Another story is when I was a manager at a Blockbuster Video, used to have people come in all the time to scam out of late fee's. I really never cared much if you told me the truth and if it was a day late or two i'd wipe the fees. Girl comes in with "there's something about mary" and its literally over 2 weeks late, I told her the fee and she was like well the video tape didn't work. So per policy, I put it in the VCR and started screening it in front of her and it was working fine. She starts crying and yells "Great you must think I'm a retard" and runs out of the store. 15 minutes later her boyfriend or husband calls up asking to speak to the manager(me) and starts ripping me a new one verbally over the phone. I hang up on him after repeatedly telling him to refrain from yelling and cursing. Another 15 minutes the guy comes barging into the store yelling my name and calling me out of the store(really for $10?). I see this guy, small 5'2 musclular guy cursing left and right and finally I go outside with him. I ask him to sit down and I explained what happened, and that before I could even say anything to his girlfriend she stormed out of the store crying. He settled down a bit after that and I told him i'd cut the fee down to half. People can be crazy.
Dealing with angry customers
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Originally Posted By: Anies
Actually it is not all the uncommon for these occurances to occur in the Middle East. I know all to well that "some" of us(Middle Eastern decent) can be very very haggle minded. It is not worth the aggrivation, because if you give in to them once, they will continually hound you in the future. You did the right thing.
Back in 2001 my friend(RIP) was a Mechanic at his fathers shop and given the area we live in its very Arab/Circassian populated (Haledon NJ) and a guy came into his shop and dropped a car off for repair. He said "Do whatever it takes to get it running right". My friend called the guy and told him what was up with the car and he gave him the price and said it was ok. Friend does the work, guy comes down and starts screaming about the $300 repair job. Saying that he could have had the dealer do it for less, and that he could have gotten cheaper parts this and that. My friend was like if you want it cheaper, I'll take out the new parts, put your old parts in and you take it somewhere else, but you still have to pay me labor. Guy flipped out, friends father came out and they were talking in arabic back and forth(guy was haggling) and his father got [censored] at him to. He told his son to lower the charge and told the guy to NEVER come back.
Middle East is the same thing, my family is from Syria and the stories I heard from them is ridiculous. Cut your losses now and be done with him.
That all sounds very familiar. I agree that there are a lot of scam artists out there, such as the junkyards we have here. Guy was trying to charge me $43 for a used headlight switch for my Avalanche, for instance, which I ended up getting at the dealership for $29 brand new. Because a lot of people storm out to the yards before checking the price of a new part, those guys take advantage. But you can't just go insulting people and causing a scene.
That said, people love having the newest cars, electronics, mobile phones, clothes and what have you. Yet when it comes to servicing their new luxury cars, they go mental. A lot of people buy their cars on hire purchase, paying installments over 15 years for luxury cars. So when maintenance costs more than the $550 a month they pay on the loan for their new Porsche, they have problems paying for it.
Actually it is not all the uncommon for these occurances to occur in the Middle East. I know all to well that "some" of us(Middle Eastern decent) can be very very haggle minded. It is not worth the aggrivation, because if you give in to them once, they will continually hound you in the future. You did the right thing.
Back in 2001 my friend(RIP) was a Mechanic at his fathers shop and given the area we live in its very Arab/Circassian populated (Haledon NJ) and a guy came into his shop and dropped a car off for repair. He said "Do whatever it takes to get it running right". My friend called the guy and told him what was up with the car and he gave him the price and said it was ok. Friend does the work, guy comes down and starts screaming about the $300 repair job. Saying that he could have had the dealer do it for less, and that he could have gotten cheaper parts this and that. My friend was like if you want it cheaper, I'll take out the new parts, put your old parts in and you take it somewhere else, but you still have to pay me labor. Guy flipped out, friends father came out and they were talking in arabic back and forth(guy was haggling) and his father got [censored] at him to. He told his son to lower the charge and told the guy to NEVER come back.
Middle East is the same thing, my family is from Syria and the stories I heard from them is ridiculous. Cut your losses now and be done with him.
That all sounds very familiar. I agree that there are a lot of scam artists out there, such as the junkyards we have here. Guy was trying to charge me $43 for a used headlight switch for my Avalanche, for instance, which I ended up getting at the dealership for $29 brand new. Because a lot of people storm out to the yards before checking the price of a new part, those guys take advantage. But you can't just go insulting people and causing a scene.
That said, people love having the newest cars, electronics, mobile phones, clothes and what have you. Yet when it comes to servicing their new luxury cars, they go mental. A lot of people buy their cars on hire purchase, paying installments over 15 years for luxury cars. So when maintenance costs more than the $550 a month they pay on the loan for their new Porsche, they have problems paying for it.
Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
You also have geniuses who claim coolant is just for new cars and if the car is old, it'll run 'fine' on tap water.
I just don't understand where people with horrendously wrong technical knowledge get their information in the first place and why they're so adamant that they're right when they're told by 10 different people with no bias how wrong they are.
You also have geniuses who claim coolant is just for new cars and if the car is old, it'll run 'fine' on tap water.
I just don't understand where people with horrendously wrong technical knowledge get their information in the first place and why they're so adamant that they're right when they're told by 10 different people with no bias how wrong they are.
If a customer's presence upsets other customers, then h-e-double-hockey-sticks no you don't want their business. Unless of course they are associated with a fleet or something.
It's good to see that an exaggerated sense of entitlement isn't entirely restricted to the US.
It's good to see that an exaggerated sense of entitlement isn't entirely restricted to the US.
Dude, you did the right thing. I hate crazya$$ customers who come in, put on a scene and get what they want. Like a previous post, when they start screaming and creating a scene, they are no longer a customer but a danger to you, your store and other customers.
So why doesn't your store have him escorted out like you said the other dealership across the street would have? Besides, the $23 plugs would last at least 5 yrs, so that isn't bad at all! I just can't understand cheap people and the things they'll do to get things inexpensively.
So why doesn't your store have him escorted out like you said the other dealership across the street would have? Besides, the $23 plugs would last at least 5 yrs, so that isn't bad at all! I just can't understand cheap people and the things they'll do to get things inexpensively.
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There's being cost-conscious, and there's being cheap. That customer was being cheap. You did the right thing by asking him to leave.
Originally Posted By: glum
Unless of course they are associated with a fleet or something.
Actually, we're very lucky that our fleet customers are great people.
Originally Posted By: Eosyn
So why doesn't your store have him escorted out like you said the other dealership across the street would have?
He voluntarily walked out the parts department, so we thought he left. But he went around the building (through the new car showroom and service center) to see the upper management.
Unless of course they are associated with a fleet or something.
Actually, we're very lucky that our fleet customers are great people.
Originally Posted By: Eosyn
So why doesn't your store have him escorted out like you said the other dealership across the street would have?
He voluntarily walked out the parts department, so we thought he left. But he went around the building (through the new car showroom and service center) to see the upper management.
That one thing erks me.
People buy cars, and don't even think about what it will cost to service the car. My sister in law has been flipping cars 7 months to a year into a finance and now has an astronomical amount of roll over.
Went from a leased 2006 Altima, in 08 she got an 04 Audi(financed), about 1 1/2 - 2 years in due to issues/repairs, she got a 2010 Sonata new(financed), 7 months in she traded it and got an 08 Landrover LR2 with 50k miles on it for an obscene amount. Less than 5 months into the landrover she needs 4 new tires(needed them when she bought it, but she doesn't think to check or tell them to gve her new ones as part of the deal), needs all 4 brakes/rotors done and needs to get a idiot light checked out and whines about gas mileage. She asked my friend who is a mechanic and he tells her the cost(less than dealer, and other mechanic she goes to) wasted his time since he booked that day for her but luckily didn't order parts, and now she went last night to my Chevy dealer(where I recommend all my buddies to go for work and cars) and signed for a 2011/2012 cruze for a lease.
Mind you all those financing deals were with zero down, so the rollover from flip-flopping is astronomical. Paying close to $400 a month for an eco box(RS edition of the cruze). some people don't understand that a little money on repairs goes a long way.
People buy cars, and don't even think about what it will cost to service the car. My sister in law has been flipping cars 7 months to a year into a finance and now has an astronomical amount of roll over.
Went from a leased 2006 Altima, in 08 she got an 04 Audi(financed), about 1 1/2 - 2 years in due to issues/repairs, she got a 2010 Sonata new(financed), 7 months in she traded it and got an 08 Landrover LR2 with 50k miles on it for an obscene amount. Less than 5 months into the landrover she needs 4 new tires(needed them when she bought it, but she doesn't think to check or tell them to gve her new ones as part of the deal), needs all 4 brakes/rotors done and needs to get a idiot light checked out and whines about gas mileage. She asked my friend who is a mechanic and he tells her the cost(less than dealer, and other mechanic she goes to) wasted his time since he booked that day for her but luckily didn't order parts, and now she went last night to my Chevy dealer(where I recommend all my buddies to go for work and cars) and signed for a 2011/2012 cruze for a lease.
Mind you all those financing deals were with zero down, so the rollover from flip-flopping is astronomical. Paying close to $400 a month for an eco box(RS edition of the cruze). some people don't understand that a little money on repairs goes a long way.
I have to wonder about the mentality of some people.
I ran into it from time to time when I worked for Western Auto. We had a 5% price guarantee. And I was pretty liberal with it. But occasionally I would run into someone that was a jerk for the sake of being a jerk.
They would bring in a price quote slip from Autozone or wherever. But it would be the wrong part on the slip.
"I'm sorry. I can't beat this price. This quote is for a blue grommet Ford Control Module. You have a black grommet."
Customer: "IT'S THE SAME THING!"
"No, I'm sorry...it's not. If they have a better price on their black grommet control module, I will beat it by 5%. Let me call them to see what their price is."
Customer: "[expletive] JUST GIVE ME THE [expletive] MODULAR [sic] FOR THAT PRICE!
(on phone)"Autozone has it in stock but it is $1.02 more expensive than mine."
Customer: "IT SAYS RIGHT THERE ON THE [expletive] PAPER $14.99 YOU [incoherent insulting string of expletives] IDIOT."
"Okay, why didn't you just buy their unit?"
Customer: "IT DIDN'T [expletive] FIT."
..."because it is a different, more expensive module, right?"
Customer: "YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR MOUTH SMART[delete]!"
.....
inhale, exhale....try to not escalate the situation. 'cause if I don't, this moron redneck will bring out the redneck in me and I will stomp a mudhole in his.....
I ran into it from time to time when I worked for Western Auto. We had a 5% price guarantee. And I was pretty liberal with it. But occasionally I would run into someone that was a jerk for the sake of being a jerk.
They would bring in a price quote slip from Autozone or wherever. But it would be the wrong part on the slip.
"I'm sorry. I can't beat this price. This quote is for a blue grommet Ford Control Module. You have a black grommet."
Customer: "IT'S THE SAME THING!"
"No, I'm sorry...it's not. If they have a better price on their black grommet control module, I will beat it by 5%. Let me call them to see what their price is."
Customer: "[expletive] JUST GIVE ME THE [expletive] MODULAR [sic] FOR THAT PRICE!
(on phone)"Autozone has it in stock but it is $1.02 more expensive than mine."
Customer: "IT SAYS RIGHT THERE ON THE [expletive] PAPER $14.99 YOU [incoherent insulting string of expletives] IDIOT."
"Okay, why didn't you just buy their unit?"
Customer: "IT DIDN'T [expletive] FIT."
..."because it is a different, more expensive module, right?"
Customer: "YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR MOUTH SMART[delete]!"
.....
inhale, exhale....try to not escalate the situation. 'cause if I don't, this moron redneck will bring out the redneck in me and I will stomp a mudhole in his.....
I also don't like clients who don't tell me when they have a problem, then go and complain to my managers or drop me out of the blue. One time I went to bat for a client, and as soon as they got what they wanted they dropped me. Gee, thanks for letting me know you had a problem.
People want what they want, and aren't about to let anything stop them from getting it.
People want what they want, and aren't about to let anything stop them from getting it.
At my first job at Radio Shack I had a customer trying to be irate, but turned out it was a smokescreen because she was trying to steal from us.
As far as telling customers not to come back, I believe a wise man from Vulcan once said "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one". I witnessed a manager telling off some punk kids with their excessively loud stereo at a Taco Bell drive through, telling them they will not serve them until they turn the stereo down since patrons inside were complaining. A bunch of us behind the punks were cheering as they were asked to leave. The poor punks tried to do a burnout to try to prove they were superior, but it wasn't very impressive since they were driving a minivan.
As far as telling customers not to come back, I believe a wise man from Vulcan once said "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one". I witnessed a manager telling off some punk kids with their excessively loud stereo at a Taco Bell drive through, telling them they will not serve them until they turn the stereo down since patrons inside were complaining. A bunch of us behind the punks were cheering as they were asked to leave. The poor punks tried to do a burnout to try to prove they were superior, but it wasn't very impressive since they were driving a minivan.
I get the angry customer almost every day. Most of these guys have not had A Radiator fixed since 1970something. Repairs were $25 then.
Now our minumum repair is $48.
A 25 lb roll of solder used to cost $35. Now the roll cost's $249 + Ca's Hazmat signs, shipping etc. A repair often uses $25 worth of solder so even @ $48 were not getting rich.
A pound of R12 used to cost $.99....Now I have to spend lots of time just to find it, I had to pay to be licensed to buy it and I must pay whatever the seller wants just so I can service some older cars that won't work on R134a.
I sell R12 for $60 a pound.
$65 to evac and charge because Ca says I must use a $4000 AC machine to do so. ETC.
The price of stuff just keeps going up and those people that have not had a Radiator fixed or AC charged since 1970 are in for a shock.
Now our minumum repair is $48.
A 25 lb roll of solder used to cost $35. Now the roll cost's $249 + Ca's Hazmat signs, shipping etc. A repair often uses $25 worth of solder so even @ $48 were not getting rich.
A pound of R12 used to cost $.99....Now I have to spend lots of time just to find it, I had to pay to be licensed to buy it and I must pay whatever the seller wants just so I can service some older cars that won't work on R134a.
I sell R12 for $60 a pound.
$65 to evac and charge because Ca says I must use a $4000 AC machine to do so. ETC.
The price of stuff just keeps going up and those people that have not had a Radiator fixed or AC charged since 1970 are in for a shock.
Those who said customers are always right have never dealt with customers.
There are people who aren't worth doing business with because they are too cheap or cause a scene, in those cases it is better to politely tell them to [censored] off and leave.
There are people who aren't worth doing business with because they are too cheap or cause a scene, in those cases it is better to politely tell them to [censored] off and leave.
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Those who said customers are always right have never dealt with customers.
There are people who aren't worth doing business with because they are too cheap or cause a scene, in those cases it is better to politely tell them to [censored] off and leave.
I have worked in retail for 5 years in Middle East and what you are describing is a major violation of the business culture. OP is in Middle East as well. It's OK to have a [censored] customer service in the US as we are used to being mistreated, it's not OK there.
Those who said customers are always right have never dealt with customers.
There are people who aren't worth doing business with because they are too cheap or cause a scene, in those cases it is better to politely tell them to [censored] off and leave.
I have worked in retail for 5 years in Middle East and what you are describing is a major violation of the business culture. OP is in Middle East as well. It's OK to have a [censored] customer service in the US as we are used to being mistreated, it's not OK there.
Hah, you guys have it easy...
I am in retail/customer service, and I am the BEST at what I do. Yet, that still has not stopped me from being attacked not once, but twice! And called names that might send most of you guys running....one went as far as threatening my wife while I was leaving work..(we were meeting for dinner that night) I can deal with all types of people, even the crazy ones...but I alway try to keep a positive beat, as I never want to be brought down to their level....
That said, I find it an irony that I'm being laid off very soon...maybe a blessing in waiting? It is a tough job, and not everyone can do it....
I am in retail/customer service, and I am the BEST at what I do. Yet, that still has not stopped me from being attacked not once, but twice! And called names that might send most of you guys running....one went as far as threatening my wife while I was leaving work..(we were meeting for dinner that night) I can deal with all types of people, even the crazy ones...but I alway try to keep a positive beat, as I never want to be brought down to their level....
That said, I find it an irony that I'm being laid off very soon...maybe a blessing in waiting? It is a tough job, and not everyone can do it....
And if I let customers treat me or other engineers like garbage seeking services their contracts don't cover, customers with legitimate issues don't get served.
It's a balancing act. Sometimes you have to tell the customer standing in front of you that you cannot or will not help them to protect your customers with legitimate concerns.
Unless you have only one customer, you will face this circumstance. It may cost you even more than you dream to give in to the customer with unwarranted anger.
Originally Posted By: CivicFan
You know, it's the customer that pays your salary. The business world is littered with companies who treated their customers like garbage.
It's a balancing act. Sometimes you have to tell the customer standing in front of you that you cannot or will not help them to protect your customers with legitimate concerns.
Unless you have only one customer, you will face this circumstance. It may cost you even more than you dream to give in to the customer with unwarranted anger.
Originally Posted By: CivicFan
You know, it's the customer that pays your salary. The business world is littered with companies who treated their customers like garbage.
Originally Posted By: CivicFan
You know, it's the customer that pays your salary. The business world is littered with companies who treated their customers like garbage.
OP did not treat customer like garbage, the customer yelled and screamed at OP.
If that's the kind of attitude you have (that you can yell and use profanities) as a customer, I would have you escorted out of my business by the security.
You know, it's the customer that pays your salary. The business world is littered with companies who treated their customers like garbage.
OP did not treat customer like garbage, the customer yelled and screamed at OP.
If that's the kind of attitude you have (that you can yell and use profanities) as a customer, I would have you escorted out of my business by the security.
I guess it really depends on the industry and location (culture) of the place.
In sales and service toward R&D related work, we often ask vendor to help us with out of contract related work and sometimes ask them to go oversea for us instead of using our own people (which would be paid for and PO quickly drawn up to expedite the overhead time while the vendor is traveling), because time is money. We wouldn't routinely ask people to wake up at 2am, but we do routinely ask vendor to stay till 12am working on issues with us.
I guess you get what you pay for (or you pay for what you get).
In sales and service toward R&D related work, we often ask vendor to help us with out of contract related work and sometimes ask them to go oversea for us instead of using our own people (which would be paid for and PO quickly drawn up to expedite the overhead time while the vendor is traveling), because time is money. We wouldn't routinely ask people to wake up at 2am, but we do routinely ask vendor to stay till 12am working on issues with us.
I guess you get what you pay for (or you pay for what you get).
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Boy that guy would hate me. That SP493 has a MSRP of $6.89 each.
We used to have a sign up that said "arguing with a parts person is like giving a pig more mud."
We used to have a sign up that said "arguing with a parts person is like giving a pig more mud."
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