The Customer is NOT Always Right

“The customer is always right.”

Yes yes, we storeowners already know that is rarely the case but we pretend they are anyway because it’s what we’ve always been taught. Businesses are supposed to meet all their customers’ demands… no matter how ridiculous.

Well I say no!

I rely on my customers to make my business possible. I care about their gripes and listen to their requests but when a customer mistreats my employees or starts to cost my business money, I draw the line.

Most issues are perfectly legitimate and most customers are fair about them; ie. if a product arrives damaged they don’t automatically assume you shipped it that way and fly off the handle.

There are going to be problems from time to time, that’s just the natural order of the universe. You’re even going to screw up a few times, no one is perfect. You just apologize, fix it, and maybe throw in a little something extra for the customer if it was a big error. Everyone ends up happy, or at least satisfied.

But there are times when you NEED TO FIRE A CUSTOMER.

If you have your policies spelled out on your site (which you should!) it is the customer’s responsibility to read, understand, and accept them before making a purchase. You need to have pages like your return policy, FAQ, terms and conditions, etc clearly defined and available for your customers. You should link to them from your site pages, your cart pages, and include links to them in your customer follow-up emails.

This is imperative for regular issues as well as major problems.

By making your policies clear and readily available you’re doing everything you can to make sure the customer knows and accepts the rules. I do this on every one of my sites without exception.

So when a customer balks about a restocking fee or tries to return something months after the return period has expired I can point them to the pages on the site and explain, very nicely, that they are wrong. Most of the issues end right there.

But every now and again you’ll get one that just won’t see reason. Here’s where you need to be judicious. If they are giving you a huge problem over a couple bucks, let them have it. It doesn’t matter if they’re wrong, they’re wasting your time and by letting them go early you’re probably saving yourself the hassle of a chargeback.

If it’s a large amount or they’re harassing your customer service reps, give em a pink slip. You should not have to waste your time and lose a chunk of money because they couldn’t be bothered to read your return policy. As long as your policies are clearly displayed and the customer got everything they ordered you are not in the wrong.

Make sure you always keep all customer information and correspondence because in situations like this you’ll need it to win the chargeback that’s most likely coming. I have only ever lost one chargeback in a case like this, the credit card companies are usually pretty fair and you give yourself a lot of leverage by presenting all the evidence you can to support your case.

Here is an example from my own experience.

I have no control how my customer’s monitors are set, what shows up as pink on my screen could look more like red on someone else’s; so in a store where I’m selling something very dependent on color, like my tapestry store, I have a note on my return policy page that says: Due to the variations in monitors, colors of the actual tapestries may vary from the pictures shown. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email us at info@european-wall-tapestries.com.

So when a customer wants to return a tapestry that isn’t quite same color they expected and are trying to force us to forgo the restocking fee I don’t bow down. First I offer them a free exchange – no restocking fee on the return if they want something else and if they choose a more expensive item I’ll give them a little discount to make up for the inconvenience.

If they refuse that and continue demanding, I simply let them know that those are our terms, they are clearly posted on the website, and I give them the information they need should they decide to return the tapestry. Then I end the communication. I am never rude or condescending – stick to the facts and be professional in your correspondence.

In cases like that, most of my customers accept the restocking fee and return the product and the others submit chargebacks. Let me just reiterate that this happens very rarely, I’m talking maybe 3 or 4 times a year.

These people will just keep arguing with you, you will not win.

Don’t be afraid to fire a demanding customer. By taking up your time or your employees’ time they are weakening your business and that is the opposite of what customers are supposed to do.