Tackling the tough threats

Angry customers are part of any retail experience. Assessing and defusing their concerns requires a deft hand

Corporate Guy with Magnifying Glass

OCCASIONALLY, WHEN A CUSTOMER becomes extremely angry or frustrated and their temper reaches a boiling point, they may threaten to take serious action against you or your dealership to attempt to get what they want.

Sometimes this could simply be an empty threat intended to pressure you to get speedy satisfactory resolution in their favor. It may, however, also be a genuine reflection of how they were treated and cause them distress and to use threats as a tool.

Threats of any nature are enough to trigger the defense mechanisms in even the best of us and cause our emotions to rise to the surface. Serious customer threats in the service industry are getting more common, but it is extremely important to be prepared in case you become a victim or target.

The best customer service practice is to make your utmost efforts towards avoiding customer threats in the first place and resolving their concerns quickly and fairly when they arise. As a result, this will pay dividends in reducing your workplace stress, building a loyal customer base, and amplify your dealership’s image.

There are many kinds and degrees of a threat, which compounds the difficulty to satisfy your aggressive and aggravated customers.

Here are few tips to help you respond appropriately to threats:

TAKE THREATS SERIOUSLY BUT NOT PERSONALLY
In most cases, threats are not directed at you as a person. It may just seem that way because you are the face of the dealership for that customer. Realize that any threat to your business can certainly be damaging if carried out, but it is likely not your fault.

There is no place, however, for threats of physical harassment or emotional harm. You should notify your manager immediately if this occurs.

SWITCHING CUSTOMER FROM “SUING” TO “SALUTING”
Recently, a stubborn and belligerent customer stormed into my office and shouted “Take your damn &%@ car keys and shove it! When I bought this used car last night from your dealership, I was told by your sales staff that this car is free of accident and now I see in daylight that driver door was painted. I don’t want to keep this lemon and don’t give a *#% about you &%@ return policy, you better refund my money here and now OR I will see my lawyer to sue your butt.”

Generally, once someone threatens you, it changes the dynamic of the conversation. After listening with patience and acknowledging the concern (not the threat), I said, “certainly you have an option to exercise your rights to seek legal advice and I won’t discourage you to do so.

“In fact, I can get you a ride to your lawyer’s office. It’s up to you which way you feel comfortable with. I can review your issue now, and do my best to resolve or you can take lengthy legal lane through your lawyer to get it resolved. Regardless, the final decision will be made between you and me right here in my office. The choice is yours to have it done now or later.”

After re-inspection and a review of sales contract terms and conditions, I noticed, it was sold “As seen as equipped” with full disclosure as per OMVIC guidelines and no major accident was reported on CarProof. The door was painted due to minor keyed scratches.

The customer understood the process, appreciated and agreed with my fact-finding logical explanations, and backed down from legal threats.

The key to handling these situations is to make sure you have care, courage, commitment and confidence in your abilities to deal with and defuse difficult disputes of distressed customers, to protect you and your dealership from unwanted legal troubles.

Preparing clear and concise written communication for the customer, with proper disclosure, will help to create a common ground with the customer to ensure that you are both aware of what is being done to diffuse the problem.

BASHING ONLINE FACEBOOK CUSTOMERS
Customers are highly influenced with the power of the Internet and social media and they vastly overestimate its power in the case of a simple customer service disagreement.

You can’t control what the customer is going to do in the age of social media — customers have a much stronger voice than they did previously. With very little effort, an angry customer can tell hundreds of people about their negative experience very quickly. Online threats and criticism should be monitored and addressed. You should not fear it and not let it be used against you in any significant way.

MUST SEE YOUR CEO OR WILL REPORT TO OEM
This threat is often used to move around you and others who are more senior. The customer has decided that threatening the livelihood of the person in front of them by potentially getting them “in trouble” is the way to get what they want. Customers will often threaten managers with reporting them to owner/CEO or OEM corporate office.

Once, I encountered such a threat and my polite response was “Go ahead, make my day! The last thing my CEO, Mark Bozian, wants to see is an unhappy customer storm out of the dealership. He loves to meet customers. Regrettably, he is out of office, upon his return, certainly I can set an exclusive meeting.” Such sturdy response without fear compels customers to reconsider their threats.

I AM GOING PUBLIC, REPORTING TO THE PRESS OR MEDIA
Some customers hope to scare you into thinking that with one phone call to the press or media, teams of reporters will have you and your shady practices become breaking news. Assuming you have not done anything seriously wrong, you generally have little to fear.

Ultimately, threats are complicated concerns in customer service, but then again, so are customers. The mark of an awesome customer service representative is their ability to make meaningful connections with a broad array of customers and personalities, and turn the occasional threat into a satisfied loyal customer.

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