“This is a little out of the ordinary, but I can handle it for you.”

I tend to have unusual requests, and rarely hear this. On the flip side I try to use this often with my customers. For example, I had a new customer for Internet service ask if I could pick him up near by, on my way to install service at his house. My response, “sure”.
marshall | genverters.com´s last blog ..Managed Expectations for Satellite Internet

I understand that this woman’s role at UPS was only to repeat what the screen told me. What I really wanted to know is where my package was located and who locally I could have a discussion as to why my package was a week late being delivered. A better response would have been. “I’m sorry that I cannot help you, however, let me refer you to my supervisor (or anyone with a higher skill level with more access to information.”

One example of poor service, my family used to order from the local Pizza Hut every week. Once we had a Pizza Hut coupon, but they wouldn’t accept the coupon because it was a Pizza Hut/WingStreet coupon and they were not a WingStreet location yet.

They were adamant about this, so we explained that we would pay for our meal without the coupon, but that would be our last time giving them our business. They lost a loyal customer for $5.

I agree that more companies need to turn down the hype and turn up the action. Well said!

It boils down to employees wanting to help customers, not follow procedures for a paycheck.

It made me a heck of a lot happier when I went out of the way for a customer because then they’d become my raving fan, compliment me, and even ask to speak to my manger. Why wouldn’t you want to help someone? Just be nice, honest, and try your hardest to make the customer happy… so simple.
Ryan @ Planting Dollars´s last blog ..Find a Penny, Pick it up?

So true!

Until folks have actually worked in retail for themselves, they have no clue how hard it can be to do certain things. Often, company policy or the computer really DOES bind our hands.

And let’s not forget unreasonable customers who make ridiculous demands that no company could possibly honor (ie, asking for enormous discounts, or wanting something that would put the company or its employees in danger, or some impossible request that even Superman would have trouble fulfilling), and then get mad when the poor employee can’t fulfill their outlandish requests, and said bad customer storms off screaming about “horrible customer service”.

But even some of the phrases to ‘make it all better’ may be impossible for an employee to fulfill. We can’t always refund money at will, or offer a ‘no-cost solution’. There are sleazy customers who love to bully companies into refunding money for products that the store doesn’t even carry or for stolen items. So many scammers try to take the adage “The Customer is Always Right” and use it to essentially steal money and merchandise from the store.

And yes, for smaller companies, it DOES break the company to just go along with the scammers and give them what they want, for the sake of offering great customer service to everyone. It’s a shame that bad apples have to spoil the whole bunch.