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  1. #1

    Exclamation what can i do about a crazy customer

    Ok, I've been doing some web hosting for a few local clients and its been no trouble... I have picked up a few clients off the internet through my website which i do not mind at all.

    But now, I have this one guy that is really crazy i think. He constantly sends e-mails to my support e-mail that make no sense at all. I feel that he is drunk or under some kind of something? Really I think he is crazy.

    I have never had to deal with this type of person ever. Can I just tell him to f off and find another host because he is basically wasting all of my & others time. I do have a terms of service page that lists that i can terminate any customer at any time.

    Should I be worried about telling this guy I can't provide service to him anymore?

    I'm sure I'll probably see more of these people in the future.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Singapore
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    6,990
    If he is drunk or under some drugs, just ignore him until he is fully awake, keep those crazy messages at the spam folders would be helpful. If he become too much of an *** hole, just keep him. Chasing such ppl out may cause unexpected hostility

  3. #3
    If he is really being incoherent and not really causing anything but a hastle, just ignore him until he has something actually important. Don't waste the income of a good client, even if he is off the wall.
    hostVentura
    adam.ferree@gmail.com
    AIM: windsofnihility

  4. #4
    It's always good customer care practice to keep your cool no matter how annoying that customer is. If at your wits end, ask someone to deal with this customer,
    Protagonist WebHosting Services
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
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    1,596
    Keep your cool and respond to his e-mail with: I don't understand...could you explain to me what you are saying?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Langley, BC
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    Ya you should just be calm about it. Try to work through it with him and if he is unwilling to work things out with you and explain what he wants from you in a logical manner then maybe you can give him some other options for web hosting (other websites).
    Michael Bayazit
    Red Linux Hosting
    www.redlinuxhosting.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Florida, USA
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    Post some of the messages, so we have an example.

    "woo boi, how i do ftp ? i forget haha yeah cows man cows gotta love that milk from da cows ya."

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
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    Just be serious and reply professionally until he calms down, if he ever does
    David

  9. #9
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    Apr 2002
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    As stated already, I think the best you can do is be as professional as possible.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
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    Originally posted by JonMB
    Post some of the messages, so we have an example.

    "woo boi, how i do ftp ? i forget haha yeah cows man cows gotta love that milk from da cows ya."
    woo boi, how i do ftp ?

    Translation:

    Good Afternoon Sir, how do I FTP?

    i forget haha

    Translation:

    It has been a while since I have used FTP.

    yeah

    Translation:

    If you could remind me I would appreciate it.

    cows man cows gotta love that milk from da cows

    Translation:

    I suspect that you will just refer me to some website so just be aware that I am a paying customer, and I am talking about cows so you will also think I am a crazy mutha and not give me any attitude.

    (thats my take on it)

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Atlanta, Jawja
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    3,074
    Plain and simple, be professional with him and advise him that he needs to make sure that he's submitting valid tickets. Essentially warn him that if the unusual tickets don't cease, that he will have to look for hosting elsewhere.

    Give him a specific timeframe to clean up his attitude, and then fire him if he doesn't. Yes, I said fire him. I've only fired two customers, and am much happier for it.
    Doug Hazard - "retired" Web Hosting Master
    * Full Stack (Web/WP) Dev for The Catholic Diocese of Richmond (160+ sites)
    * Sports Photographer, Media Personality and CFB Historian
    * Tech Admin for several Sports Networks/Sites

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
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    21,920
    Well said Douglas! I don't run a hosting business, but that's the way I would tackle the situation.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Singapore
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    Originally posted by tassienet
    woo boi, how i do ftp ?

    Translation:

    Good Afternoon Sir, how do I FTP?

    i forget haha

    Translation:

    It has been a while since I have used FTP.

    yeah

    Translation:

    If you could remind me I would appreciate it.

    cows man cows gotta love that milk from da cows

    Translation:

    I suspect that you will just refer me to some website so just be aware that I am a paying customer, and I am talking about cows so you will also think I am a crazy mutha and not give me any attitude.

    (thats my take on it)
    lol. this customer can give you some entertainment when u r too stress up.
    Linux System admin (since 2001)
    * cPanel/WHM, Directadmin, Apache, DNS, PHP, HyperVM, Lxadmin, Openvz*

  14. #14
    breps,


    Ask yourself: What am I doing that contribute to this unpleasant situation? As you have no control over the personality and behaviour of another person, it’s far better to change your own behaviour.

    To handle most unpleasant customers you should listen and understand the actual needs of that customers by echoing back to listening as the customer perceives. You can bring down the emotional state of the customer by sympathizing it and can get a solution after evaluating all other factors you’ve gathered and analyzed and thus you can be able respond accordingly to him in a most professional way
    Last edited by etechsupport2; 07-18-2005 at 04:25 AM.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    14
    Of course you could send them an ammendment to TOS, that there will now be additional charges for incoherient, or unnessary support tickets.

    That way they back off, or you make more $.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    ::Computer World::
    Posts
    9
    I agree with what the above users said. As a server administrator it is upto you to keep your cool in all situations. Since you are not meeting this person live, it will be easy to reply to his questions in a patient, decent manner. Remember, "Customer is King"!

    ~ CC

  17. #17
    "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still". You should try to understand what problem he is actually addressing for which he is behaving like crazy; thereafter you can find a solution to resolve the problem.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    798

    Re: what can i do about a crazy customer

    Originally posted by breps
    I'm sure I'll probably see more of these people in the future.
    And not just in a hosting context! More crazies than normals in the world, my friend.

    I, too, would love to see some examples of his crazy tickets. We can compare notes. I remember a thread where people were posting some crazy support notes a while back that was very entertaining. I think everyone deals with the 'nightmare customer' at some point.

    I used to have a customer that would forward his mail to our support department. Every email from someone he didn't know, he forwarded to us. And not just the spam that slipped past the filters. receipts for things he had bought online, newsletters that he must have subscribed to, non-delivery notices from emails that he had sent that had bounced.Every once in awhile there would be a rant in between the forwards about how we were sending him all this email he didn't want. And how he didn't take the post office stuffing his mailbox full and he wasn't going to let us do the same to his email inbox.

    He eventually must have been schooled by someone, the forwards and rants just stopped. He was a customer for five years and then cancelled out of the blue last year.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    European Union
    Posts
    391
    Just give him a refund and send him on his way.

    Refer him to someone like aplus.net, they will love him.
    EuroVPS - Europe's Fully Managed Hosting
    Established 2004 - The European Hosting Authority

  20. #20
    Doing so is an easy way, but as serversphere told there are more crazies than normal in the world, you should tackle the situation reacting in a normal ways to resolve it hopefully, otherwise don’t forget it that those people will bad mouth about you.

    You can not change their attitude that they’ll behave in a certain way, but you can change your own attitude and approach to find a solution to tackle the situation candidly and smoothly to resolve the issue.

    Finding a customers and retaining the customers both are necessary and both require different skills and attention.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    215
    I don't know if this will help you at all but maybe he was talking about cows in relation to National Cow Appreciation Day, which happened on July 15th?

  22. #22
    Basically, sometimes customers can be offensive and hack your servers. Like I had this one guy buy hosting, hack our server and then ask for a money-back refund. I told him no, because he violated our TOS/AUP.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    89
    Kelani, I did NOT hack you, so you should get off the matter

  24. #24
    Um, Trent, quit lying to people. After how you trashed my servers, you honestly think any host here is going to take their chances dealing with you.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    89
    I'm not lying, I didn't hack you, but I will however stop wasting my time on this matter and not reply to your messages about this from now on, it is really getting on my nerves

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