day. I kept refusing to take it back, as she had been told that with this computer, there was a 10 day warranty, exchange only. The machine wasn't defective. She then tried to appeal to my morality. I'm a law student, and an awfully cynical one at that, so that didn't fly. She then threatened legal action, to which I very nearly burst out laughing. I told her to do what she had to do. She left the machine in the store and left. So, we put it aside for 30 days, then sold it.
In general, where a customer has a mistaken belief, I just correct them nicely. Where they are outright wrong, I also correct them in as nice a manner as possible. However, if he's rude to me, I can be just as rude. My boss supports this. I'm not obligated to take flak from people because they feel like dishing it. You want to spend $5000 and be a prick, that's fine. If you want to be a prick and spend nothing, then get the hell out. Where a customer expects me to bend over backwards for them, and is nothing but rude, then they can sod off. Customers in general feel comfortable coming into my store because all of the employees are very casual. We're not some big box store where everyone dresses the same and has to follow certain policies. We dress fairly nicely, and talk like regular people. In my experience, you can gauge how good the service is at a store by how likely they are to send you elsewhere for a product, even if they can obtain it. When i've been chatting with a customer for a while, and he's been quite congenial and polite, I don't mind telling him where to get some stuff for cheaper than I have it. They love that, and they come back.
It as actually my boss who first told me that the customers at this store think they know everything, and so i'd be responsible for dealing with these mistaken notions as much as possible, and selling them what they really want. It sounds odd, but it's true. If a customer can't even give me a starting point on what they want, then I can't help them. I've had a woman say she wants a new computer, but knows nothing, other than that she wants a new computer. Even basic questions like "Laptop or desktop?", and "PC or Mac?" garnered no answer. At that point, I can't help. I'm not going to sell you the most expensive I have, as a Future Shop or Best Buy might. I'll get you what you want, not what I can dupe you into buying. I'm good at my job, and though I'm rude to some people, and even while polite, I can anger a number of customers. However, if this filters out customers with ridiculous expectations, then it's better for us. Moreover, we're the only computer store on a large campus, so the majority of those who claim they'll never come back do anyway, because they're too lazy to venture off campus.
In general, where a customer has a mistaken belief, I just correct them nicely. Where they are outright wrong, I also correct them in as nice a manner as possible. However, if he's rude to me, I can be just as rude. My boss supports this. I'm not obligated to take flak from people because they feel like dishing it. You want to spend $5000 and be a prick, that's fine. If you want to be a prick and spend nothing, then get the hell out. Where a customer expects me to bend over backwards for them, and is nothing but rude, then they can sod off. Customers in general feel comfortable coming into my store because all of the employees are very casual. We're not some big box store where everyone dresses the same and has to follow certain policies. We dress fairly nicely, and talk like regular people. In my experience, you can gauge how good the service is at a store by how likely they are to send you elsewhere for a product, even if they can obtain it. When i've been chatting with a customer for a while, and he's been quite congenial and polite, I don't mind telling him where to get some stuff for cheaper than I have it. They love that, and they come back.
It as actually my boss who first told me that the customers at this store think they know everything, and so i'd be responsible for dealing with these mistaken notions as much as possible, and selling them what they really want. It sounds odd, but it's true. If a customer can't even give me a starting point on what they want, then I can't help them. I've had a woman say she wants a new computer, but knows nothing, other than that she wants a new computer. Even basic questions like "Laptop or desktop?", and "PC or Mac?" garnered no answer. At that point, I can't help. I'm not going to sell you the most expensive I have, as a Future Shop or Best Buy might. I'll get you what you want, not what I can dupe you into buying. I'm good at my job, and though I'm rude to some people, and even while polite, I can anger a number of customers. However, if this filters out customers with ridiculous expectations, then it's better for us. Moreover, we're the only computer store on a large campus, so the majority of those who claim they'll never come back do anyway, because they're too lazy to venture off campus.
