Reddit mentions of Dealing With the Customer from Hell : A Survival Guide

OK I lied, that's not exactly what happened. I said "returns are outside of my jurisdiction, let me get my manager." The customer had bought a pair of $300.00 Ugg boots. It was a Christmas present for her daughter or something like that. Then she returned them a week later saying something like "they're too big for my daughter" or "she doesn't like them". Since they weren't worn outside, we were willing to take them back. However, she no longer had the large Ugg-branded box that the boots came in. Without that, we would not be able to resell the shoes to another customer, because there would be no way to box them in storage, and also the customer wouldn't get the original box so they might expect a discount. Manager tried to explain to her that without the box we couldn't perform a return.

Customer flipped out. Said shit like "oh come on, just resell it to someone else, they won't care the box isn't there!" So pretty much, she automatically knows more about shoe sales than we do. The manager said "I can't authorize the return without the box, because then I would be responsible for the product when it can't be sold" (and this is a $300 pair of boots), and the customer flipped out at that point. Saying that we were being unreasonable, that she felt ripped off, that this was a scam charging that much for shoes and refusing to take the return, etc...

My manager was a 21 year old girl and she had absolutely no idea what to say. She tried to explain the situation, but the customer didn't care for an explanation. Beyond that she didn't know what to say. So then the customer started verbally assaulting the girl personally I believe, something like "you should feel bad working here, your company is terrible, bla bla bla". And at that point, she just stood there not being able to speak, she was obviously destroyed on the inside. So at that point, there was two other ladies in line, and they told the customer "you should be ashamed to talk to someone like that, especially a helpless young girl who obviously didn't have anything to do with this situation. If you have a problem, call the corporate office, and yell at them. But don't yell at this innocent girl."

In any case, I read a couple books on "dealing with the customer from hell", and I noticed a couple mistakes the manager did when trying to resolve the conflict. Pretty much it says the customer wants to be heard above all else, so let them explain themselves fully, and don't cut them off until they're finished saying the whole thing. Sympathize with the situation, say things like "damn, it's disappointing your daughter didn't like the shoes, you must have been looking for the perfect shoes for a long time before you got those for her." Then repeat the request you think they had, "so you're saying that you need to return these shoes so you can find a better gift, but you don't have the box anymore?" This gives the customer the chance to add any more details if you missed something. Or if not, it makes them feel you're making an effort to listen. Finally you try to look for a way to make it happen. If you're the store manager, you can call regional and ask them if they can do something for the customer. They might be able to validate the return, or if not, they can take a message for someone higher in corporate to review the case, at which point they'll take down the customer's number, and will give them a call back with a follow-up. In the end, I think she called corporate and got them to approve the return without the box. But by that point, all hell already broke loose in the store. And it's because the manager didn't know how to handle the situation. The manager thought her job was to be the iron fist that tells the customer NO, "because store policy." But her job was to be a good listener and a problem solver.