This customer is a DISASTER MASTER -Seriously! Talk about cultural problems...

lol

Only selling books through amazon a few low end customers never read the descriptions and complain later.
I will tell you I prefer the high end customer to the low end any day. The high end usually knows what they want and know how to ask questions and will contact you if they have any issues. The low end well their idea of communicating is to give you a low rating and ignoring you when you try to make them happy lol.

Nice Thread always ready for a good laugh.

Does our sales page make it clear that you write humorous articles?

Just wondering, because if it doesn't then I think your response was unprofessional.

You refunded, which was good. But the video was just being provocative - unless it's clear you write funny articles, in which case I apologise.

this guy wanted his refund before he ordered

Thats really funny........... By the way Nice Video

Sounds like he didn't know he'd be getting humorous content, which is probably nobody's fault considering he has a poor mastery of the English language.

I think the sales letter makes it crystal clear. I knew exactly what I was buying.

Did you recycle the article yet? Can you sell it to me? I can most likely use it.

Hey man sorry that had to happen to you.

I think it's the language barrier here that caused the misunderstanding. I do think professional integrity has to be maintained even in situations like this.

Andrei, do you think your potential customers (which could be people reading this thread) will view any of this in a positive light? I don't think people want to hire anyone that will see them as "morons" when a misunderstanding takes place, do you?

Although having said that, he did respond with threats of complaining to Paypal before even hearing you out...

As soon as I see that line I have absolutely no patience with people. I give them their money back and tell them to go and waste someone else's time. Saying something like that IS a threat and I will not have people threaten me. I have had it said to me a couple of times before. I refuse to work with idiots like that and often I will pass on their emails to my Paypal account manager and THEY end up in hot water with Paypal.

Your actions were right. Not because this guy didn't have a great understanding of the English language or that he is in the real estate niche. His biggest undoing was the fact he is a first rate knob.

Oh well - at least he got you an order from me

Will

I don't think either one of you handled this very well.

The customer shouldn't have threatened to go to PP right away.

You shouldn't have made fun of him and his English for misunderstanding your ad. I would suspect you saw his poor English when he hired you and sent his project brief to you. Really, sending him the video and then sending him to www.engrish.com is pretty unprofessional.

Becky

I had the US client who wanted me to translate his questionnaire from English to Russian. And he was very embarrassed that the Russian translation had different number of letters and words than the original English questionnaire.
I sent him a link to "Russian Grammar for Dummies" and in the end he was OK with the fact that different languages have different words and grammar rules

To be fair, I think its simple enough, write much on travel / taxis, if so pm of some samples all ways on the look at for something different.

Hahaha your post cracked me up!

Write the "hole" article again lol

English isn't my first language...
and for me misunderstandings like that a pure gold to learn new vocabulary for life
and they are an endless source of laughter too. Just imagine that the American beaver equals the German bear... (maybe not the kinda vocabulary one can't succeed without... but it can keep you out of trouble to know).

I don't think it's appropriate to make fun of other peoples skills... or the absence of those. This is especially true when it comes to business...

but... this "customers" reaction is also a bit out of whack, don't you think?
This guy was obviously lacking the least bit of humor and the least bit of curiosity to find out why this happened... and he started threatening instantly. That's not what I would call "muy simpatico". You might have to take in account though that being openly gay is considered a crime in some of these eastern countries... you might get killed in the street if you make the "wrong impression" or thrown in the slammer if you're lucky.

However... I think I probably would have tried to explain...
but I'm also glad about the fact that you didn't, Andrei... because
otherwise I would have missed the laughs about your video. I hope
your response bit him in his homophobic butt... LOL

Andrei,

You refer to your customer as: "some dude from one of those South East European countries (Think Ukraine or Moldova or something)"

That in itself sounds a tad disrespectful to what is supposed to be the hand that feeds you don't you think?

Then you mention: "I replied to the moron who obviously has no idea what he paid for ...."

Seriously? Your customer is a moron?

And you state this in public?

And on top of that: "told him I don't like how real estate people taste anyway, Lol!!!!"

Your customer approaches you and pays you for the creation of a product to target his real estate niche, and then you tell him that you don't like the taste of real estate people?

Andrei, coming from an entertainment business perspective,

whether you think you are standing on a comedy stage, whether you think you are funny, trying to be funny, or people tell you that you are funny....

There's a proper time and place for everything.

Obviously the customer did not know (or could not know due to a language barrier) that he would be hiring a clown, and that your product would be an attempt at being funny, but not professional as the customer expected.

Even a clown knows not make too many jokes when conducting business,
and your business ethics in this post appear somewhat unprofessional, and definitely not funny!

I don't think you're doing yourself any favors by coming to this forum and calling the guy a moron. There's obviously a language barrier. You had the opportunity to correct the situation and possibly educate him as to the effectiveness of humor, even in business correspondence.

This situation was probably salvageable and you missed the opportunity to keep a customer and perhaps get many more referrals based on your patience and diplomacy. Too bad...

Regardless of who is right or wrong, calling a paying customer a "moron" is just plain rude.

As someone who writes funny content, I would have thought you are well aware there are MASSIVE cultural differences and perceptions when it comes to jokes. As a Brit, I might find something funny that in other countries they may find extremely rude and offensive.

I would have thought the best response would have been finding out what the client didn't like about the article and what you could change for him. You usually find that people who don't have English as their first language will often be happy once you explain the joke and mention that it is relevant to certain cultures that they might not be familiar with. Really wouldn't have been a difficult issue to resolve in my opinion.

Calling out a client on a public forum is extremely unprofessional, and then sending him a sarcastic response? Wow. Just wow.

Nothing like a bit of casual homophobia to make your point, eh?

Also, what Becky said.


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When did Ukraine and Moldova became SE Europe?

Honestly, to me you sound like a completely unprofessional person (and so do a few people cheerleading your antics in this thread).

In the business world you have to deal with ALL sorts of people.

All of them deserve RESPECT, whether they're unhappy with your work or requesting a refund. If you don't respect them as people, you don't deserve them as clients.

This is a new global world we live in and people from other nations than your own who speak English as a second language deserve as much respect as someone down the street from you.

Isn't that ironic when a smarta$$ guy from South-Eastern Europe gets out in the world far away till Australia... and then he suddenly thinks he's a genius and those that stayed where he's from are all "morons" - just because he managed to learn more or less a second language

so, i he doesn't understand the word LOL, how can he know disgust, refund, complain? this is weird.

"before i complain on you to paypal"

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

if he does a chargeback i'll give you the $5 LOL

wow, you totally had an opportunity here to really improve on your business.

You could have asked him what was it he felt was unprofessional about your article.

You could then have explained some of the jokes and culteral differences.

You never know he could have then suggested you alternative jokes that would have fit for his country.

and in that process you would have learned something and improved your business.

Instead you choose to come on here and call your customer a "moron" and a "scumbag"

You don't realize it but doing this is has costed you his future business, and there are other warriors who will remember this and not buy from you in the future.

All it would have taken you would probably have been 15 - 20 minutes of your time to show understanding yet your choice is going to cost you probably alot of money.

1. Deal with professionals.
2. Dont offer refunds.
3. Always prequalify your customers.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but the tone of your post suggests to me that you're approach might be somewhat less professional than it needs to be.

LOL...I don't think your client really understood what he or she was getting into when client chose you to write articles for them.

I don't much care for your style in handling this customer but I LOVE your humour - I'm a writer but, boy, has your sales copy made me chuckle and made me put my pen (fingers) down and ready to order, just to have a laugh or two, more, if nothing else!

You're good. In fact, I think you're damned good with words and how much nicer is it to read something humourous than some dry, formal article.

And I love your cat, too. How ever did you get him/her to pose like that? I'm still laughing as I type!

Jamie

IMHO... More than the language barrier it is the cultural differences... It's how world war started lol... Respect each other's differences.... I admire your wit and I actually find the vid hilarious...It was meant to be sarcastic, which I honestly find as a better way to retaliate from a foul mouth rather than being furious or just letting him get away with it. But then again its just me... Others might find find it offensive.

On the other hand, (assuming your client is not a professional rip off) He might not have understood the humour of your post... And the threats and the words used when he asked for a refund was just a normal way of asking for refund in his culture...(sarcastic eh?) Again let's just respect his ways....

I'm gonna get anecdotal on y'all, if you don't mind a boring personal story...

Back when I was still married, my wife and I took frequent vacations. The vacations evolved over the years, from backpacking with pup tents, to big family tents once we had kids, then popup trailers, then camper trailers, etc. After the kids left home, we finally wimped out all the way and started doin cruises (1,000 - 1,500 staff members who's sole purpose in life is to kiss your ass 24 hours a day! YOU JUST CAN'T BEAT THAT!).

Anyway, the last cruise we took was with one of the more upscale lines. Now, on cruises, the staff usually consists of college-age youths from different countries that work for the cruise lines on a seasonal basis. They usually have name tags with their country of origin printed on them. Being a person who has never left his home continent, I really enjoyed meeting people from all over the world. On this particular cruise, most of the staff were from Romania and some other east-block countries.

People from those countries tend to be more abrupt with their communication - not as "congenial" as most of the passengers were used to. The staff came off as dismissive, condescending, and sometimes even arrogant. I often noticed raised eyebrows and disapproving looks from other passengers. I would guess that many of them probably stopped using that cruise line after that cruise - they were somewhat "upper-crust" folks who were used to being pampered.

The point is, yes, we have to bear in mind cultural differences in a global business world. But that doesn't change reality - respect and professional courtesy will make a difference in anyone's business - no matter what country they come from.

So, the guy started right off the bat telling you "I am disgust at your article!!!".

That right there would get under my skin. The guy starts right off insulting your work.

"I would like 100% refund or please write the hole thing taking on professional taste."

Instead of "please re-write this", it's "give me a refund - unless you want to re-write this in an acceptable manner". Minor annoyance.

"Please reply before I complain on you to paypal."

Basically, I would tend to take that as "you've scammed me - make it right before I report you!"

And do you know what I'd do to that SOB??

I'd sit down and write a polite, professional email thanking him for his business, apologize for the misunderstanding, refund his money, and ask him to consider my services if he needs any humorous content for his clients in the future.

Business kharma is just like personal kharma - you get back what you put out in the universe - regardless of what other people do.

Hahaha! That was funny..It seems like he replied to you a LOL content as well, he wanted you to write a HOLE with professional taste. But anyways it was nice of you to refund him even if he wasn't aware that he hired a professional LOL content writer.

Just got this in an inquiry about writing content.

I don't think it's going to work out.

""my product is ecommerce site that sells happy lifetime experiences around the world at incredible destinations with unique discounts based on your shared information from your favorite social networks""


I sent him a brief, to the point response, but I'm not going to spend hours coaxing details out of him.

Why??

Because I write excellent content.

My customers are very satisfied and come back for more.

I have enough clients that are a joy to deal with, and I don't need the extra aggravation form someone that can't express what they want.

Too bad, we have to deal with scam artists sometimes... Well like I guess this is when we can just laugh it off right? Anyway, with your skills I'm pretty sure you will find more clients deserving of your wit and talent.

You should treat your customers in a courteous manner, even if they are idiots. I do believe that your customer did not explain the problem properly, but it is your responsibility to find out.

In the future, avoid dealing with him.

This is a weird thread because in a way the thread itself is a classic example of the same problem that is being talked about.

The OP had a bad customer reaction - his response was very poor - now he's also getting put down by forum members.

The customer that demanded the refund may have just not realised what he was buying - if that's the case then the OP could take a look at how he got the customer and see if there's a way to make his proposition clearer.

Instead he decides to come on the forum and ridicule his customer and ask others to post their own stories of their idiotic customers.

To some forum members that triggers the same response that he gave to his customer - "OMG are you a moron?" type thing.

Someone questioned why would he even bother to start a thread with the sole purpose of mocking his customers - that is a good question and the answer is probably close to the reason why he also asked others to do it.

Now I'm in a weird position here because I usually don't agree with much that the OP posts, and in this case I definitely don't agree with the response to his customer - but I am left feeling like the forum members could've stepped up a little better and thought twice before ridiculing the OP so quickly.

But when someone is being so blatant - what IS the best way to communicate your disagreement?

I think the real lesson here is that we should all take a look at ourselves before criticizing others.

I can almost understand how someone can get so pissed off by this kind of customer.
After reaching 1000 positive feedbacks I earned my first negative feedback on ebay. It was in 1999 before the PayPal came along. So the payments were sent by snail mail. There was this guy (whom, I understand, I can't call a moron) who bought a $5 item and left me negative feedback 5 days after the auction. There was no possible way I could have delivered the item from Europe to US in 5 days, esp. because my policy was that I ship after I receive the payment. The mail takes about 7 days each way. When I pointed this out to the customer (maybe not in the politest way I possibly could) he started talking bullshit and told something like this $5 would probably feed a family of 12 in your country for a week. I am from Estonia and the average family has 1 or 2 kids here. Hello it's not Bangladesh. After all a hamburger here will probably cost more than in US. I say probably, because I don't eat that garbage and don't know.

You know what was really annoying about this customer? He never even sent the payment. I figured I will send it back unopened to prove I didn't steal his money, but his payment never arrived.

At least back then eBay allowed to leave negative feedback for buyers.
The customer is always right. I should have probably sent him the item for free to try to gain one more customer. Whaddaya think?

funny story but nice video , if this is the baddest relation you had with acustomer you are still lucky.