How to Handle Customer Complaints

When your a manager. dealing with customers complaining can be very stressful, hopefully these steps will help you deal with complaints alittle easier.

Common complaints:

• Rudeness
• out of stock
• prices

I have had numberous complaints called in and what gets me is that only 3% are actually true. Customers.. which I am not going to refer them as customers anymore.. People call in and tell lies, I have know idea why they do this but it really gets to the point where you can just give up. The issue I want to make sure you understand is to just make sure there are people, other co-workers are there to verify with you in any complaint.

When I went to a class about customer service, I noticed on the board in the classroom the statement. A CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS...... A CUSTOMER. When I saw that, I smiled.. FINALLY! I have no idea who started the slang, a customer is always right.. my idea would probaly be a woman who shopped at a store and was so pissed that she did not get what she wanted, regardless how hard the employees tried. And complained until she, in her mind, was right. But again.. this is my theory.

So, you get called up to the front, maybe your employee filled you in on what happen, maybe not. I personally, let the employee tell their side of the story, but most of the time, I really can't go by that, when dealing with a complaint, I listen to what my employee says and then go to the person complaining about something..always repeat their complaint!

So you listen.. they tell their story.. remember these things:

1. watch your facial expressions
2. watch how you are standing
3. stay an arm length away
4. put your hands behind your back or holding your hands in front of you, do this casually.
5. watch how you speak
6. always repeat their complaint
7. never say "I AM SORRY!"
8. pass the buck

1: facial expressions.. me, my eyebrows and eyes go everywhere.. that's just my personality.. I find it easier to control your facial expression by lifting your eyebrows up.. you might look weird but it tends to have an effect on the person talking to you.. it works.. and casually nod your head as you are listening.

2: standing.. stand slightly angled in front of them.. right or left leg relaxed out to the front of you, kinda like a "top model" standing. Don't stand straight and 100% facing them.. like they are your drill sergent. This tends to lead into confrontation and act like you don't "really" want to listen.

3: arm length away.. some people really like to get up in your face.. if they do step back and if they keep stepping forward step back again..3rd time the charm. State, "Maam/Sir, I really feel uncomfortable you being that close to me, that is why I have stepped back TWICE, it is not necessary for you to be that close to me. I would appreciate it if you would step back just a bit, Thank you!" When you are arm length away from them, you have more time to react if they try anything.

4: hands behind your back.. this controls your hand and arm movements. simply said.

5: speak.. Aww.. the tone of your voice.. more reason to teach yourself to keep your eyebrows up.. it's hard to down your voice when you have your eyebrows up! Your tone of your voice changes.

6: repeat... just like it says..

7: sorry.. the famous 3 letter words in retail I AM SORRY! Stop it.. don't say it anymore when dealing with complaints.. Replace with " I understand your complaint, I will make sure my manager is aware of YOUR situation. Thank you for your time in explaing this to me.".. PERIOD..

8: pass the buck... if you are unsure about handling any type of complaint, pass it on. You can state:" I understand your complaint, but at this time I would have to get my managers approval, (or have to discuss this with my manager), would it be possible for you to leave your name and phone number, and I will contact you when I have discussed this with my manager. " Even if you are a manager and either your store manager or another asst. manager is there, get them, explain to them the situation if the complaint gets to out of hand. Having another manager take over before you get frustrated handles things better. And there is nothing wrong with doing this.

Here's one compaint I should of passed on to my manager

I get called to the front, a gentlemen approaches me and starts stating that his daughter came in and was trying to return merchandise but when she tried to return the manager was too busy and took her name and number..*first lie*. He wanted to handle this upfront and not have to go through corp. * STOP.. okay, fine.. here's the threating phone call to corp.. I have gotten over and you guys should too, about people threating that they will call corp on you. First and foremost, if you are in the right, I mean IN THE RIGHT, then by all means let them. Dial the damn number for them. I am so sick of hearing that. Let corp deal with them. We will go more into this in my next section. Okay.. back to the story. Now I have gotton a whiff of his breathe.. drinking lately?.(first clue) So made this statement that he apologized for how he look, he was underneath a house (second clue). I asked him, what can I do for you, sir. (my mistake) He replied, a boat, etc.. (third clue) I said realistically, I told him that I would give him a refund. ( You all know, from your district manager is to handle situations at store level.) So he showed me the merchandise that his daughter was trying to return, fine. (Here you are, trying your hardest to be nice and understanding, not causing a scene, and trying to stay focused with everything else going on.) So I give him a refund.. later knowing shit, I don't have the merchandise. We all have our bad days. Leaving that night, guess who I see walking in the parking lot! Yep.. that son of a bitch. Totally lied and took advantage of me. I wanted so bad to drive right up beside him and tell him a few things I had on my mind that very moment. Then again, I strongly believe in what comes around goes around. Drove away and wished him well.

Yes, I should of been more focused and I do have my excuses on this situation, which being a manager, there is no excuses.

Lesson learn.. on my situation, I should of have him deal with the person that first handled it. If you come across this situation, call the bluff. If so and so dealt with it, you can contact that person while the person complaining is there, or have them come back and talk to that manager personally.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment.