The Customer Is Always right

[Romig1]

The above statement has always been one of my biggest dislikes in business. Whilst I understand the rationale behind it, I cannot bear some of the sycophantic rubbish I hear from time to time.

Great example this morning. Last night, just a few minutes before leaving work, I got a call from a customer who's own customer needed a couple of items extremely urgently. Being customer-focused (another trendy nonsense term), I took the order verbally, repeated it back to him, then went and packed the goods, which we then delivered into our courier in a nearby town. On arrival into work this morning I found the order confirmation on the fax (received after closing time). Guess what? One of the items was different to the item we sent. I assumed there had been a simple "keying" error and rang to confirm this -only to be told that I was wrong and that he had ordered the correct item last night -essentially blaming us for the mistake. Here's the thing.... I know for sure that I repeated the enquiry back to him, and then again when I took the order I read it back to him. I'm just wondering how "the customer is always right"?

Needless to say, we have resolved the issue, but such instances start to make you question whether it's really worth putting yourself out so much. I could have easily told the customer that the goods could only be despatched today - by which time we have received a written order and prevented the mix-up in the first place!

So, in a nutshell, I don't believe the customer is always right!

Rant over, btw.

[Quizzical Bob]

The above statement has always been one of my biggest dislikes in business. Whilst I understand the rationale behind it, I cannot bear some of the sycophantic rubbish I hear from time to time.

Great example this morning. Last night, just a few minutes before leaving work, I got a call from a customer who's own customer needed a couple of items extremely urgently. Being customer-focused (another trendy nonsense term), I took the order verbally, repeated it back to him, then went and packed the goods, which we then delivered into our courier in a nearby town. On arrival into work this morning I found the order confirmation on the fax (received after closing time). Guess what? One of the items was different to the item we sent. I assumed there had been a simple "keying" error and rang to confirm this -only to be told that I was wrong and that he had ordered the correct item last night -essentially blaming us for the mistake. Here's the thing.... I know for sure that I repeated the enquiry back to him, and then again when I took the order I read it back to him. I'm just wondering how "the customer is always right"?

Needless to say, we have resolved the issue, but such instances start to make you question whether it's really worth putting yourself out so much. I could have easily told the customer that the goods could only be despatched today - by which time we have received a written order and prevented the mix-up in the first place!

So, in a nutshell, I don't believe the customer is always right!

Rant over, btw.

Always put in in writing.

'A verbal contract is not worth the paper it's written on'
Sam Goldwyn

[Onelife]

Hi Romig

It's a simple case of supply and command....you supply they command.... if you want their custom that is?

Regards

Keith

[Quizzical Bob]

Hi Romig

It's a simple case of supply and command....you supply they command.... if you want their custom that is?

Regards

Keith

Especially these days when demand is in short supply.

[Manoverboard]

I deffo agree about getting everything in writing but I also believe that, as a customer, the customer is always right ... well, it is if you want any repeat business from me.

The alternative is that if anything goes pear shaped the response would be ... " Never had that problem before " / " You are mistaken about that " and that type of response is a nail in their coffin as far as I am concerned.

Bite your lip, count ten and smile

[Romig1]

QBob

Incidents in the past have made me very wary of taking verbal orders these days. I always ensure that the staff here read back any verbal order - but that doesn't make much difference if your customer clearly isn't bothering to listen! I guess I will have to tighten up so that only confirmed written orders are accepted in the future - and if that means a drop in service levels, then so be it. Such a shame, because I naturally aim to help a customer out of a fix wherever possible.

[Manoverboard]

QBob

Incidents in the past have made me very wary of taking verbal orders these days. I always ensure that the staff here read back any verbal order - but that doesn't make much difference if your customer clearly isn't bothering to listen! I guess I will have to tighten up so that only confirmed written orders are accepted in the future - and if that means a drop in service levels, then so be it. Such a shame, because I naturally aim to help a customer out of a fix wherever possible.

You will doubtless have long established customers who can be trusted to stick by a verbal agreement ... ?

[Romig1]

QBob

Incidents in the past have made me very wary of taking verbal orders these days. I always ensure that the staff here read back any verbal order - but that doesn't make much difference if your customer clearly isn't bothering to listen! I guess I will have to tighten up so that only confirmed written orders are accepted in the future - and if that means a drop in service levels, then so be it. Such a shame, because I naturally aim to help a customer out of a fix wherever possible.

You will doubtless have long established customers who can be trusted to stick by a verbal agreement ... ?

The problem we have Moby is that many of our customers are national merchants with large branch networks. To say that the quality of some of their staff is "poor" would be the understatement of the year, and many a wide-boy has tried to cover-up his/her own ineptitude by blaming the supplier above (ie us).

[Romig1]

Many years ago, when I started as a fresh-faced Management Trainee at a builders merchants, the branch manager told me his way of dealing with such occasions whereby you would end up out of pocket through no fault of your own. He said that in any dispute in which you know you are being played, you can either "tell the customer to bu**er off" - which will probably lose their custom in the future, or accede to them - "but remember how much they owe you". It's quite easy to get back any "owed" amount at a later date -through various means...fair or foul, not forgetting to add a bit extra to cover for the hassle!

[towny44]

Rob, In todays internet age would it not have been possible to have your customer e-mail the order, or input it into your online system, that way it would have been easy to establish who was wrong.

[Stephen]

Some people you just can't help.

Always get it in writing. Saves allot of grief.

[Romig1]

Rob, In todays internet age would it not have been possible to have your customer e-mail the order, or input it into your online system, that way it would have been easy to establish who was wrong.

We don't have an online system - we're still manual here in deepest Halifax!

On this occasion, it would have made no difference anyway, as we were all ready for leaving, and there wasn't time for the customer to process the order on their system.

[Gill W]

Where I worked a complaint was defined as ' an expression of displeasure whether justified or not'. So it certainly wasn't seen as the customer as always being right. Mind you, I worked for a bank!

[Quizzical Bob]

QBob

Incidents in the past have made me very wary of taking verbal orders these days. I always ensure that the staff here read back any verbal order - but that doesn't make much difference if your customer clearly isn't bothering to listen! I guess I will have to tighten up so that only confirmed written orders are accepted in the future - and if that means a drop in service levels, then so be it. Such a shame, because I naturally aim to help a customer out of a fix wherever possible.

Chuck an order acknowledgement straight back with your terms & conditions on it in a prominent position.

[Dark Knight]

Rob
the customer is NOT always right , all this cobblers about repeat business etc is the worse sort of customer BS. Any customer worth having is one where they and you can be open and honest and not apportion blame, The true test of a customer relationship, is when things go wrong and how that is managed by both supplier and customer to ensure both parties are not disadvantaged and that neither party is profiteering from the others problem
customers that are always right ,tend to be the ones that are paying for the privilege of being a smart a*se when they get their invoice

[Onelife]

Is the customer always right? Nope! But very few businesses are in a position to tell them otherwise.

[Shirleybee]

If your customer was a woman then she was right, If it was a man then he was wrong. Simples Rob Mrs G will tell you that

[The Invigilator]

Very well put ShirleyBee

[qbman1]

I feel victimised - this is the worst kind of sex discrimination !!