How to Lose Longtime Customer or Client in Five Minutes

When we last got together, I warned of signs you might be headed for a client divorce, citing the dangers of offering “reactive service” in lieu of “proactive” service and its probable effect on soon-to-be former clients looking for a new CPA firm.

I’ll boil that down even further – how about just offering bad customer service?

Now I’m sure I’m not exactly going out on a shaky limb predicting what poor customer service can do to a company or organization. We’ve all seen examples of that either up close and personal or chronicled in horrific detail in the media.

Now I have great empathy for the people who work in customer service. They man the phones in either eight to 10 hour shifts of which 90 percent of that time is spent listening to rankled and irate callers who vow never to return to said company if their issue isn’t resolved like yesterday. As a result, they are rarely thanked for their efforts or patience.

I know I would last exactly 30 minutes in that post before I would begin taking hostages. As such, I have always tried to be considerate and absurdly polite when attempting to settle a dispute.

But there comes a breaking point – even for me.

For nearly 20 years I’ve been a loyal customer of Ringside, a Lenexa, Kan.-based sporting goods company that does 99 percent of its sales online. In those two decades, I’ll conservatively estimate I’ve spent well into four figures on various products including a recent order for which when it arrived, neither fit nor worked properly.

I immediately sent it back, checking the appropriate return boxes only to have it  re-delivered to me three days later accompanied by a note (not on company letterhead mind you, but rather badly scribbled on a torn sheet of loose leaf paper) explaining they since product was used, it could not be returned. And adding insult to injury I realized that I had paid shipping costs – twice!

An ensuing call to customer service proved fruitless and I informed them that the next voice they hear will be from my credit card company.

And just like that they lost a 20-year customer over roughly $80.

Done. Finis. Kaput.

Even now I find myself shaking my head over the incident. And I’m sure my experience is hardly an isolated case.

But I’m happy to report that I’ve moved on and even found a similar company with outstanding customer service.

The rewards of good customer service are universal whether for CPA firms or sporting goods manufacturers. And those that don’t recognize its importance will always serve as a steady client and customer pipeline for those that do.