Are Customers Partly Responsible For Lousy Service?
It’s easy to blame customers for their misfortunes, and companies try this ruse all the time.
Bought something that didn’t work as advertised?
It’s your fault. If you knew what you were doing you wouldn’t have purchased it in the first place.
Did the product injure you? You misused it. You failed to follow directions. You were careless.
Want your money back? You just have a bad case of sour grapes, buyer’s remorse. You never intended to honor your commitment, anyway.
Customers that meekly accept these irrational excuses and bullying tactics inadvertently lower the standards of service for everyone else.
A friend of mine tried to get a European-made videotape transferred to an American style DVD because she left her old machine behind when she moved here.
A small shop in Los Angeles advertised this service, exactly, because its owner hailed from the same country.
When my friend arrived to pay for her freshly made video, she was told:
“I couldn’t transfer it to DVD so I put it on VHS. You’ll need to pay $10 more.”
Not only didn’t she get what she ordered, but the storekeeper misrepresented his abilities, and went ahead without authorization to transfer her tape to VHS, an inferior, obsolete playback medium, at a non-bargained for, higher price.
And he expected her to take all of this in stride, without complaint.
She was about to do just that before I intervened.
I demanded her original tape, told him “no way” was she going to pay for a VHS duplication, and he had committed fraud.
He told us to never darken the doorstep of his shop again, in a flurry of mock self-righteousness.
Within four months, a sign appeared in his store window, indicating he had gone out of business and the premises were available for lease.
Is there a slight connection between our fighting back, saying “You can’t get away with these tactics,” that contributed to his commercial disappearance?
I like to think so. Maybe, we were the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, the one additional, small voice that said, “You’re out of line!” and that was enough to send him packing.
Consumers need to rise up, one by one, to fight for their rights. Otherwise, one by one, we’ll be mowed down and plowed under.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books and more than a thousand articles. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is quoted in prominent publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Business Week. President of Clientrelations.com and Customersatisfaction.com, his seminars and training programs are sponsored internationally and he is a top-rated faculty member at more than 40 universities, including UC Berkeley and UCLA. Gary brings over two decades of management and consulting experience to the table, with the best academic credentials in the speaking and training industry. A Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication at USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a J.D. degree from Loyola, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies and successful family owned and operated firms.
He can be seen on CNBC at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=417455932# and reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
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- February 11th
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