Home Sweet Home Office

When do you cut a customer loose? How many times can you afford to argue or discuss a particular situation?

This is a loaded question. I suppose it would definitely depend upon the situation and whether it would fall under the “this business reserves the right to deny service to anyone”.

I find that when some customers frequent a small business they feel empowered to make demands and basically call the owner and their employees ignorant. This is magnified when the customer feels that they are capable of doing the same job themselves.

Whether the customer is complaining about the price or the service itself there are a few things that they should think about. If they did work there how much would they expect to be paid? If they do not have enough time to do it themselves – they are admitting that time is spent and time cost money.

On the other hand a business has to take the customer’s complaint to heart and decide whether they have a valid point. No one is perfect and it is possible that the customer was promised more than was delivered. So where do you draw the line?

Once the same situation has been discussed from all angles and no solution is obvious. Once you have exhausted every avenue to please the customer and they refuse to settle. Once the cost has become unacceptable – it is time.

Be fair and courteous but firm. Thank them for their patronage and then suggest that they take their business elsewhere. If you are prepared with a competitor’s contact information you take some of the wind out of their sails.