[Johnny B]

I had a customer who was trouble from the word go. The day after the second clean she phoned me and demanded that I go round because I hadn't cleaned any of the windows and there were finger prints and smears everywhere. The language she used on the phone was of a seriously threatening nature, so I told her I would be straight round to have a look and rectify any problems with my work.

I went there and apologized for the problems, and asked if she would show me the offending windows. She simply said all of them. It's a fair sized house, and I thought the only way out of this was to clean them all again.

As soon as I started she got in her car and drove off. I re-cleaned all the windows and went home, expecting a phone call later. Nothing....

... Until a few weeks ago when her son asked me to give him a price to clean them. I duly gave him the price, which he tried to haggle. I told him that I wouldn't touch them for less. He then said I hadn't cleaned them last time, but I had been paid. I reminded him that I had cleaned them twice. He then said I had damaged some of them, and threatened to call the police. I told him I wouldn't try to stop him, before getting in my van and driving off. I had already binned them after the last performance.

I was polite as I could be (I was livid) and realized that this was just another example that all you can do is be as reasonable as possible, but you can't necessarily expect the same from some people.

If I genuinely caused damage, I would expect to pay, but not when the accusation is patently false.#

John

       

[EandM]

......you make a good point, financially speaking my method is totally flawed. It will cost you money to call her bluff but on a personal level its a price I'd be willing to pay.

On a related issue I had to postpone a customer two by weeks recently, they called up with five days to go, old lady and was really vying for an argument....just too long to wait....my son and son-in-law will do it etc. When i initially took her on she said her son did it but she wanted to relieve him of the job. Obviously now I'd cleaned it all and the frames were spotless the son had decided to take it back on. She was lying and so her insecurity about this lie made her aggressive, and had attempted to provoke an argument and blur the issue.

I simply apologized and agreed profusely offering apology after apology and said i completely understood...it really threw her off course. I then said if she ever needed a window cleaner again to call me and I'd be glad to see her back....which obviously I wouldn't. I basically refused to offer any resistance....and hence cause an argument which would allow her to condemn me as unreasonable, next time your wife has a go at you simply agree and apologize....argument over, it is completely disarming.

Your theory is sound,wise and laudable but fails to take into consideration the fact that some customers are lying, cheating weasels.
You grovel, fix, repair and generally waste your time in an effort to be cordial and protect your reputation.
These sorts of people are already one step up from plankton and once you've given 110% there is then nothing stopping them from complaining about your poor attitude, your crummy service, your sideline as a drug dealer, how your unkind to animals etc.....

Your logic only works on honest and reasonable people and if they are, they then won't generally get to this point in the first place.

All depends on your level of cynicism - and mine is very high due to vast experience with people like this.

[Window Washers]

.......just my humble newbie opinion but given what sounds like minimal expense i would insist on paying for the damage to the sophet and definitely replace the gnome, the charm offensive is the only way to stop this crone spreading the word on you, albeit a false one. Your humility in this respect is likely to shame her into revealing the real reason she is cancelling.

perfect answer right here, others think different but this is spot on, great reply

[Richard iSparkle]

.......just my humble newbie opinion but given what sounds like minimal expense i would insist on paying for the damage to the sophet and definitely replace the gnome, the charm offensive is the only way to stop this crone spreading the word on you, albeit a false one. Your humility in this respect is likely to shame her into revealing the real reason she is cancelling.

perfect answer right here, others think different but this is spot on, great reply

i think there are people who will spread a bad word about you, but people like this, who find things to complain about and argue with you...  everyone they know will know what type of person they are.  they will be having run ins with everyone they do business with, complaining and refusing to pay in shops, restaurants etc etc.  people just wont listen to them.

in my experience, after starting out offerring money back to customers who weren;t happy, or taking people on face value when they wanted money for something that was 'broken' when my cleaners swore it wasnt them...  they are looking for an excuse to cancel.  when you pay up and replace the item they will be back on the phone again and cancel anyhow.

[Moderator David@stives]

In my opinion 99% of all customer complaints are justified

I used to shrug them off, thinking moaning bugger, but with staff ignore complaints at your peril

[robertphil]

Service workers take a lot of unjust abuse ,its wrong,in a former life as a car mechanic i used to double up anybodys bill who gave me abuse
-but they still kept on comin! and in the end id had enough of that career, i believe i quit  partly due to miserable customers

[Johnny B]

In my opinion 99% of all customer complaints are justified

I used to shrug them off, thinking moaning bugger, but with staff ignore complaints at your peril

I agree that all complaints should be looked into. If that means that the complaint is found to be legitimate, then corrective action should be taken immediately. The flip side is that there are occasions when customers try it on and therefore a decision should be made whether to continue the business relationship or not, as the issue of trust will have been compromised.

John