How do you handle an angry customer face-to-face?

Answer 1

Dealing With Angry Customers

Walk away if you can before it escalates into jail time for both of you. I told a customer to relax have a cup of coffee and we will resume our talks in ten minutes for both of us to calm down and come to a solution. If this won't work, excuse yourself, go into the office and call police for advice. Don't hit anybody. I know you want to but nobody worth going to jail for especially a customer.

Other Contributors said:

• A better method is to ASK what the problem is, AND LISTEN to the complaint. then ask what it is that YOU can do to solve the problem. Don't buy into the anger, and keep trying to get to a solution.

• Remember the rule of TEN. One unhappy customer will tell TEN FRIENDS< who will tell 10 Friends < who will tell 10 Friends, and soon you are out of business.

• Demanding customers can be differentiated into two different categories:

1. Are those value-added customers whereby their requests are relevant and giving opportunities for us to improve and serve them better.

2. Customers who made the request which is beyond the terms and conditions that can be complied by the company. In short, those who are taking advantage.

Handling these two types of customers does require two different approaches.

• For Type 1, those customers giving value to our operation, business and company, you should try to explore the possibilities to make it better for the customer and for ourselves.
• For Type 2, rules and regulations setup and agreed by the contract, agreement would serve as the guideline. Anything beyond these terms and conditions shall be brought to higher management.

• Additionally, while each of the answers above have elements of a correct approach, it is always important to apologize to the customer. The customer is always the customer and whether their request seems unreasonable or not, they are obviously dissatisfied with the product or service. The ultimate goal is for the customer to remain a customer, even if you have to give a little more than what any policy, agreement or contract states. For example, you can get their $600 today and let them leave angry, or you can make them happy and get their repeat business and positive word of mouth for life.

• You should avoid using words or statements such as calm down, relax as these can cause an irate customer to become more irate. If the customer is angry or verbally abusive, you need to make an agreement with them by saying something like, "I understand you're very upset, however before I can resolve the issue, we need to agree that we'll speak to one another in a respectful manner, without profanity" etc.

A disgruntled customer is an opportunity. There is research that suggests when an unhappy customer makes a complaint and that complaint is dealt with very well - going above and beyond the Call of Duty - that customer is likely to become even more happy with your company than if there never was a problem in the first place.

I've heard of some companies that actually provide a product or service knowing that it's likely to fail in some way. Because they know it's going to go wrong before it happens the company is fully expecting the customer to complain and so is fully prepared to rectify the problem to such a high level that the customer would be amazed at how well their complaint was dealt with - so creating an advocate of the company.

When you are confronted with an angry customer you should remember the first rule of customer service:

Never assume you know what a customer wants or what the problem is. It's been said already but it's a really key piece of info, you should ask the customer directly; what seems to be the problem? What has caused this problem (if it's not obvious)? How can I rectify the problem, how can i make it better?

You need to deal with the complaint quickly, quietly and without arguments. Sometimes you get customers who are just itching for a fight or a loud argument. Never, ever, engage in that sort of activity. Never get angry or show any signs of frustration. This is counterproductive since it will only make them more angry that you're arguing back and if they create a scene in front of other customers the dissatisfaction could easily spread creating more complaints to deal with.

Make lots of eye contact, that shows that you're really paying attention to the customer's grievance

If someone is rude to you, you have to respond with an apology as if you had just been rude to the customer. No matter how horrible they are being, you have to be equally nice. This approach will soon diffuse almost any angry customer.

If a customer is complaining to you, it's now your responsibility to deal with it, even if you're not the one At Fault. Take responsibility for the problem, admit you or your company is at fault; do it quickly and unequivocally, take the words out of their mouth, and in doing so you prevent them from getting more angry.

There's very few things more frustrating that being passed around from one member of staff to another; however, if you are a junior member of staff sometimes it is appropriate to get a manager to deal with the complaint (this is called a 'dump and run'). Sometimes this is not appropriate and the customer will get even more angry that you even suggested passing the complaint over to someone else.

The main things are:

1. Listen to the customer and make sure you understand fully the complaint

2. Accept responsibility/blame and tell the customer that you accept it and deal with the complaint personally where possible

3. Deal with the complaint as quickly as possible.

4. Make plenty of eye contact and never ever get angry or frustrated

5. If something goes wrong, if you are inexperienced or you find yourself getting angry or you simply are not the right person to deal with the complaint, don't be afraid of pulling a 'dump and run'.