Not Always Right: The Personal Edition

[theoldwolf]

Not Always Right relates horror stories from people working in industries that serve the public. And it seems that the public is a ass.

I have my own personal experience with the crazy whacko loony set, which I dutifully report here.

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No Time Limit

Retail | Utah, USA | Bizarre

(This happened several years ago. I sell a nutritional product on the web. It's imported from Canada, and at the time, I offered a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Below is a digest from a long series of email exchanges.)

Customer: I'm not satisfied with your product, I want a refund.

Me: I'm sorry to hear that. Just send the bottle back and I'll be happy to refund your money.

Customer: I can't, I've used it. Also the other four bottles I've ordered over the last year. I'm not satisfied, and I want a refund for all of it.

Me: It took you a whole year to figure out you didn't like the product? That would be like shopping at Albertson's for a year and then demanding a refund on all your groceries because you didn't lose weight.

Customer: HOW DARE YOU COMPARE YOURSELF TO ALBERTSON'S? I DEMAND A FULL REFUND RIGHT NOW!!!

Me: *sigh* The best I can offer you is to refund 1/2 of your purchase price.

Customer: YOU'RE A THIEF AND A CRIMINAL!! HOW CAN YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT?!? I'M REPORTING YOU TO EVERYONE I CAN THINK OF!!

As I promised, I sent her half of her money back. Which is more than I should have done. My policy now specifies no-hassle refunds on the first order, unless the product is in some way defective.

Comments

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

I stopped reading NAR because it enhanced my bitter worldview. Also, there's no way to verify any of these exchanges; I suspect that many are misremembered and/or exaggerated.

[kusanagi-sama.livejournal.com]

I've always felt that "The customer is always right" sort of policy, has made many people think that they are entitled to whatever they want if they make a big stink about it.

If I ran a business, I would put a sign that says "No, the customer is not always right!" in big bold letters.

[ccdesan.livejournal.com]

Just how I feel. In fact, a couple of years ago I shopped this image up when I was feeling especially burned about the whole thing.

[kusanagi-sama.livejournal.com]

Haha, that's nice.

[carlfoxmarten]

That's exactly why I don't read Not Always Right any more.
I can't stand this sort of crap any more. =>.<=

[thefoxaroo.livejournal.com]

This is why I hate phrases like "The customer is always right" and "Whenever the phone rings, whatever it rings for, it's incoming business." Thankfully my job doesn't involve frequent contact as it does for the poor staff in our correspondence team, or worse still our call centre staff. Whenever they work to negotiate something with a customer I *always* thank them. Even merely listening to some of the recordings from the call centre makes me cringe.