The World's Greatest Customer?

Nice story, Michael. Rare and refreshing.

I was thinking about my own greatest customers. I think it's the occasional customer that comes along from time to time and becomes my champion. They have kind words for me and refer lots of other people to me. I like to keep customers happy, but every once in a while one gets extra-happy and it's really nice when that happens. I appreciate it when they are happy enough to go out of their way to tell others about my work.

Just goes to show that there are some pretty genuine people out there. I mostly do affiliate marketing, so I don't deal with the customers. But back when my web design business was my main focus, I had a customer who gave me a decent bonus, which was really cool and generous.

There've been a lot of them over the years. Probably the most unusual, though, was a guy who had a minor tech problem.

His new computer was trying to open a PDF file using MS Word. He'd ordered a bunch of other things from me in the past and never had any problems, so he emailed me, thinking it might be a corrupt file or something.

I'd had a number of those around that time, so I got him on the phone to figure out what the challenge was. File associations problem, which was easy to fix. We got it straightened out, and I gave him a refund for his troubles. He'd spent a fair chunk of time on it, so I figured that was the least I could do.

The gentleman wasn't going to let that go unanswered. He went to LinkedIn and posted a recommendation for me.

I was floored.

People like that will make your whole week.


Paul

About six months ago, I spent a rare 12 hours with a client (he paid upfront); 4 hours on Friday and 8 hours on Saturday (this was in the dating niche). He appeared to be happy with the results and we parted ways.

During the follow up a week later, he mentioned that he really wasn't satisified with the results (he had major buyer's remorse too) and that he was also facing unforseeable hard economic times. I normally do not give full refunds for this type of coaching, but after discussing his situation at length I decided to give him a full refund. The guy was going through a really tough time. No hard feelings, I've been through something similar so I could empathize. I just advised him to remember what I taught him because I knew that it worked.

I received a totally unexpected call from him around mid-January. He was ecstatic, energetic, and I couldn't figure out why he was calling me, talking 100 miles a second. He then stated that he felt really bad for asking for a refund, especially since I had invested so much of my time with him and that over the past 3 months he had been doing all the exercises that I taught him (which blew me away since most people have horrible follow-through). He felt he owed it to himself and to me.

He claims that it aided in him getting a better job and having a robust dating life again. He was so happy that he not only paid the full coaching fee with a nice tip, but took me and my girlfriend out to a nice dinner, which lasted about 3 hours because we all had so much to talk about.

I'll be honest here, the money was a sweet surprise. But an even bigger surprise was seeing the change he went through because I thought he wasn't going to be able to implement what he learned for at least another year. I felt I was sitting across a different person - more confident, more congruent with himself. Those kind of customers make my whole year!

RoD

Hey Micheal, thanks for sharing that story with us. It's refreshing to see that there are honest people with integrity. I wouldn't call myself that though. Mostly just impulsive.

Over a year ago I had a very strange refund encounter.

The customer bought my product. They downloaded it. They
even complimented me on the content.

Then a chargeback came in some weeks later.

I was surprised to say the least. I contacted them to see
what the situation was. It turned out that they'd used
someone else's card (with their permission) but the other
person then changed their mind weeks later and did a
chargeback (even though they'd paid the person their
money back).

Despite the fact that I even had the original buyer stating
that they'd purchased the product, etc, PayPal still proceeded
with the chargeback.

A while later, the original buyer contacted me again to pay me
in full - plus they included the chargeback fee too.

There are some great people out there who have integrity.

As an aside, don't always negatively judge people who request
a refund.

I learned this when I received a short e-mail that simply said
'REFUND PLEASE' in ALL CAPS - no hello, kiss-my-arse nor
nothing!

'Serial refunder' - I wrongly thought. Then I sent them a refund
and an e-mail asking them for feedback on why they'd refunded.
The feedback they sent was very detailed and useful.

So never judge a refund request at face value either.

Dedicated to mutual success,

Shaun

You do get some real diamonds out there.

My best customer was one that bought a product I created 3 years ago. The next day I noticed he'd placed 3 more orders for the same software.

So I emailed him to ask if there had been a mistake and that he should check his paypal account in case it was just an error on mine - he emailed back to say he thought my software was far too cheap for what it did so he paid 3 more times because he thought it was worth it. I was a bit bemused.

Those are some awesome examples so far!

Most customers never request refunds, and most that do request them are honest people just like us.

I have seen a lot of complaints about customers, and I've probably made a post or two about them, but it's good to be reminded that they are worthy of our praise once in a while, too.

All the best,
Michael

I have some GREAT customers too. (I'm really enjoying all the best customer stories by the way.)

I built a Website for a Musician, collected my fee and he threw in a nice little laptop which I still use.

There are so many but here is one more. Not a customer but a very nice Warrior. Years ago I poured my heart into answering one of those "how can I make some quick money" posts.

It was back in the "buy me a beer days." (miss that little mug) A Warrior bought me a $50 beer for that post. Floored me.

George Wright

Thank you for the story. My students are my main reason for teaching IM. It's amazing how some are just so honest, it could actually have them lose some dignity. Its a rare thing indeed, however, some will go to great lengths to make me happy. It has nothing to do with Money! Simply being human can make my day.

I know I can turn to a couple students when I myself have personal issues. I love them all so much! They deserve only the best from me.

Bernard

That's very interesting to know that people with integrity and honesty still exist. Fed up of refund bandits and people who just want to get things for FREE. A lot of them just take advantage of the money back guarantee and don't understand that what they do is unethical.

Great stories, and great thread idea, Michael. It helps to restore a little confidence in our fellow man.

I've had a lot of wonderful customers and newsletter subscribers. Marge is an artist who learned how to build websites from my newsletter. She sent me two original water color paintings out of the blue in appreciation. They're very good and hang in my office. I'm very proud of them.

Jeannie has an extensive collection of quotation books, and upon learning I collect them, she wrote to inform me she left her collection to me in her will. That was a stunner, but as I told her, I hope I never get to collect them because she's younger than I am.

Several years ago I decided to mess with my wife on her birthday, so I asked my newsletter subscribers to send her a postcard for her birthday. Wow, she received well over one hundred postcards, regular cards, and handmade cards from around the world wishing her a happy birthday. One woman, Lynne, has sent her a card every year.

I love my peeps!

Here is my story:

I started my journey of designing few months back and I was desperately looking for some work. I was doing pretty well as a starter. In a month I had a nice portfolio (which was good). I got a PM from a guy on another forum and he wanted a logo done. I was happy I found another good customer. He checked my portfolio and was happy to choose me to design a logo for him. He asked me to design first and then he would pay, I wasnt sure about that point but gave it a shot. He liked my first draft and then we had like few revision sessions. It took 2 days and we kept on revising a bit more and finally the logo was completed. He asked me how much do I charge for a logo normally I said I charge around 25-50$ depending on the requirements. He asked me for my paypal address and I gave him immediately. The next moment he said me check your paypal, I logged in immediately and was shocked he paid me 245$ for the logo I did. I was like WTF !!!! I asked him are you sure about that ? He said you over delivered then I expected so I am just doing the same you did.

That was probably the best day for me as a designer it wasnt about that money alone but when he said I over delievered then he expected.

How often do you get customers like those ?

Thats one of my sweetest stories. I got few more which I might share later

I just wanted to add that most customers are great! It's just that a lot of them don't communicate with us. Granted, they could still be unsatisfied with what they got from us, but I think most of them are happy.

So, while they may not have a reason to get in touch with us--one way or the other--they are still valued and respected.

I wanted to be sure to give them credit, too. And to say "thank you".

All the best,
Michael

That is spectacular. I always think twice before asking for a refund. If I can get value out of it, then I shouldn't just ask for a refund. Maybe I don't like the method or something but I know the work the creator put into their product.

I once had a person email me about a product that he could help me out, he said something like this as I remember...

Richard

I'm writing you today because I came across your product xxxxxxx
I plan on buying it from you then asking for a refund on your 100%
money back guarantee. I hope you understand.

I can't afford it but I think it will help me out online.
I can save you the hassle of refunding it by you just sending me the download link direct to me.

This was a new one to me...
I sent the download and said, I hope this is what you're looking for to help grow your online business. All I ask is someday I would like you to pay it forward and help out someone who needs it.

Never heard from them again.

Richard

It's very comforting to know that in this wild and crazy world, there's still genuinely good people.

What a fantastic story Michael - isn't it nice to see there are some really great, honest people out there.

It really makes a difference to your day when you have something good like this happen!

Hey Micheal great idea for a thread and even better story. I actually wrote a recent story about fanatics those super cool customers we experience and always hope to create.

The greatest customer experience I have received was when someone posts articles or retweets me. Without me ever asking.