How to deal with difficult customers…
Using Amazon as a selling platform is essentially quite a simple process to – but sometimes you will come across issues that you need clarification on.
In the next few eletters, we will look at common factors that may arise within the world of selling and how to deal with them.
This week the topic is ‘difficult’ customers.
From time to time, a few of you may find yourself with a difficult customer. They may carry out the following actions…
They may email you and complain about a situation that they want resolved in their favour. You may feel it’s not your fault that the situation has arisen, which obviously creates a grievance for you.
It’s frustrating: I know when customers do react badly to a situation, most issues are easily dealt with to the customer’s complete satisfaction.
Some common issues include items not having arrived (so replace or refund), the wrong item sent (so replace or refund), or the condition not as described (so replace or refund).
On occasion, some customers may go the extra mile to show their disappointment in your service by leaving unfair and bad feedback; they may contact Amazon customer services and make a complaint against you; they may apply for the A-to-Z guarantee – which effectively means Amazon will ensure the customer receives a complete full refund and they get to keep their goods too.
In fact, all three might happen if the customer is very aggrieved.
Luckily these types of customer are rare, but it can happen.
It’s human to want to react to situations that you feel is completely unfair, but it is always best to be very professional when dealing with a situation where you perceive the customer to be completely irrational over an issue.
If a customer is rude or offensive, contact Amazon through seller help and ask them to intervene.
Remember they will likely come down in the favour of your buyer, but should the buyer leave offensive remarks on your feedback page, Amazon will usually remove the feedback.
Here are Amazon’s guidelines to problems with buyers: ‘Occasionally you may experience problems with your buyer. Most of the time the situation can be resolved quickly and amicably by communicating directly with the buyer via the Buyer-Seller Messaging Service […]
‘If you work hard at maintaining a good relationship with buyers, e.g. by dispatching their purchases promptly, answering emails quickly and courteously, and at all times maintaining a professional and friendly service, you will receive good ratings and attract more customers in the future. If you have queries about a negative feedback rating that you believe to be unjustified, e-mail us […]
‘Reply promptly and carefully whenever you receive an enquiry from a potential buyer. This is an opportunity for you to make a good impression and potentially obtain a good feedback rating at the end of the transaction. After you’ve answered a buyer’s question, you should consider adding the requested information to your product description for the benefit of other potential buyers.’
The first concern at Amazon.co.uk is to maintain a secure and safe marketplace. The Amazon.co.uk A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee is designed to ensure that buyers enjoy a safe shopping experience.
If you’ve never read through the A-to-Z Buying Guarantee, you should familiarise yourself with it.
Until next week!
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