i just would like to know what you think about this.

No. But they do. And if they don't believe they are "right," they believe they are justified.

A customer is always right - thats what we need to keep telling each and every customer, each and every time they contact us - in Customer Service. Thats the only reason they will keep comming back to you - because they are "delighted" with the service they receive as a Customer.

Even if they are 'wrong' (as they, many times, would be) and make unreasonable demands from your company, we can only tell them what we "can do" and what we "cannot do" - according to the company policies. It works - most of the time !

However, the moment we try and tell the customer that he may not be 'right' - you can as well tell yourself "There goes one more customer !"

Or, shall I put it this way - good customer service is all about putting the 'wrong' things in the 'right' way ! In the end, its all about making a customer beleive, he/she is always right !

We will always be able to tell when a customer is not right. We operate in a way that spares them from this knowledge and also spare them from being treated like they are being taught something or asked to work. The more we know a customer, the better we are. Knowledge and love are not interchangeable here. (Love can be very subjective, and there is only so much of it to go around.) Customer service is information and using it in a way that suits an objective, from my perspective.

The actual question is "do you believe that the customer is always right?"

I think you will find anyone posting in this forum does not agree and anyone in customer service that does, probably would learn very quickly the customer is not always right!

Maybe the question should be "How do we handle wrong customers?"

As most would agree its how you actually relate to the customer... some customers you will never relate too, therefore you are pretty much flogging a dead horse as soon as they call, even if you tell them you were wrong and I'll send you 100 bucks for your troubles

One "trick" the business I work for, uses working as a team and we are very capable of determining within a few seconds if we are personally able to take control and if not we will put them on hold and send them through to another employee that we know can relate to that customer.

The same goes with call outs we have one tech that is never sent to a customer because we know he will tell them they are "stupid" and most likely walk out and charge them on the invoice "Idiot fee" but he is ok with taking irate customers over the phone.

So how can we tell a customer they are wrong?
Information, buy asking them the right questions 90% of the time the customer will realise they are wrong by answering them truthfully and most of the time its only because they have misunderstood the information they were given in the first place and/or just given the wrong information. The other 10% of the time its "user error", therefore justifying the "idiot fee" .....mmmmm...only joking!

The best first question to start with is "why did you choose our product/service/company?" if you ask this question before any other - but after the customer has told you why they have contacted you
This is the first step in relating to that particular customer.

I've yet to believe an angry customer has ever lied to me on that one question yet I might know the next 20min on the phone he/she is telling complete utter crud to blame somebody else.

The day an angry customer tells me "I chose your product/service/company because my friend reckons you guys don't know what you are doing - over charge and/or don't provide support" is the day I will stop asking.

But when a customer tells me Fred in sales said this and said that - straight away I know how to get a grip on the problem (it might be Fred only started last week and is not skilled on the product knowledge)
I can easily fix the problem

Or they might say my friend said this product/service etc is what I needed, once again it doesn't take long before you know that they are using our product because they provided information they received from their friend...

Happens everyday!

But one thing I always remember is that every customer problem is unique
doesn't matter if there has been a misprint in a user guide and I receive 1000 calls with the same issue, it just means I probably know how to solve the issue very quick and hopefully the 1000th customer recommends my business due to the customer service. Even I can't complain about that.... except to the printers that forgot to use the speeling check before release.

So, as I always say, "The customer is always right, except when there're not!"
And "I'm always right, once I thought I was wrong....But that was a mistake!"

But every situation is different

Anyhow have fun!

Hi All

Even if the customer is not right, customer service job is to make them feel that they are right while telling them subtly that they are not.
This is the tactic one learns by experience in dealing with customers.

Cheers

I will tell what i come to conclude, Customers most times are impaitence, rude, mis-informed, nags, sensitive, etc but never wrong! it is my place to in my few moment of contact quickly place them under the approprate headings and kindly deal with them.