We get complaints from time to time here at Heart of Business. Every complaint is legitimate, in that someone feels aggrieved. I may or may not agree with it, but I can certainly honor and respect how they are feeling.
And, sometimes, they are dead-on. We get complaints like: “Uh, I never got the book I ordered!” or “The CD you sent me was blank.” or… any number of goofups.
Luckily, they don’t happen that often. And, we try to make up for them the best that we can.
Human is as human does.
I came to the conclusion some years ago that I have to learn to drop any hint of defensiveness in these situations. It’s not that it’s good for business. It’s not that they deserve the respect and the hearing. Although both of those are true.
It’s that I’m being given an incredible gift, and the defensiveness gets in the way of me receiving it. The gift?
Read this article: Handling complaints without making things worse.
Come on back after you do.
And you?
How do you handle complaints? Can you drop your defensiveness, or is it a struggle? Any horror stories, or hero stories to share?
2 Responses
Hey Mark,
Yesterday I spent another two hours on the phone with tech. support from HP trying to get my new printer dialed in. That makes at least 8 hours on the phone so far and it doesn’t work still.
He thinks it’s the duplexer, he’ll send one out
did I want to pay $20 for them to ship it next
day or just wait for ground? I said that considering it’s brand new shouldn’t they pick
that up? His boss didn’t think so.
I think when I come back from Fry’s after taking
this one back it won’t be with a HP.
It’s not how I treat people. I’m glad to know
that there are people like you out there who are
as concerned with helping others as they are with
helping themselves. Because it’s the same thing.
Thanks for the light, Tom
Hey Tom- I know- I had my own little nightmare with customer service yesterday. Well, it wasn’t a nightmare, but I was a little grumpy to begin with, and so it weren’t no picnic, that’s for sure.
I think as all of us who care are on this path of compassion and love, that we’re seeing the business world changing, changing, changing… slowly, but with increasing momentum. It used to be that stories like yours were just invisible, but now they are extremely visible, and companies will have to face the facts, or go out of business because no one trusts them.
love and light
Mark