5 reasons why “the customer is always right is wrong” – now as an ubercool wall chart
I was recently interviewed for an article in Call Center Magazine and they liked my blog post on The Top 5 Reasons Why “The Customer is Always Right” is Wrong so much that they’ve turned it into a wall chart that is waaaaay more colorful and attractive than my original post. Download it here.
Storytelling Social Media Marketing PR Business & Technology Curated Stories May 31, 2010 Said,
May 31, 2010 @ 10:16 pm
[...] 5 reasons why “the customer is always right is wrong” – now as an ubercool wall chart Published: May 31, 2010 Source: The Chief Happiness Officer I was recently interviewed for an article in Call Center Magazine and they liked my blog post on The Top 5 Reasons Why “The Customer is Always Right” is Wrong so much that they’ve turned it into a wall c… [...]
Chris Said,
June 1, 2010 @ 3:12 pm
I have a theory that the “customer is always right” motto is possibly a relic of the days when the average working stiff could support his/her family on one income. If putting up with a jerk allowed you to live in a decent house in a decent neighborhood, have a car or cars that runs OK, afford a decent vacation, clothe your kids and put a little away for college, it totally makes sense to the employee and the company to put up with a little BS here and there. But with wages so low compared to what things cost, a grin-and-bear-it customer policy really doesn’t make sense to the employee.
Shyam Kumar Said,
June 2, 2010 @ 9:30 am
Colorful indeed! Doesnt seem like your original post was over 2 years ago!
Check out this article by customer service guru Ron Kaufman on how to gracefully handle ‘wrong’ customers by using a kind and forgiving approach rather than getting into arguments – http://www.upyourservice.com/learning-library/customer-service-recovery/as-much-as-possible-forgive-them
Sunday Inspiration #26 | mattrutherfordDOTcom Said,
June 6, 2010 @ 11:48 am
[...] The customer is always right is wrong – some sage advice on how to make your customer service policies be more mutual. [...]
Darren Said,
June 11, 2010 @ 7:31 am
That link is dead! Any chance of re-posting it?
Derek Said,
June 25, 2010 @ 6:07 am
I agree with the above comment by Darren. The link is no longer valid. Can anyone share the wallchart?
Morgan Said,
June 27, 2010 @ 8:18 am
The “customer is always right” phrase dates from a time (c1900) where Ma and Pa stores were the rule rather than the exception and so had few customers to begin with. Also you have to remember that c1900 people had far fewer protections then they do now and Caveat Emptor was king (read Sinclair’s “The Jungle” or Joan Aiken’s “Midnight is a Place” for what things were like for the working class c1900.)
The phrase belongs to a bygone era and should be thrown out as there are things other than customer care than can bring a company down as demonstrated by Circuit City.
Circuit City showed they didn’t care about their employees and their customers responded by going elsewhere. Circuit City now no longer exists.
GH Said,
August 14, 2010 @ 8:42 pm
Does anyone have a valid link so that i can download this wallchart (pdf) please?
Robert Said,
August 27, 2010 @ 12:49 am
Wish my place of work thought the same way. They agree with the “customer is always right” crap. Well, guess what?….they’re not! Customers lie to get what they want. I agree with #1 in saying it makes the employees unhappy. I feel like there is no loyalty and don’t feel valued when they kiss the customer’s ass. I wish I could put a sign up where I work that says “yelling or screaming will not be tolerated. If you do so, you will be thrown out immediately”.
I do not come to work to be verbally abused. It lowers the morale at the workplace. It’s profit over people where I work. They would rather me take crap from a customer than lose money–really nice! I applaud the Jet Blue flight attendant that didn’t take any crap from the passenger who was giving him a hard time. He did what so many of us would love to do.
Remi van Beekum Said,
September 16, 2010 @ 2:22 pm
I wrote a small blog about these 5 reasons in Dutch. And wanted to link to the Wall Chart, but found out it is not online anymore.
Luckily my wife still had a copy, so I put it up there as well. So feel free to download the file from here :
De klant is altijd koning
@Alexander, maybe you should download it too and put it up your site and make the links in the original post work again. Not everybody will read through to this comment..
Alexander Said,
September 16, 2010 @ 10:45 pm
Remi, you’re my hero. I’ve been looking all over for that pdf and never could find it. I’ve uploaded the one you gave me and the links now work again. THANKS!
Remi van Beekum Said,
September 17, 2010 @ 8:12 am
Haha, no problem. I’ll pass the thanks on to my wife, because she’s the one that saved the file somewhere!
Good luck with the chart everyone!