Tell me about a recent situation in which you had to deal with a very upset customer or co-worker?

Answer 1

I was doing customer service for a communications company when I received a call from a very irate customer who believed she was being charged incorrectly for an out of area phone call and insisted she never made the call. I allowed the person to totally vent while remaining totally silent! This gave me a chance to look over past bills and phone numbers to see if she had previously made the same call in the past. After I was able to give her the state of where the call was placed, I questioned her about any bills, credit cards, shopping, friends etc. she may have contacted. As it turned out she had forgotten that her class reunion RSVP phone number was an out of state number and sincerely apologized. Sometimes the best answer is silence!

Answer 2

Dealing with difficult customers is very taxing. It is important when applying for a job in which you would work with customers that you are able to demonstrate good customer service even when they are difficult.

Answer 3

Many people have situations where they have to deal with a very upset customer or co-worker. The best way to deal with these types of situations is to remain calm and collected. Try to work through the issue by listening to the problem and handling it in an adult manner.

Answer 4

Work from the premise that the customer is always right. Start with a sincere apology no matter what the story is. If there was a mistake or accident, be accountable and admit it. Apart from establishing the nature of the problem, do not enter into assigning blame or a prolonged historical account of what transpired. The focus of any discussion is to look for a solution. During the discussion, stick to the subject at hand and deal with one issue at a time. Let the customer see plainly that they have your full attention and that you understand what they are saying, that they can feel heard. Together formulate a plan of action that works for both of you and stick to it. Keep your communication with the customer open. An Attitude of Service Work with the attitude that the customer is valued, that they are entitled to their point of view and that, ideally, you would like to maintain their patronage. It is irrelevant if privately you think that they are wrong; you are looking to find an equitable solution that will allow your customer to walk away happy with the service you provide and that you too are happy with the outcome. So - Communication * Apologize * Acknowledge the problem * Calm the customer - offer a refreshment or coffee; if on the phone - tell them that you are looking into the situation and will call back in ? minutes and then do that. * Give the customer a clear understanding of what you are going to do to remedy the situation. And then do that. * Keep them informed every step of the way until it is sorted out. * At the end always ask if there is anything else you can do for them. Leave them, if possible, with all problems solved, all questions answered and nothing left to say except "thank you".

Answer 5

This is one of the types of question that you may get at an interview; they are intended to get you to talk about yourself in a fairly informal manner. The questions are usually about some aspect of your own life so it is not possible for anyone else to answer them for you.

You should think carefully, before attending the interview, about such questions as this so as to be prepared when asked. There are several such questions and there is a great deal of information on the internet and elsewhere about techniques to employ when attending interviews.

Answer 6

I am not sure if you are looking at how to answer this question or an answer. I think the most valuable response is probably about how to answer this type of question.

This is a competency-based question that is looking for evidence of how you deal with a difficult customer based on a real previous experience. You should always structure your answer to this kind of competency question in the STAR format. So using an answer to this question as an example

S = Situation I was the only person on our cash point when a customer came in who was really angry about a delivery that had failed to turn up

T=Task it was an important part of my role to deal with customer complaints

A=Action I find the best way to deal with angry customers is to listen to their problem and not get into a shouting match. I did this and found that the customer the key problem was that the customer had lost a days work. I spoke to the manager and suggested we agee a specific delivery time and drop the delivery charge.

R=Result The customer was ok with this solution and was happy that I had listened to his problem. he also did not cancel his order

The link below takes you to a great guide on how to prepare for and be successful at competency-based interviews