CUSTOMERS ARE RARELY RIGHT!!!

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Jamesstan

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Had this conversation with a customer this afternoon in my camera shop.

me "hi there, how can i help"

him "i want a flower lens cap for my canon 100-400 telescope"

me "do you mean a petal shaped lens hood?

him "yes thats the one, a flower hood"

me "you wont be able to get one of those for that lens im afraid sir, the hood designed for that lens is tube shaped"

him "but i want a flower shaped one "

me" you see PETAL shaped hoods are designed specifically for certain lenses, and generally for wide angle lenses. they are ver specific in design to allow wider angle lenses to see the full scene without picking up the edges of the lens hood and causing harsh vignetting. one telephoto lenses such as yours the cut out sections of the hood would only let light in and bounce around the lens causing flair."

Him "but all the pros use petal shaped ones"

me "only on wider angle lenses that require them.

Him "and they look better"

me "ascetics aren't everything, surely you see that its better soemthing does its job correctly"

him "my friend has petal hoods on his lenses "

me "good bye sir" -hangs up phone.


why go to the bother of phoning the experts for advice, only to tell them they are wrong and get ****** with them . idiot!!!!

rant over, just needed to destress, been one of those days!!!!
 
So by hanging up that is a potential customer that could, perhaps have been educated into buying the correct product, who tells his friends "helpful people at ABC cameras".

Instead he will be telling anyone he knows how bad your customer service is.
 
...of course if he said I will pay £345 for one would he still be 'wrong' in a business sense? you can only advise but if a 'customer' wants something who's to say he is wrong?
 
cherokee1111 said:
...of course if he said I will pay £345 for one would he still be 'wrong' in a business sense? you can only advise but if a 'customer' wants something who's to say he is wrong?
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Think I would have cut up a proper one for that money :P
 
So you hung up on a customer? If that was me on the other end of the line I'd be so hacked off I'd probably post here saying how bad your customer service is and never use your store again. Luckily I don't know who you work for.
 
ha ha i knew that bit would get you all replying. of course i didnt hand up, i was going to type that i told him to f off for comedic value, but thought i would jsut go with i hung up, but im not that unprofessional. however at the same time im not going to sit and let some guy shout down the phone at me and be rude and obnoxious, the rest of the call went along the lines of

"sorry sir but we cant get you one of those". to which he replied fine and hung up. i was polite and well manered the whole time whilst trying to explain the situation.

sadly we cant make everyone happy in life.
 
you should have sold him it, and the lens to go with it!
It did make me laugh though. Next he will be complaining about that he cant buy a blue DSLR because his friends camera is blue!
 
Jamesstan said:
why go to the bother of phoning the experts for advice, only to tell them they are wrong and get ****** with them . idiot!!!!
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TBF, he didn't phone up for your advice. He phoned up to buy a flower-shaped lens hood ;)
 
Musicman said:
TBF, he didn't phone up for your advice. He phoned up to buy a flower-shaped lens hood ;)
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Yep - and now he will possibly go and get one from somewhere else, taking any future business from him and any of his acquaintances with him.

You may have been professional and well mannered on the telephone the whole time as you say, but by providing what you wanted to provide (i.e. expertise) and not what the customer wanted (a lens hood) has actually lost you a sale.

Sounds like you don't care about that as well.:thinking:
 
Christ, you must be fun to buy from. What's wrong with "I'm sorry, the manufacturer don't produce a petal hood for that particular lens."
All you need to say, and they might come back to you for other things instead of writing you off as rude and unhelpful.
 
theMusicMan said:
Yep - and now he will possibly go and get one from somewhere else, taking any future business from him and any of his acquaintances with him.

You may have been professional and well mannered on the telephone the whole time as you say, but by providing what you wanted to provide (i.e. expertise) and not what the customer wanted (a lens hood) has actually lost you a sale.

Sounds like you don't care about that as well.:thinking:
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To be quite honest, I wouldn't have sold him the wrong hood either.
These are the types of customers that would be back in a few weeks telling you your product is crap cause is doesn't do the job properly, and when you refuse a refund he would probably go on the quote you the sale of goods act stating that the item is not fit for purpose.
 
im not into making money for the hell of it sadly, i like customers to get what they actually need rather than something that wont work then have to deal again when they realise that. plus whats wrong with learning a little at the same time. i told him they dont make them for that lens and explained why but he still didnt want to listen.

but dont worry matt and music man, ill remember and sell you guys things that wont work and you dont need when i see you ;). much better customer service to be polite and help get the right product than knowingly sell the wrong thing and rip a customer off.
 
<<thinking that James probably wishes he'd not started this thread>>
 
i know, bit of light humour show a silly conversation, with things changed for comic effect and later edited so the slower ones realise i wouldnt actually hang up or tell him to f off, or the ones who dont read the whole thread and the hate mob jump on the band wagon.
 
Exactly why i couldn't run my own business, would feel exactly the same as the original poster and behave in the same way too

Would be pleased that I could benefit from someones knowledge and buy what they suggested, not just sold any old thing just for profit

Will pop in your shop if i'm down your way, like the sound of your customer care
 
Whether or not the customer actually is right or not, doesn't matter....the sucess to sales is
*to make the customer feel like they're right, respected and all ideas are mostly their own - that they need/want that product because of whatever reason, not case the sales gadgy says so.
*ensure politely, that they have the means/need for the product, if they haven't suggest an alternative in a manner in where the client feels in control...
* when they've made their mind up on what they're going to buy, shut up about it....over selling is a major turn off.

You could've turned it into a sale. You didn't. You're happy about that as you assume that client and his pals will cause you hassle in the long run. No love lost. If that works for you, good for you.
 
there was no sale to be had, he already had the lens hood he needed. i tried very hard to explain that to him but he wasnt having it. i cant sell something that isnt available lol. people hate getting ripped off but seems they would rather be ripped off than have someone save them money or help advice and teach them and inform them they already have the product they need.
 
Jamesstan said:
there was no sale to be had, he already had the lens hood he needed. i tried very hard to explain that to him but he wasnt having it. i cant sell something that isnt available lol. people hate getting ripped off but seems they would rather be ripped off than have someone save them money or help advice and teach them and inform them they already have the product they need.
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That's the point, there was a sale to be had, just not a good one.

You could've sold him the hood anyway.

You could've sold him a new lens which takes that style of hood and hood.

You could've sold him a whole new kit, with a lens with that hood, if his friends camera was nikon for eg and his was canon, if he's that insistant on being like his pal.

Do you get what I mean? You could've made a sale, but it wasn't a sale that you'd be respected for and it's one that you'd feel unethical about.
 
Seems like a better way to handle it would have been "for the lens design you have the hood you already own is the best type for stopping lens flare and ruining your pictures. If you want a petal shaped hood I'm sure we can find one for you to fit your lens but this may cause more lens flare and ruin some of your shots."

In this day and age businesses can't afford to turn people away because they don't want to buy the things you want them to. All you can do is guide them in the right direction then step back and let them make their choice.
 
I've read all the post and well done to you. But wouldn't it of been a good idea if you had asked him to come to the shop and try the two different types of hoods. That way he would of found out for himself that the petal ( flower) hood was no good for his lens.
 
Get it myself at work, people ring to ask about something then proceed to tell me all that they know on the subject (mostly incorrectly)
Just gives me the right ache and my inital helpfulness fades away very quickly when they won't take any notice

Why ask if you don't want to listen, my old dad always said if you don't know ask someone who does. Makes sense to me, some people hate being wrong and can't even admit it to themselves

Still think James was right and its not all about selling and profit or maybe it is and i'm wrong this time
 
Jamesstan said:
ha ha i knew that bit would get you all replying. of course i didnt hand up, i was going to type that i told him to f off for comedic value, but thought i would jsut go with i hung up, but im not that unprofessional. however at the same time im not going to sit and let some guy shout down the phone at me and be rude and obnoxious, the rest of the call went along the lines of

"sorry sir but we cant get you one of those". to which he replied fine and hung up. i was polite and well manered the whole time whilst trying to explain the situation.

sadly we cant make everyone happy in life.
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If this is true then you had every right to hang up the phone. Sorry but shouting to people in customer services should never be tolerated unless it is understandable as in a complaint, etc. Sale or no sale. But then again I have zero tolerance for that and must hang up on about six customers a day at work!
 
From a salesman view "CUSTOMERS ARE RARELY RIGHT"
From a customers view "THEY ARE ALWAYS RIGHT"

How many customer buy badly fitting shoes or clothes that don't fit . If the sales person had turned down these sales even after giving best advice I would say there job would be on the line. Not many retailers can afford to take the option of haggling with the customer because they think there wrong.

THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!!!
 
Jamesstan said:
but dont worry matt and music man, ill remember and sell you guys things that wont work and you dont need when i see you ;). much better customer service to be polite and help get the right product than knowingly sell the wrong thing and rip a customer off.
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No. Actually, I agree with you. Hence the smiley ;)

I used to work in computer retail in the 90s. There were occasions when I said flatly to a customer "I'm not going to sell you this product because it's not the right thing for you". I rarely let anyone simply buy something because they asked for it, but spent at least a little time checking what they intended to do with it and what hardware and software they were going to use it with.

Fortunately, I had a boss who had exactly the same attitude and trusted us to make the right call at the right time.

It saved my skin on more than one occasion and often they sometimes came back with their tail between their legs after they'd gone somewhere else and bought it anyway, only to discover that it didn't work. They usually became regular customers thereafter.

The few occasions where I let them bully me into selling them something inappropriate was when I had real trouble - there's a tortuous story involving Brian Eno and a video capture card that I won't go into at length now... :D
 
Wow, amazing how a light hearted de stressing has turned so many heads. :eek:

Chill pills all round.

Made me giggle :)
 
a local shop for local people i think...
 
ive had a customer swearing at me at work.
whilst trying to deliver 1000 kg of bricks on a tail lift equiped lorry.
explained to the nice gentleman that , no, i couldnt pull a 1 tonne pallet of bricks up his 1 in 5 driveway, and the best i could do was on the pavement at the bottom of his drive.
he replied that i was an awkward anchor, and the last guy put the pallet at the top of the drive.
i asked if this driver had a crane on his vehicle,.
the reply was of course it effing did.
i then asked how he expected me to get it in the same position with a pallet truck.
explained that we had been asked to deliver this pallet by the brick company, who were fully aware that we are a palletised delivery company, and dont operate HIABs .
he called me an anchor again, and i got back into my lorry, and left.

rang the boss and told him what had happened.
my boss said fine, he could have his delivery when mr gob rang and apologised.
rang the brick company and spoke to their manager, who agreed.
three days later , i delivered the bricks, on the pavement to a very apologetic customer.
apparenty he had builders on site a whole day, stood doing nowt, and had to pay them for it.

made me feel so much better.
 
Good on you James.

To those on their high horse, could James have won in your eyes? He tried to save the chap money and disappointment by explaining what he wanted wasn't fit for purpose.

If James had just taken the money, sent the unsuitable item, matey received it, tried it and discovered it not to work, he might have posted here claiming he was sold something that the seller knew wouldn't have worked. I bet James would still be the bad guy, eh? ;)
 
"You say you want flowers, Sir?"

BARBIE-DIGITAL-CAMERA-R62796.jpg
 
ecoleman said:
To be quite honest, I wouldn't have sold him the wrong hood either.
These are the types of customers that would be back in a few weeks telling you your product is crap cause is doesn't do the job properly, and when you refuse a refund he would probably go on the quote you the sale of goods act stating that the item is not fit for purpose.
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Neither would I have sold him the wrong hood. I said nothing about selling him the wrong items, only about losing a sale. :)

Jamesstan said:
but dont worry matt and music man, ill remember and sell you guys things that wont work and you dont need when i see you ;). much better customer service to be polite and help get the right product than knowingly sell the wrong thing and rip a customer off.
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No worries matey, I can assure you that you wouldn't be selling me anything anyway, because I'd know from this thread of yours not to come to you for something I wanted, because all I'd get from you was your expertise.

I'm guessing I've been around a little longer than you, and I don't just mean on here :lol:
 
King_Boru said:
Wow, amazing how a light hearted de stressing has turned so many heads. :eek:

Chill pills all round.

Made me giggle :)
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Honestly, I swear if somebody told a story here about shouting at his dog for crapping on the living room carpet you'd get one batch of animal rights loonies chastising him for mistreating his dog and another lot lecturing him on his choice of carpet for the living room decor.
 
So James, you didn't like my little wind-up call? :p
 
Given the frequency that shop assistants are completely lacking in knowledge, you can forgive he guy for being persistent. Your attitude, though, gives me the impression that you are a pro photographer, and he was asking you for advice. That wasn't the situation, and all you've done is lost your company many potential sales.
 
Am I the only one who thinks that the original posters biggest lack of judgement was to actually start the thread?

After all it could have been me who made that call or one of my mates.
 
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