Rant about a nervy customer

Exactly man!

I disagree with these guys. Customer Service has to have its limits and a 60 day "warranty" is pretty great I would say on a product like yours. I think you handled the situation perfectly by suggesting he go with a cheaper option.

I agree with this guy. I think he was just trying his luck. I work in Customer Service call centers and many people are just calling to say "What if". They realize they are the ones at fault, but if they catch the vendor at the exact right time, anything is possible. As I said before, you did the right thing.

Customers expect too much in life, and I aim to change that. There is being reasonable (90 days instead of 60) and there is unreasonable (300+ days). If this guy was actually expecting a full replacement or refund, that is 100% unreasonable.

But what if that customer calls you 90 days later, and says, "it hardened up again! What kind of service is this? You replaced my last one after 13 months, and I accept that was my fault, but this time I only let it sit 90 days! You can't honestly expect me to use this within 60 days, that is only 2 months! I am certainly be going to tell my friends that you don't truly stand behind your product."

Where do you draw the line? When do you stop giving in? I have done customer service for years, and the complainers usually complain repeatedly because they want to push you until you break. They don't care what your profit margins are. They don't care if it is their fault. They want you to take care of everything for them.

I don't live in fear of customers. If a customer is rude, I very clearly tell them to take their business elsewhere. I didn't get into Internet Marketing to take crap from people. That is just my take, and I am successful enough to be happy, and I wish others would do the same.

I think the reason a lot of business owners believe this is because the successful people always boast the loudest "The REASON I am successful is because I always give the best customer service." Well, how do you know that is the reason?

Maybe the reason you are successful is because you offer a good product at a fair price, or the best product at a higher price, or you are just the most convenient for the customer to use?

I will give several examples of businesses who don't need to bend over backwards on customer service to be successful.

McDonalds: Although McDonalds will happily replace any food item you don't like at most locations, or throw you coupons for future visits, your product will usually not be made with any care and will look like crap compared to the item on the picture. If you make a special order, there is a 50/50 shot you actually get what you asked for. Depending on the location, you may or may not be eating old/dirty/unsanitary food. Millions of unhappy customers complain every year about McDonalds product. But it doesn't matter. The majority of customers realize that for that price and that convenience, they will have to put up with some crap.

High End Restaurants: In some high end restaurants, if you ask for salt on your food, they will not allow it. If you complain the food doesn't taste right, the chef will come out and taste it. If the food tastes right to the chef, they will refuse to replace it. They are successful because they BLAME the customer instead of blaming the product/service.

I could go on and on. If you are going to be giving every customer whatever they ask for, you need to build that into the price of your product. If you are already offering very fair pricing on a product that you believe is good quality, then let the customer cry about it and move on.

Haha! Could make some extra money that way.

This reminded me of 2 situations.

1) Shopping for groceries at Safeway, they always offer to "Carry my bags out for me." The problem is, I do not drive a vehicle. I have to carry my bags home which is a 20 minute walk. Now granted, I carry a LOT of bags, more than a normal person could carry, so they assume I have a vehicle, but it upsets me that they assume I do. I always want to ask them, "Carry them home for me?" But I don't because I know they are just doing their job. They can't please every customer, so they have to go with the majority, and the majority of people carrying as many bags as I do will have a vehicle.

2) Buying a new computer at Futureshop, they always try to upsell me on their warranty. Instead of standing behind the product, the guy basically told me "Oh that computer is pretty likely to break down, I wouldn't buy it without a warranty, its a pretty known piece of crap." I was like WTF. I am going to call Acer and tell them the Futureshop employees are doing that. And the warranty cost the exact same as the computer. Not even sure how that makes sense.

Stand behind your product or service. Know your product or service. If you sell a quality product or service, then that will make you successful.

The 60 day replacement IS on the website. It is on the thank you letter I send with the kit and it's on the instruction sheets too. in BOLD! I want people to see it, so we dont get into stuff like this.

It did occur to me he'd used the paint and wants more to do some more work on his car, without having to pay for it.

I did think later to ask that he return the kit, at his expense, and we'd take it from there. I doubt he'd do that as it would cost him money and time and effort to pack it up and send it to me. Hubby and I talked about this scenario a long time ago, that if someone wanted their money back for some reason, they'd need to send us the kit back first.

This guy didnt ask for his money back, he said he didnt like our system even tho he's never used it, and "what do I do now?" He also said if there is a time limit on the paint then it should be stated on the website. Well it's there! He just didnt look. I suspect he's a chronic complainer.

Again, why does this customer need to come back? They didn't use the product the first time so what is the point of a replacement or even a discount on a second order?

Customer service is a dynamic thing, where one must act within the guidelines set forth by the company. In this case the situation does not warrant a replacement nor a discount on a future purchase.

Rach22, they already get free shipping! I dont need to give away more free shipping to a guy who never used his kit in the first place.

When hubby got home last nite and I told him about this guy he said - I hope you didnt offer him a free kit. I said nope, just explained our policy and suggested the cheapest kit. He said good, that's what he'd do.

It's a new day and so far the guy hasnt written back.

DebraDera it says 60 days free replacement on paint on our website and on the thank you letter we send with the kits, and on the instruction sheets that go with the kits. It's typed in BOLD letters in hopes that people actually read it and see it. It does not say it on the bottle itself, but maybe it needs to.

I have only replaced one other paint and that was at about 90 days and the customer was very nice in his request, the current bozo was not. I think 13 months is about 11 months too late to expect a replacement.

It does cost me money if I have to give away free kits or paint, and we pay the shipping and I file my HST so this is not free on my end of things. I've given away free bottles of the solution when a repeat customer places an order and wishes to have an extra bottle. That doesnt cost me much, and I do it in hopes they come back for another kit.

My first thought was that he was a scammer. Who waits over a year to use a kit for their car? It didnt seem real to me, but people are strange, you cant be sure.

I just re-read his email and he said he had health problems and that's why he didnt use the kit. Well that's too bad, if he really was ill, but that's not my problem and I cant let him make it my problem.