How do you deal with insolent customers?

That's crazy. Although, sadly, not surprising when I think about it.

They're not worth it... Think about it, you could've spent the same amount of time making more money rather than trying to reason with that troll

People can't argue with you if you don't argue back.

Nothing makes an idiot ranter look stupid better than a professional reply. You don't let someone bring you down to his low level of conduct.

But...I wouldn't send him a free anything.:p

This is not a customer you want to convert or sell to again.

kay

"How do you deal with insolent customers?"

If it's a particularly entertaining rage-filled email, why not start a thread over at the Off-Topic Forum so we can all enjoy it?

The only way to deal with turds is to polish them. Get a good laugh at their expense, then silently refund them. I don't even send an email; that would be conceding that they had a claim on my attention.

fLufF
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Thanks for your feedback supersonic. I guess I'm a little unclear on your post. I'm not sure what you meant by taking his "e-mail to heart". It was pretty clear to me that he had no intention of paying for the book. So he probably already had it planned to ask for a refund. Either way it wasn't going to change the outcome with this particular product because I have a no-questions asked refund policy for it.

Here's something else to think about:

About 2 years ago I had a customer ask for a refund, which I did. But then he kept sending me e-mails asking for support, which I politely refused because he had not paid for the product. He was not rude, but he was being pushy and difficult.

About a week after that ordeal, I received a phone call from a reporter who worked for a local newspaper and he confessed that he was posing as a customer to see how my business would respond because he was writing a piece about customer service.

You just never know who the person is at the other end. Though this might sound naive to some people, I try to assume the best in people now; meaning that maybe that person had a really bad day. Maybe his girlfriend broke up with him. Maybe he lost someone in the family.

While these things do not give anyone license to be rude, their rudeness does not give me a license to be rude back to them. If nothing else, I view it as a test to sticking through with the code of ethics and professionalism I have set forth for my businesses.

If nothing else, I hope my e-mails make them think twice about what they've done. And sometimes, I get e-mails back apologizing for being so rude. It's rare, but it's all worth for me. I focus my energies on my existing and new customers, there's no sense in wasting time and effort on energy vampires. Kindness is the garlic that I use.

RoD

Becky, I should not have read that while I was drinking my smoothie! I now have an ice headache in my nostrils! lol

No. Actually, they were insolent. Asswipes.

I hear ya Kay. The cool thing is that he bought the book afterwards anyway and he definitely enjoyed it.

Amen to that. I remember my days as a stock broker, cold calling a bunch of old lists. This online thing is a cake walk compared to that.

Yes, I really enjoy the dating niche, it's definitely a passion for me. One gets to see people making positive changes in their lives for the better. It's freakin' awesome. And you're right, never get into flame wars with customers or prospects, it's just not worth it.

Normally my e-mails are really short as well, but sometimes I'll take the time to write one that's a bit longer. Why? Because I can! In this specific instance the customer had e-mailed me a couple of times before he bought the book. He had some questions and they were answered. I rarely get nasty e-mails like that too, but I noticed with increased volume usually increases the weirdo e-mails that I get too.

RoD