Anger management

[EAM_Master]

I'm just curious what others out there do when dealing with angry customers. I usually try my best to explain how things work and that a lot of things happen beyond my control. That usually calms them down a little.

What are some of the things you guys do?

 

[over9five]

Put your tail between your legs, and "Yes, Ma'am" 'em to death.

Sucks to have to do it, but it's the best thing to do in the long run.

 

[Raw]

Depends on if their complaint is legit. If it`s not I say witty and funny things,if it is a UPS screwup I pamper them to death!!

 

[rod]

I once had an A-hole threaten to "kick my as$ " and "every UPS drivers as$ he could get ahold of because I happened to beat him to a parking space (wasn't even trying). I left the scene and drove 3 blocks to the local police station and told the Chief of Police what had happened. Last I saw 2 cops had him up against his car in the classic "spread eagled Cops " position. Turned out he was the brother of one of my customers that was visiting from out east and thought he was King . Lesson to be learned- don't mess with the UPS driver that has been delivering to to same small town for over 25 years. They are friends of "everyone" in town. P.S. Even this A-holes brother( my customer) thought it was the funniest thing he had seen in years.

 

[satellitedriver]

I always lower(soften) my voice. People listen to whispers closer than the do loader voices. If their complaint is legit agree with them and try to resolve the issue. If it is physical threat I would go for the kneecaps, then the throat.

 

[SmithBarney]

First things first...

Let them completely finish before saying a word.
And then when they are done, pause for a couple seconds more.

This gives you time to answer/think about it ect.
you are either going to answer the question
or refer them to the 800 number... they hate that.

 

[wyobill]

I'm just curious what others out there do when dealing with angry customers. I usually try my best to explain how things work and that a lot of things happen beyond my control. That usually calms them down a little.

What are some of the things you guys do?

Apologize! Apologize! Apologize!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ms Spoken]

I will not waist much time on confrontations because nobody wins from them. Good example that I had was a Dish Network call tag and it was the third attempt and the customer told me that I could wait a few min. So I stood there and his wife came out and said he was disconnecting them from the TV. Ok now I'm getting just a bit annoyed. When he came out with the unit in hand went to his truck to get the box I had left two weeks ago I was not happy. Then the dude looked at the paper work and he had to climb on the trailers roof to get the LMB down thats when I said I had to leave. This customer demanded that I wait so he wouldn't get charged for not sending the unit in. As I walked to my truck I yelled back thats not my problem since you had three days to have this unit ready. Oh well let him call the 800 # I did my part and then some.

 

[scratch]

Ms Spoken,
I hate those Dish Network RS Tags too. I very seldom actually pick up the package. It would be nice if the consignee would write on my first Infonotice that they had already dropped it off somewhere instead of me wasting my time with three attemts. If I do actually pick one up, I use the ARS Label or the RS Tag that has the furtherest return address so that we can charge them more.

 

[Leftinbuilding]

When I was a driver I was often tempted to give them the "Dial a Prayer" phone number. Seriously, if it was our fault, I would get on the phone right then, in front of them, and try to resolve it. They usually calm down if they think someone is really hearing them.

 

[toonertoo]

I listen and try to help them, if they are just irate and not talking to me constructively, I give them my center phone number and tell them I get paid to deliver, if you want to argue endlessly, they can help you here.

 

[browniehound]

I love when customers get irate, because very rarely is their problem with we.

For example, I have a pick-up account that I don't do the delivery for. They are a preffered customer and have an agreement with the regular driver to get their stuff between 1030 and 1100. Problem is, when the regular driver is out, the cover driver follows EDD and gets there at 200pm.

And who do you think hears the complaints? Me when I show up at 430 for the pick-up, and then calls are made to the center. This has occured about 6 or 7 times now. All the center has to do is put this address as the first ground stop in the driver's EDD but have yet to do so.

Talk about being incompetent. You would think by the 3rd complaint the center team would do what they get paid to do and resolve this problem.

I told my sup about it so its out of hands right now and I really don't care when they recieve their packages.

 

[area43]

If it is a business stop that you deliver everyday. I always keep in the back of my mind that I will have to be back tomorrow. If a negative occurs and you dont deal with positively, that stop could become a night mare(dreading the stop). Sometimes you just have to bend over and take it. lol ( :

 

[scratch]

If it is a business stop that you deliver everyday. I always keep in the back of my mind that I will have to be back tomorrow. If a negative occurs and you dont deal with positively, that stop could become a night mare(dreading the stop). Sometimes you just have to bend over and take it. lol ( :

You should deal with problems in a positive way. I always listen to the complaint, then try to explain why something happens, especially if it is a service failure on our part. If it is a UPS fault, like a late air, I apologize. Most of the time though, its not our fault, (bad address, poor packing, or other carrier)but you still have to deal with the customer. Its always a good idea to take a negative situation and turn it into a positive one. I want their business in the future, you have to think in the long term.

 

[DS]

With me its complaints about brokerage charges,
when people buy things from the US on ebay.
It usually goes like this,WHAT! thats more than the
item is worth!How can they charge so much for
a $20.00 (whatever)
Me:
I totally agree its a complete ripoff.Please dont
blame me,I'm just doing my job.If I were
you I`d refuse it. Or you can pay it and take it up
with the shipper.Or I can leave you your copy of
the brokerage tag and you can call and try to
resolve it with them and I`ll make another delivery
attempt tomorrow.
Either way,you have to make a choice,cuz
I gotta run....
95% of the time they pay and say no more.

 

[JustTired]

Above all.......tell the truth!!

These are people you have to deal with every day.

Back when we had the "remote delivery' scam going (you know....the one where we didn't deliver "every pkg, every day") I would have people yelling at me because they tracked their pkg and it showed it was "destination scanned at the center 2 days ago". I told them the truth about what was going on and that I can't deliver it if it isn't in the truck. Word got back to my center manager and he wasn't happy. I told him that I'm not going to lie to these people. I deal with them almost daily and if they were going to lose respect for somebody, it wasn't going to be me. Nothing more was said and as we all know, that little experiment ( the one the drivers told them was idiotic) didn't last.

So....it's been my experience that honesty is the best policy!!

 

[toeknee2gx]

active listening and passive aggressiveness

 

[over9five]

"Word got back to my center manager and he wasn't happy."

What did he expect you to tell them JT?

 

[JustTired]

"Word got back to my center manager and he wasn't happy."

What did he expect you to tell them JT?

I'm not sure. I guess anything but the truth. When they called the 800 number, they were told that there was a problem with the address. When I got the pkg, there was no ad correction and the label looked perfectly fine.

Telling people to call the 800 number is a joke. Those guys don't have a clue. Heck, they're not even UPSers. If they don't have a scripted answer to a question, I guess they just make stuff up.

Years ago, I called the 800 number to find out something (forget the details) and the guy was way off in his answer. I told him so and informed him I was a driver. He asked me how many stops I delivered a day and when I told him, he was amazed and couldn't believe it. We talked for a while and I found out he was in Ft Worth. Interesting....but he was more interested in me than finding the answer to my problem.

Bottom line is I try not to tell people to call the 800 number unless I just want to put them off. Some people deserve it.

 

[helenofcalifornia]

I ALWAYS give customers our center phone number if they want questions answered. Of course, I tell them not to tell UPS where they got the phone number. The 1-800 number IS a joke. Are you listening Atlanta??