Professional staff yelling at customers in public view of other customers is always a very bad idea. Very bad. It is especially problematic when staff accuse customers of serious misconduct like running out without paying for services—only to learn later that the accusation was completely untrue! A colleague recently told me the following story.
Real World Story: “I was sitting in my dog’s vet office, feeling sad and anxious that my old, long-time companion wasn’t doing well. I was lost in my thoughts, feeling sorry for my dog and me. Then all hell broke loose in the waiting room. No, it wasn’t dogs running around, barking at one another. It was a staff member barking loudly at a customer! The staffer was accusing the customer of walking out without paying for services the last time she brought her dog in to be seen by the vet.
“‘They just walked out without paying,’ the staff woman yelled over at the receptionist, referring to a young woman holding a French bulldog at the counter.
“The French bulldog owner then said she was unaware of any unpaid invoices. She tried to explain that the dog had two previous vet visits, one in mid-September and one in early October. And for the first visit, her mom and dad were the ones to bring in the dog. The second time, it was her sister and aunt who brought in the dog. After a few phone calls, the French bulldog owner received a text with a payment confirmation from her dad.
“‘That’s the payment for the September visit,’ the staffer barked again. ‘They just left without paying for October,’ she concluded.
“The French bulldog owner then received a call from her mother and said that the sister and aunt had paid with her Mastercard. She texted a copy of the payment confirmation. At this point, the French bulldog owner asked to speak to the manager.
“‘I already told my manager about you, so yes, she’s coming out. She wants to talk to you too,’ barked the staffer.
“The office manager popped in from the back office. She wasn’t exactly a bundle of joy, but she wasn’t as aggressive as the first staffer. She went through the payment history again while typing on a computer keyboard, saying the first payment was made but not the second payment for the October visit. The French bulldog owner then showed her the payment confirmation her mother had just texted. The office manager was able to find the payment and said, ‘Oh, okay. I do see the payment now. The problem is that we didn’t apply it to your account after we processed the charge.’
“The office manager then walked away. No apology. No nothing. No one in that office offered any sort of apology to the French bulldog owner, who had just been berated and accused of walking out without paying after the family’s last visit—right in front of everyone in the waiting room.”
Strategies that Turn it Around:
- Speak in private. Never ever argue with a customer in a public space like a waiting room, especially if other customers can hear you. If you need to discuss a problem with a customer, pull that customer aside and talk in private, especially when discussing sensitive personal and private details. And when speaking in private, never raise your voice. All that does is escalate a bad situation.
- Avoid accusatory language: Even if you suspect a customer is lying to you, never ever use accusatory language. Such language simply escalates already bad situations. It is better to repeat back to the customer what she or he is telling you and then use facts to counter their arguments. For example, don’t say, “I know you’re lying. You took off without paying the last time you were here.” Instead, say something like, “If I am understanding you correctly, you made your last payment to us on a visa card for a total of XYZ on this date. Is that correct? Unfortunately, I do not see that such a payment was made. Do you have a receipt for that transaction that may help to clarify this situation?”
- Apologize when you are wrong: If you are wrong, APOLOGIZE, especially if you accused a customer of wrongdoing. Never ever just walk away and hope a customer simply forgets about a bad customer service experience. Always own your mistakes and apologize for them. And apologize sincerely.
Remember: We all make mistakes. And we will all continue to make mistakes. The trick is to apologize for the mistakes we make, learn from those mistakes, and never repeat them again. Sometimes, you can turn around a bad experience into a good conclusion with a sincere and heartfelt apology.
How do you ensure that your customer service does not go to the dogs?