That’s our policy

Is there a less satisfying response as to why something has happened than ‘That’s our policy’? It certainly does not help me when I am in a frustrated state and looking for reasons as to why this particular misfortune has happened.

There is an unstated argument in the line ‘That’s our policy’ that causes a great deal of anger, which most purveyors of the line struggle to understand. It is the implicit suggestion that it is the customer’s fault for not understanding the policy, and not treating the policy with respect. It goes hand-in-hand with the idea that customers should read the fine print.

Yesterday one of our team sourced and bought online replacement parts for one of the machines in the office. He was thrilled with the immediacy of search, select and buy, and looked forward to receiving the item within the week as offered.

However, soon after paying for the order online he got a polite and friendly email back from the company saying it would be in stock early February but was offered a generic unbranded version of the same item. After an email back to the customer service person explaining the desire for the name brand and not the less expensive unbranded version, it seems the case was escalated to someone else who sent a defensive email back analysing and copying phrases from our staff member’s email referring to some fine print about deliveries “95% of all orders will be supplied in a maximum of 10 working days”.

So the customer has been proved to be in the wrong! Where does this leave the customer? Angry and telling many people about the experience, and another email analysing the service provider’s response. In other words a conflict spiral. At no time did our staff member ask for the money back – but it was fully refunded. So it is a fair resolution? Yes. Is it the right approach? In part yes – because there was immediate response, a thanks for the feedback, a referring to the fine print. But sadly the overall result is a NO – this is not the right approach. And to make it worse it is all in writing.

Many complaints today are handled by email. Why do so many people resort to the defensive approach: “That’s our policy, Sir, you should have read the fine print”. Usually it happens when the customer shows their anger – the natural reaction is reciprocity. But even if the customer displays inappropriate anger – we should not react!

Are staff trained to welcome complaints and manage them in the best way – especially when it is mostly done by email?

So what do you do if you are running a customer service centre, or are answering calls from angry customers about returns policies and other matters that are out of your hands?

1. Listen to the person. Find out what the real complaint is – openly, without being defensive. Focus on the facts.
2. Welcome the feedback. The likelihood is that this might be the tip of the iceberg, as nine out of 10 people don’t complain, they just tell others about the bad service. So you need to appreciate the call, sincerely. Customer feedback in all its forms is good for the company. In fact I would thank the person for giving you the opportunity to fix the problem.
3. Apologise. It’s not difficult and it goes a long way. The sorry can be in the form of ‘I am sorry this is disappointing’ or ‘I am sorry this has been frustrating for you’. It doesn’t have to be ‘Sorry I made a mistake’ or ‘Sorry we did the wrong thing’
4. Show empathy. We all know what it’s like to be stonewalled by an unhelpful phone attendant. Say things like ‘I can hear you are upset’, ”It must be annoying when you had planned to have it next week’.
5. Resolve the problem. Explain what you will do to fix it. In the case above the refund came automated, with no email. It could have been accompanied by an email saying that they have checked availability and the item will be in by exactly this date. Or ‘We have found we can get it here 2 weeks earlier but there will be an additional courier fee – would you like us to place the order’. Even a phone call to apologise after the event. These kinds of complaints should end on a good note.

Eve Ash is the author of many service training DVDs and has an excellent set of online cost effective 360° skill assessment tools for assessing customer service training needs, and even one on listening skills.