{"id":31155,"date":"2015-05-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/rules-for-bad-customers-is-bad-customer-service\/"},"modified":"2024-01-22T14:06:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T14:06:46","slug":"rules-for-bad-customers-is-bad-customer-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-culture\/rules-for-bad-customers-is-bad-customer-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Rules for Bad Customers Is Bad Customer Service"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-8422 size-medium\" title=\"shep Hyken Customer Service Speaker\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Policies-for-Good-Customers-250x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"300\" \/>Business Policies<\/h2>\r\nThe other night I had just returned from a trip and was hungry. I wasn\u2019t sure what I wanted for dinner, so I went to the refrigerator, opened up the door, and stared into a somewhat empty box. Other than some beverages and condiments, the \u201cfridge\u201d was pretty much empty. I thought about what I wanted for dinner and I didn\u2019t feel like having a pizza delivered. Instead, I felt like something much healthier; a big, thick, juicy hamburger and fries. Okay, not so healthy.But since it wouldn\u2019t be delivered, I would try and be a little bit healthy and walk to a local restaurant and order it to go.\r\n\r\nI walked into the restaurant and asked to place a to-go order. \u201cNo problem,\u201d said the hostess \u2013 until I ordered the hamburger and French fries. By the way, I must tell you that this restaurant has one of the best burgers I\u2019ve ever tasted; big, thick and juicy \u2013 prepared just right. And it is very reasonably priced, which is one of the reasons people like to order it. I was then informed by the hostess that they no longer do carryout service for their hamburger. About that time the manager came over and heard what was transpiring. He gave me the following explanation:\r\n\r\n<em>\u201cWe no longer offer our hamburgers as a carryout item because we had a customer come several times and order a lot of them at once. We decided at that point not to have that item available as carryout.\u201d\r\n<\/em>\r\n<h3>Bad Customer Service Decision<\/h3>\r\nI was surprised. This restaurant prides itself on customer service, but they just informed me of a very bad customer service decision. It wasn\u2019t that they decided to not make their hamburgers available as carry out. It was that they made a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/customer-experience-2\/customer-service-may-rule-rules-customer-service-dont\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rule<\/a> based on one customer\u2019s bad behavior.\r\n\r\nAfter all of that, there is a happy ending to the story. The manager could tell I was disappointed. I offered to sit down at the bar and eat and said to him, \u201cIt is disappointing that you would punish all of your customers because one customer took advantage of you.\u201d\r\n\r\nHe thought about it and said, \u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d And he sold me a burger and fries to go. He also told me that I could order it as carryout anytime.\r\n\r\nSo, here\u2019s the lesson, and it\u2019s a good one. It\u2019s important to have standards, and in some cases policies \u2013 oh, how I hate that word <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/customer-experience-2\/she-lied-to-me-a-great-customer-service-experience-turns-ugly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>policy<\/em><\/a>. So, consider this:\r\n\r\n<em>Don\u2019t make a rule because just one or two customers (out of hundreds or even thousands) abuse your system. In other words, don\u2019t penalize all of your honest customers for the sins of a few.<\/em>\r\n\r\nOkay, the word <em>sins<\/em> might be a strong word, but I think you get the point. Make your rules for good customers, not bad ones.\r\n\r\n<em><a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shep Hyken<\/a>\u00a0is a customer service\/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/speaking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service and customer experience keynote speeches<\/a>\u00a0and his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service training workshops<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.Hyken.com<\/a>. Connect with Shep on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shephyken\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n\r\n<em>(Copyright \u00a9 MMXV, Shep Hyken)<\/em>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business Policies The other night I had just returned from a trip and was hungry. I wasn\u2019t sure what I wanted for dinner, so I went to the refrigerator, opened up the door, and stared into a somewhat empty box. Other than some beverages and condiments, the \u201cfridge\u201d was pretty much empty. I thought about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6796],"tags":[4790,5221,5291],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.5 (Yoast SEO v22.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rules for Bad Customers Is Bad Customer Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was surprised. 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