The Customer May Not Always Be Right

[This post goes on for a while. It's about customer service, something I have a fair amount to say about. So just in time for all those Memorial Day sales - don't get me started - here's a post about remembering those in the service industry, while also remembering those in the service as we celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow.]

One woman who frequently flew on Southwest, was constantly disappointed with every aspect of the company’s operation. In fact, she became known as the “Pen Pal” because after every flight she wrote in with a complaint.

She didn’t like the fact that the company didn’t assign seats; she didn’t like the absence of a first-class section; she didn’t like not having a meal in flight; she didn’t like Southwest’s boarding procedure; she didn’t like the flight attendants’ sporty uniforms and the casual atmosphere.

Her last letter, reciting a litany of complaints, momentarily stumped Southwest’s customer relations people. They bumped it up to Herb’s [Kelleher, CEO of Southwest] desk, with a note: ‘This one’s yours.’

In sixty seconds, Kelleher wrote back and said, ‘Dear Mrs. Crabapple, We will miss you. Love, Herb.’”

I used to work retail. Yes, I'm crazy. My wife doesn't understand that part of my personality. I used to be the guy that sales associates would call when there was a problem with a customer. Managers loved to work with me because I always took the heat from the customers. It seemed that I had a way of calming down the most irritated of customers. I just really loved the give and take.

There were times when I used to have to swallow hard and give in to the customer as there was some fault on the store's part and we had a philosophy that the customer was [usually] right and we would go to great lengths to please them. So I read with some interest this blog post about how the philosophy of "The Customer is Always Right" is not the best business practice. I include the story above for two reasons. I really love Southwest and think they have excellent customer service and secondly, I wrote a letter to Southwest and they actually responded to it (as they said they would).

But here are five reasons why caving to the customer may not work out in the end:

1. It makes employees unhappy.
Of course the problem here is that your employees will feel as if you have hung them out to dry. This is fine line that management has to walk and one of the reasons that I was so successful in mediating issues with customers, I wasn't management. I had hired a number of the associates and trained them, but I knew many of them and managed to look after both their interests and the interests of the store.

2. It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage.
The customer that walked in with the super attitude and the big chip on their shoulder was not going to get anywhere with me. They didn't know that of course, because their mentality was that they were right. I just had to make sure they understood that by the time we were done. And in most cases, they did. Remember the old saying, "you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar."

3. Some customers are just bad for business.
One of the problems I have is when I receive bad customer service from a company that has competition in the market. These people really need to understand that I can go elsewhere for the same item and the next place will be just as happy to take my money. What's worse however, is receiving poor company service from companies that have me over a barrel. Verizon, DirecTV, are you listening? Really, I don't want to go into it. It still hurts. But it worked out in the end.

4. It results in worse customer service.
I might tend to take issue with this. Granted, I understand how this would work. If you value your employees over your customers they will have a better work ethic and perhaps the issues with customers might go down. In fact, just last week, I had my car in for service and I complained about my service writer to another service writer that I had worked with before. He had been there for 35 years and the guy I had an issue with had been there for 5 months. Who do you think I will be working with next time?

5. Some customers are just plain wrong.
There is the customer that is upset that something has gone wrong. We can fix that. We can't work with genetics or personality disorders. We would all do well to remember that. I actually like getting out of the city and into the country because people are really just nicer. My father had an interesting "customer service" experience when visiting in Quebec. The Quebecois don't like Americans and like only mildly better the French. My father was born in France and [at the time] spoke perfect French with the appropriate French accent. He went into a shop for something and asked a question of the shopkeeper in French. The shopkeeper responded in English. My father asked why, to wit the shopkeeper responded, you are an American, I could just tell and I don't like them. Mind you that was like, 40 years ago, but is it any wonder this country has trouble making friends?