Irate customers

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I might have just lost one of our biggest customers...She placed a phone message saying she wanted to have an order overnighted....and i called her back 3 times and left 2 messages. When she finally got ahold of me, it was after the post office had closed and she was angry, and right off the bat said that she wouldn't need to be placing the order then.....but that wasn't enough..she kept going on and on about this and that, even though I had done the best I could..I have no idea what she wanted me to say to her. I apologised...she was still angry.....I am not a good boot kisser. I didn;t know how long she expected me to stay on the phone so she could vent...and I guess I only served to make her angrier.
So now she's calling my boss...(who happens to be my boyfriend)...so things could be worse....but i still feel like crap.

This customer may have been having a bad day and just took it out on you. If you apologized and made the effort to call her back more than once, then there was not really anything else you could have done. Don't be too hard on yourself. You did not lose the customer based on your actions.

Aspies have a hard time with criticism, especially when it seems to make no sense. It drives me nuts when someone goes on and on about something. I would rather they just get to the point and then drop it. She may have just been looking for someone to get mad at and criticize. It is still not right how she treated you, but I don't think you are the only reason for her being upset.

Not a day goes by that I don't do, or say, something stupid. I have to use my ADD super powers to make amends, forget about the screw up, and go on to the next project. It has been hard to learn how to forgive myself, and not dwell on my latest faux pas.

Don't beat up on yourself, sometimes you can do everything right and people still aren't happy.

She is just a cranky b#tch and I think she was just waiting for a chance to cancel her order. By abusing you and your firm, she could justify her change of mind. If it hadn't happened then, she would have just found some other excuse. Don't blame yourself, poopylungstuffing - it is ALL her own stupid fault!

You did the best you could! Even by just letting the customer vent & rant and rave on the phone I think is considered customer service oriented. You could have just hung up on her, but you didn't. I wouldn't worry too much. Irate customers like that use their anger to get what they want.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that you did not just lose the company's biggest customer. He/She will probably call the boss and whine & b**ch & moan until they get a free-bee. (Like free shipping or something)

Woman, I agree with your assessment - it was probably just a tactic on this customer's side so she could get a discount or freebie. She most likely has had lots of practice in manipulating people like this.

I've had irate customers when I worked in retail, so I can totally relate. Once after such a customer encounter, I had to go into the bathroom to calm myself down. I'm just lucky I never had to work in the layaway department of that particular store because that's where the employees got the worst treatment by the customers.

I don't understand why the customers would be the worst there unless they were the ones who hadn't kept up their payments and were going to lose the things they'd put on layby?

I'm not sure if that is the exact type of customer. There are two possibilities I see, either the customer was trying to manipulate or is extremely stupid and cannot tie their shoes. I'd go for the latter, most of the irate customers I've dealt with fit into either of those two camps, mainly the latter since I live in the land of the ten thousand flakes.

Don't let these people worry you or hurt your feelings, don't give them what they're after. They're trying to control you in one way or another, either by hurting your feelings and your job or trying to get something out of you so they can feel special about themselves. Try not to let them treat you like a doormat, you're a person!