February 5, 2008Reader Success Story: Customer service clarity

Filed under: Success Story by merylrunion |

I’m the Manager at a company that manufactures test equipment. I recently received a phone call from one of our “big” customers about a problem they were having with one of our products. While speaking with this gentlemen, I came to realize that the problem wasn’t with our product, instead it was with the actual customer. They wanted our product to do something that it wasn’t capable of doing. I explained this to the customer and he just wasn’t accepting my answer.

Since he wasn’t happy with my response, he then stated “Is there anyone else there that knows more about this product than you?” My response was “Sir, I am the Manager here and there is no other person here that can provide you with more support on this product than me”. His response was “You’re not helping me and I need to resolve this problem”. I then said “Sir, I’ve provided all the support that I can. I’ve been supporting our product and will continue supporting our product. Unfortunately, the product just doesn’t have the capabilities to support your needs. With the situation being how it is, how can we work together to solve this problem?” He then stated “I apologize for taking my frustrations out on you. I understand that this product will not meet my needs. Can I return this product and receive a full refund?”

Since we have a very flexible return policy here, the gentleman returned the product and received a full refund. Case closed.