The Customer Is NOT Always Right!

The old myth that "the customer is always right" is possibly the most dangerous and frustrating common misconception that was ever contrived. It is enough to contract the cranial blood vessels of even the most placid customer service worker.

It is simply not true.

Controversial as this may sound, it is so. Customers are quite often wrong. Some companies may want their customers to go away thinking that they are right, and therefore feel good about themselves and the company, but that is not the same thing.

It is a cliche that often causes us major problems in our office.

Customers are simply not happy unless they are vindicated and very often cannot see their own failings (or stupidities), even in the face of glaring evidence. Many disputes are caused by the poor communication skills of customers, rather than staff, or by blatant misunderstandings on the part of the customer.

My question is: how do you tell a customer they are wrong?

I, personally, will not lie to a customer. Unfortunately, this means I cannot pay lip-service by telling someone they are right when they are more than 110% wrong. This means I have the linguistic challenge of explaining the mistake and finding a tactful way of saying: "Ha ha! You were wrong! Now go away!".

My favourite way of achieving this is to go into a lengthy description of the investigation conducted into the customer's complaint, give detailed results, then simply say "in light of this evidence, I regret that I cannot explain your observations". I will often give the customer a let out - asking them to check that we have recorded all the details of their complaint accurately and offering to re investigate if there is any discrepancy - but basically, I can see no other way of doing it. Admitting the company was in the wrong when it was not could lead to expensive compensation claims and a poor public image. Unfortunately, telling the customer they are wrong also gives us a poor public image, as the customer goes away indignant and unhappy.

So is there a solution? Can anyone convince me that maintaining that "the customer is always right" really is a valuable slogan within modern customer services? Or does anyone else have the same problem with this expression?

The only other solution I have at present is to run a deep, hot bath and to forget about customers altogether!