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As an angry customer, what response do you expect from customer service?
Do you expect an apology? A refund? Acknowledgment of error on the company's part? What responses from customer service have you found quell your anger best?
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5 Answers
Customer service representatives help ease my frustration by being accountable and taking my concern or issue seriously. To echo sentiments above, nothing sets the tone better than a sincere apology for whatever mishap or problem I, as a customer, have experienced. I’ve found the following will remedy nearly all less-than-desirable situations: hassle-free refunds or exchanges; free or discounted products or services for my trouble; a generally positive, accommodating and respectful attitude from whoever is addressing my concern. If the products or services speak for themselves, and customer service treats my individual business as something worth keeping, I’ll make it a point to return.
My expectations generally depend on the issue at hand, but for the most part I've come to expect a sincere, timely apology. Sincerity goes a long way in rebuilding a damaged relationship, and offering a timely response also plays into that.
As an angry customer, I first have to put my anger aside in dealing with the customer service agent. I feel that it is tough to get anything resolved if you are speaking out of anger. Secondly, I definitely expect an apology because, as a customer, when we pay for a service or product we expect quality and if that is not received then an apology should be given even if it wasn't that person's fault. Beyond that all I want is the problem to be resolved in a timely fashion like Caty said. A refund would be ok, but at the same time you still are not receiving the initial product or service that you paid for in the first place. However it does show that the company expects to put out quality service or products and when that quality is not produced then they are willing to lose that sale. So what works best for me is if a customer service agent and I can talk about the problem, diagnose the problem, and then hopefully the problem can be resolved by a refund or, hopefully, an attempt to give you the product or service in which you initially paid for.
A sincere apology definitely goes a long way and I would also hope that a solution is offered up to ease the nerves.
I recently had a negative fast food experience that was turned around very quickly through a simple apology and an offer of additional items on the house. The apology was enough, the free food was the cherry on top (literally in this case haha, ice cream with cherries).
Sometimes apologising straight away is not the right approach. I would suggest that really listening to what the angry customer is saying first of all is the key to figuring out what is the best and most appropriate response.
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