
What to do when a customer says “Fuck you” - kunle
http://blog.hipmob.com/post/40823022011/what-to-do-when-a-customer-says-f-ck-you
======
Irregardless
> cant replicate it

That's how the co-founder of a customer service oriented company responds to a
bug complaint? Three whole words? And then he has the nerve to "go nuclear" on
the customer? Wow, talk about being rude and arrogant. Not only is your
response unprofessional because of its poor grammar, you also didn't even give
the cusomter the impression that their complaint matters to you.

How about something like, "Still haven't been able to replicate it yet, but
we're trying"?

I wouldn't respond how the customer did, but I think you deserved it.

~~~
Millennium
Pretty much this. A better response might be "I need more information, because
I can't get this problem to happen on my machine. Can you tell me more about
exactly what you were doing when the problem happened?" That's just a generic
response; someone who knows the product could probably come up with more
specific questions to guide the user toward giving the right info.

~~~
kunle
> A better response might be "I need more information, because I can't get
> this problem to happen on my machine. Can you tell me more about exactly
> what you were doing when the problem happened?"

Definitely a better response. No excuse for the casualness of my tone - just
reflective of my relationship with Jon (which at the time was more
casual/familiar than with others)

~~~
adhipg
In that case, his response was also one of casual exclaim - complete with a
smiley that meant he's at a loss of words.

Not an excuse - when your job's doing customer service better.

------
dmor
I think you might want to consider why the customer said fuck you here. You're
"can't replicate it" response is terrible customer service, and it seems
commons sense to expect that they'd be frustrated. Your response of "can't
replicate it" feels like a fuck you, if not in so many words.

Also, giving advice based on a single experience rather than several repeated
successful outcomes seems like a bad practice for helping other entrepreneurs,
and they might not read all the way to the bottom to discover that data point.

~~~
kunle
Fair point - should have added more context there: the exchange referenced as
a small part of a longer multi-part conversation during which we'd been really
responsive (conversations lasting hours sometimes). We eventually fixed the
problem - my contention is merely that a "f*ck you" was neither necessary nor
productive towards solving Jon's problem (which we eventually did despite the
comment).

~~~
kstenerud
Even if there was a long conversation leading up to this, the sudden, curt
tone of "can't replicate it" would all but guarantee aggravation and insult to
the customer (I'd most certainly feel insulted). A more appropriate response
would have been "I'm sorry, but we just can't replicate it on our end. We'll
keep trying, though."

~~~
kunle
> A more appropriate response would have been "I'm sorry, but we just can't
> replicate it on our end.

You're totally right. No excuse for the casual tone there.

~~~
ucee054
Frankly, you deserved what you got.

------
columbo
> "cant replicate it"

Holy shit, if you were providing a service and sent me (a customer) an email
like that I'd leave you in a heartbeat. Talk about a "fuck you".

I get customers can be hard but "can't replicate it" translates directly into
"find another service provider".

Really, if the relationship has moved to this level a canned "We're sorry but
we are going to have to terminate this relationship, here's a generous
timeline and a few freebies to make us look like the better person" response
would have been MUCH better.

~~~
kunle
> I get customers can be hard but "can't replicate it" translates directly
> into "find another service provider".

Omitted for brevity (as others have pointed out in the comments): we
maintained a relationship with the customer long after the exchange. The goal
definitely wasn't to get him to "find another service provider" so much as it
was to reset the tone.

All that being said, clearly my casual response ("can't replicate it")
definitely was the wrong thing to do, as I didn't intend it to offend at all.

~~~
ucee054
_as I didn't intend it to offend at all_

What on earth did you think it would do, make him jump for joy?

Especially since "it works for me" is standard helpdesk-speak for fobbing
people off and closing their issues.

It didn't even occur to you to say " _Sorry_ can't replicate it?"

~~~
kunle
>It didn't even occur to you to say "Sorry can't replicate it?"

That would clearly have been the right answer here.

------
AndyNemmity
Happens to me all the time. I run an online football management game, and
there are a lot of children who play and think calling you names is a reasoned
response to an issue.

The thing is, you don't let it get to you or even register it. They pay you
money, you deal with it. That's the way it works.

Also, I've never once told them it's not very nice. They know it's not very
nice.

I've turned paying customers around from "Fuck you" into "take my money
please" by just responding to the issues they say around the insults.

Here's an example.

Customer - "One of my players was cut off my team, this fucking game is stupid
and I'm never going to play it again. FUUUUUUUCK YOUUUUU"

Me - "Wow, that sucks to hear. I looked over your team and it looks like you
signed 1 too many players, and it had to find someone to cut. I can go ahead
and reassign him to your team if you'd like, but you need to specify who so
you aren't over roster limits."

Customer responds with who, and thanks me.

Completely normal. No big deal, don't let it ever get to you.

~~~
dirkdk
I once had a user complaining on twitter "HelloInbox sucks" (that was my
company in those days). I responded "Sorry to hear that, what is the
problem?". Guy asks for email address. Sends a 2 pager, starting that he
really liked HelloInbox but had a list of addition featured he wanted. So
awesome!

------
orangethirty
Prepare for a potential avalanche of bad press. Do the following:

1\. Realize that a great product has _never_ been enough! How you treat people
is very, very important.

2\. Apologize to the client. Publicly. Why? You just humiliated him/her by
posting the conversation. People value their privacy, even when they are
seeking customer service. Now every client might think you are going to post
everything online.

3\. Either learn some CS skills, or hire someone to do it, or better yet, hire
me to make you a simple CS script. It only costs a couple hundred bucks but
will save you these types of embarrasments.

4\. Erase that blog post, and replace it with a PG version. Specially the
headline. You are trading credibility for traffic? Awful idea!

5\. Publish a blog post stating your new customer service guidelines and
feature it on the front page of the site. If this goes viral you are going to
need to combat that.

6\. Next time you feel like posting something like this just _stop_. Think!
How would you feel if you were getting shitty customer service? Would you tell
them to go fuck themselves? Of course you would! Always, always think about
the other side of the coin.

Good luck. You will need it.

~~~
kunle
Thanks for the advice.

------
diego_moita
I agree with most of the post, but I think it barely scratches the surface.
There is just so much to say about this...

* What about a culture where people end up feeling entitled to ask for everything? Should I accept abuses?

* What about personality disorders? There are lots of people out there suffering psychological diseases. How do you diagnose it and handle it, if you are not a psychiatrist?

* You're supposed to be show genuine empathy for your customers needs. I don't know if that is even possible without some emotional vulnerability. How do you control your emotions when people react just plain mean?

~~~
dangrossman
There are worse customers, to me, than those that simply aren't polite. For
example, a few times a year, someone will show up, subscribe to a webapp for
months, then send an e-mail asking to cancel and get a refund for all their
past payments "because I meant to cancel before" -- when they were logging in
and using the service regularly the entire time. Even the most polite ways of
saying "no" seem to lead to "I'll just call my bank for a refund then". A
series of chargebacks, even if they're easily disputed, is more of a threat
than the lost revenue -- and running into people so unethical messes with my
head more than a "fuck you" ever would.

~~~
orangethirty
This is quite true and real. Though you must be aware that this happens to
every business. Adjust your prices accordingly, and only worry when it starts
being a common occurrence (keep track of it). Plus, not everyone that does it
is evil. People go through hard times. They might need to scrounge up some
funds to pay rent this month and will do anything to survive (short of
assaulting a bank). Don't demonize them. You dont know what might be happening
in their lives.

Though some just are entitled assholes. Leave those alone. No sense in trying
to paint the sky.

~~~
kunle
I don't think the customers are assholes intrinsically - just sometimes say
mean things.

~~~
orangethirty
Good point. But some people are just assholes, and thats _OK_. Realize that
people are different and come in quite an array of colors, personalities,
backgrounds, etc. Some of them will be assholes to _you_. Plus you can't just
let people push your buttons. People will say mean things. Hell, I'm a big-
eared latino nerd who wears black plastic glasses. I was never great at sports
and was very shy. All of my life has been about people telling me mean things
and names. But it doesnt matter to me now. Why? Becuase those who say mean
things are just a reflection of the things they say. I know you are a good
person, and shit, we all have bad moments like this. Do realize that you have
to face the mistake and make things rights. Your busines is about customer
service, and this is a great opportunity to show what you really are made of.

------
27182818284
"Nuclear option"? I think it is more the Applebee's / lame tech support
option. It was taught to the whole industry and now is used by everyone to a
counterproductive end. I subscribe much more to the ways described by Gary
Vaynerchuk in the _The Thank You Economy_ where someone swore to his face and
that person is now, years later, one of his VPs after Gary got to the bottom
of the problem.

~~~
kunle
Thx for sharing - hadn't heard the Gary Vaynerchuk story before. Pretty cool
that he was able to do that and definitely worth trying.

------
Sambdala
RE Scaling comment - I work for a fairly large company, and we definitely have
a template that says something along the lines of, "When you send us an email,
you're talking to a real human being. If you can't talk to us in a more
courteous manner, we're more than happy to send you your balance and end our
relationship."

~~~
kunle
I think this is what Herb Kelleher was getting at - treating his employees
well while still providing a good customer experience (which Southwest is
still known for)

------
blantonl
In providing customer service for our business, I always keep these two things
in mind.

* I'll bend over backwards for you, but I won't bend over forwards.

* The customer is not always right - we discontinued that policy years ago due to abuse.

With that said - you'll get my absolute best effort to support you.

------
jph
Wow, what a great opportunity here! You have highlighted the hard chunk of
your customer conversation, omitting most of what led up to it.

A very productive way of dealing with this is to dig out of it with your
customer. That person will likely become a great ally.

------
epoxyhockey
Does anyone on HN go to training anymore? Effective customer service, hiring
practices, how to treat your employees, etc are all solved problems. One can
pick up a book and/or have an educator teach you how to do these things
effectively.

~~~
khet
I have never had any training my self but I can instantly tell how horrible a
"can't replicate it" would sound on the other end.

------
watadoo
There are many more ways of responding to a "f __* you" than, telling them
they are not very nice. He just drove a customer away with all his responses.
A few hints from a blog post I wrote on dealing with angry customers just two
weeks ago:[http://www.olark.com/blog/2013/how-i-chat-part-3-dealing-
wit...](http://www.olark.com/blog/2013/how-i-chat-part-3-dealing-with-angry-
customers/)

------
gall
The difference between this and the Southwest Airlines example is that the
latter comes off as touching loyalty to one's employees, which is nice pr if
the anecdote becomes public. If the team member handling the abuse takes it
upon him or herself to politely snub the client in the same way, it makes the
entire organization seem a little snooty. Whether or not this is justified is,
of course, besides the point.

------
kybernetyk
At our company we want only happy customers. Thus we're very liberal with
giving refunds when we can't fix a customer's problem.

There's no sense in having someone being mad at you and your brand because of
$30. And the interesting thing is that most of those customers back off from
taking the refund and prefer to keep using the software omitting the not
working parts.

~~~
orangethirty
Very important point being made here. If you are pro-active with your customer
service policies you will disarm most angry customers. But dont just offer a
refund. Do more than that. Listen to them. Fix the issue (if possible), and
offer a gift or refund. Very _few_ businesses do this, and people will be
blown away by your friendly attitude.

Why does my wife keep shopping at walmart.com even though their prices are not
that great? Because if the item is not the coreect one (clothing size,
defective gadgets, etc) she can just take it to the store and receive a
refund. No questions asked. What does she do with the refund? She spends it in
the store.

------
mchanson
This company seems thin skinned. I agree its best not allow abusive
relationships with customer fester. However I don't agree that you should
react to a customer blowing off steam the same way as a customer that is
serially abusive.

------
axolx
You should asking yourself why things got to that point. It's unlikely they
will when clients feel they are getting value from your product/service and
are being treated fairly.

------
meh01
Wow. You're making your company look like complete idiots here, to be honest.

"cant replicate it" directly to the customer in a 3 word non-sentence from the
co-founder? Really? From what's supposed to be a "customer service" company?
WTF?

This should have been handled by competent support stuff who know how to talk
to users. You should be apologizing for whatever it is and telling them that
while you have not been able to reproduce it after many many hours of testing,
you'd really like to the bottom of this mysterious issue, and then go on to
suggest some steps to try and track the issue down.

... WTF.

