Christina Rowe of Akzo Nobel Decorative Coatings shares her customer story:
About 15 years ago, I was working as an area sales manager for a prominent department store in a small southern town. One of my sales associates (far more mature then my 24 years) called me to her department to speak with an angry customer. This gentleman wanted to return a very expensive designer womans suit (without a receipt) because it was missing an interior button (the suit was double breasted, and he'd lost the extra buttons that came with the suit). My sales associate offered up an ENTIRE basket of spare buttons for him to choose from, but he wanted his money back - in cash, of course. I backed up my employee, offered an exchange or replacement buttons. He proceeded to scream at me for 20 minutes, and eventually left with the suit in his hands. The store manager supported my decision; the company was very strict in its return policies. The kicker to this story? The customer was the minister of a very large Baptist congregation, whose wife was, and continued to be, one of our best customers.
Stories like that - a situation where the customer is given a solution or several options and yet still chooses to stand their ground, makes you wonder what the "back story" is. Had the coat been too expensive and he actually needed the cash? Was it a power play? Had he been cut off by another driver when pulling into the parking lot and just walked in angry? hmmm.
Yet the wife is still a great customer. So clearly, although you know he went home and ranted and raved, she chose not to listen and continues her loyalty based on her own experience.
What do you think? Did the customer have cause to continue his anger? When faced with a request for refund, do you comply or try and offer options?
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