Do you think that 99% of customer tickets are from the customers own stupidity.

The Slogan: The Customer is Always Right
Should Be: The Customer is Always Wrong

Example:
This happen to me recently, customer screams and yells at us because she can't connect to her FTP or control panel. Well I couldn't either, so I begin checking background information, reset a few things, still doesn't work but her website came up fine and she has been able to access it a week before. Then I do a WHOIS on her domain name and sure enough

ns1.mydomain.com
ns2.mydomain.com
ns3.mydomain.com
ns4.mydomain.com

It turns out shes been paying for my hosting for about 6 months and shes actually been using someone elses hosting because she didn't have the right nameserver settings. I don't know what happen to her old host because she couldn't FTP to it no more, so she just uploaded her site onto my servers.

Another:
Customer cannot check email through outlook because password isn't working. Turns out the customer was using his Main Control Panel password and not his email password he created.

These customers are a total waste of money and time and just annoy me really bad. Usually my server is always up and working 100% Do you got any customer experiences where it wasn't your fault?

Originally posted by OverSkilled
Do you got any customer experiences where it wasn't your fault?

Sure. Does it make them stupid? Hardly. You seem to assume everyone who gets online is supposed to know all these things already.

If you feel these people are a:

total waste of money and time and just annoy me really bad.

then feel free to point them toward the many dozens of hosts on this board that remember we're working in a service industry. Some people need extra help. More often than not they're embarrassed that they need to ask, but unless they get answers from someone they're helpless. This helplessness sometimes comes across as frustration. Your job is to help them as best you can.

I'm a little staggered lately on the growth of threads like this that assume customers are 'stupid', and not worth keeping if they stretch the budget a bit.

Greg Moore

Wow. Can't really expand much on Greg's post. Durn! Can't add to it at all.

He summed it up quite nicely. :)

OverSkilled: I agree that it can be frustrating to answer that kind of inquiries at some time.

But as akashik pointed out: Nobody knows everything right from the beginning and you never know - The customer who asks the most "stupid" questions and at the same time gets the most helpful answers may be the next one to refer a bunch of customers.

Just my thoughts.

Yeah, think about it this way: What's worse, the customer asking a bunch of 'stupid questions', or the customer digging up some question you don't know the answer to?

Answering basic questions is about 75% of my job as a host. Personally, I enjoy it.

akashik, superb answer and exactly what I was trying to put into words when I saw this thread earlier.

Some people need extra help. More often than not they're embarrassed that they need to ask, but unless they get answers from someone they're helpless.

Important words for every host to remember!

Right on, Greg! :agree:

The customer being stupid may not be the right way to put it, but if you are charging X dollars, you can only afford to provide Y support before your service industry becomes service charity, which is not a smart way to run a business.

-Brendan

:D Hi Brendan,

The customer is always right, or you will always go out of business. =)

WOW, this is the first time i've seen you agree with Greg :rolleyes:

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
Wow. Can't really expand much on Greg's post. Durn! Can't add to it at all.

He summed it up quite nicely. :)

Originally posted by Samuel
:D Hi Brendan,

The customer is always right, or you will always go out of business. =)


So any company that has ever had a customer ever who was every actually wrong about something, has gone out of business in a flaming ball of twisted chards of burning metal? Whew, if I was walmart I'd be really sweating over this one, they have a lot of customers.

-Brendan

Of course it was a general statement, all of my customers are right, they are also strong, funny, brilliant in some cases in fact.

I'm very fortunate to be in business and have the customers I have.

One very such customer is worth over 93 million dollars and is the greatest person I have ever met =)

So 50% of you think only 1 out of 100 support questions are valid?

Originally posted by HRBrendan
The customer being stupid may not be the right way to put it, but if you are charging X dollars, you can only afford to provide Y support before your service industry becomes service charity, which is not a smart way to run a business.

-Brendan

In my experience customers are generally only 'trouble' for a small period of time. Treated correctly, and given the information they need, it's stops after a while and they settle in with everyone else. If they continually find fault they'll move on, voting with their wallets.

Customers aren't always right, but they do have the right to the correct information. I'm not sure what some people's bedside manner is like, but I can't think of a time that I haven't been able to explain why they're wrong and not had them understand and agree - once they have the right information fully explained. Without that, of course they'll continue disagreeing

edude,
SWR and I have agreed on about three things now in close to 2 years :D We're like family now.

Greg Moore

Originally posted by HRBrendan
The customer being stupid may not be the right way to put it, but if you are charging X dollars, you can only afford to provide Y support before your service industry becomes service charity, which is not a smart way to run a business.

-Brendan

I like the way he put this. There is a certain point at which a customer becomes an expense which actually endangers your ability to offer quality service to others. Perhaps we shouldn't measure this in dollars but rather our ability to service all customers who need it as well as possible. There is a point where you might need to say "I'm sorry but our company is not setup to provide the level of support you require, perhaps you would be best off going with a more in depth solution such as..." or point them to some nice websites with good tips.

Customer support is key but another key is being able to manage the support. You do have to maintain profitability so you can't just keep hiring hundreds of people until every person gets an answer immediatly every time including those who ask perhaps a bit in excess, however it is not right either to call a customer stupid because they are a bit confused.

It is such a fine line, which is, perhaps, why many people are not fit for a job which requires customer interaction and especially why many people are not cut out to run a business. There is a personality type for this type of position, some people fit, and some just don't.

I suppose, as in most businesses, you have to look at the whole picture. You will always have a big mix of customers - those who are high maintenance, and those who aren't. In the long run, they should balance out. After all, I assume you're building some customer support cost into your pricing. So what if you never get a support ticket from a customer. Do you refund him? Of Course not. But the ones you do hear from balance it out.

IMO, you've got to have plenty of patience if you're in the service industry. Not every customer will come aboard with the knowledge and savvy you're hoping they have. With some, you just need to hold their hand for a while.

One thing I have noticed is that oftentimes the ones that you do spend more time servicing are the ones more likely to send you referals. In the long run, the effort to help was worth it, wouldn't you say?

Just my thoughts...

Vito

Originally posted by vito
One thing I have noticed is that oftentimes the ones that you do spend more time servicing are the ones more likely to send you referals. In the long run, the effort to help was worth it, wouldn't you say?

That's been our experience. Along with responding to them using their first names, it provides a very good way to deepen your level of communication with customers, who in turn often mention it to friends, and business associates.

Greg Moore

Wow after this post I would never be hosted consider choosing you as a host.

who?

OverSkilled: as a reliable webhosting provider, you should be making sure of all these things, people are paying for service and everything should be checked / done for them..

Sounds like akashik said it best :) Can't really say much more. Obviously it can be frustrating, but don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Let's face it, customers suck!, but I love em :love:

What I'm really trying to say is, as long as you're paying your bill to SAH it's alllllll good:wavey:

But the moment you DARE to defy us :smash:

I had a similiar conversation with a large host on this board last year, and well they missed the point as well.

The customer is ALWAYS right, period.