Interactive tool · How to respond to an angry customer: examples and best practice

Situation 1 of 8 · Support email

Billing errorA B2B customer writes to you, very annoyed:

“This invoice is wrong and you’re overcharging me. I’ve spent half an hour going through it, this is unacceptable. If this is normal, we’ll look for another supplier.”

What do you reply first?

A“Hello, thank you for getting in touch. I understand the situation is uncomfortable. I’ll review the invoice and, if we find the amount is correct, I’ll explain in detail how it was calculated.” B“Hello, I’m sorry for the confusion with the invoice, I know this can waste your time. I’ll review every line today and write to you before the end of the day with what we find and the next steps.” C“Hello, we apologise for the inconvenience. Invoices are generated automatically, but if you tell us which items don’t add up, we’ll try to help you as soon as possible.”

Situation 2 of 8 · Support call

Critical incident mid-campaignA customer calls, very angry:

“Your service has gone down in the middle of our campaign. We’re losing money every minute.”

How do you respond at the start of the call?

A“I understand this is a very critical situation for you. Our team is already working on the incident and in about 30 minutes I can share a more specific update with you.” B“I know it’s a difficult situation, but right now we’re dealing with a lot of incidents. What we can do is you tell me about the impact so I can escalate it better internally.” C“I understand this isn’t what you expected. The incident is widespread, so we’re prioritising the fix for all customers as quickly as possible.”

Situation 3 of 8 · Escalated email

Aggressive, escalated emailYou receive a harsh email, copied to senior management:

“This is now the third time we’ve had the same problem. Your support is dreadful. I expect a reply TODAY.”

What opening paragraph do you write?

A“Thank you for writing to us again. I’m sorry your experience with support hasn’t lived up to your expectations, especially with the same problem recurring. I want to review the case carefully to understand exactly what happened.” B“I’m sorry you have that perception of our support. We answered the previous tickets within the agreed timeframes, but I can review the history to see if we’ve missed anything.” C“I understand you’re upset. To help you better, I’d need you to tell me exactly what three problems you’ve had and when they occurred.”

Situation 4 of 8 · Follow-up call

Threat of cancellationOn a follow-up call, the customer tells you:

“If we don’t see a clear change in support this quarter, we’ll terminate the contract next month.”

How do you respond?

A“I understand the concern. So that we can act, could you specify exactly what changes you expect to see in support this quarter?” B“I’m sorry it has come to you considering terminating the contract. I’d like us to agree on what would need to change over the coming weeks for it to make sense to keep working together, and see whether we can commit to that.” C“I understand your frustration. What I can do is pass your comments on to the support team and my manager, and depending on what they say, you can decide whether or not to continue.”

Situation 5 of 8 · Support call

Customer who keeps interruptingYou’re on a call with a very angry customer who interrupts you every time you try to explain something.

What do you do?

AYou let them finish what they want to say, take notes and then say: “OK, to make sure I’ve understood correctly, let me quickly summarise what I’ve noted and, if that works for you, I’ll tell you what we can do from here.” BAs soon as they pause, you take the chance to say: “If you don’t let me explain the situation, it’s going to be very hard for me to help you.” CYou try to slip information in bit by bit even if you talk over each other, so the call doesn’t drag on too long.

Situation 6 of 8 · Phone support

Problem caused by the customerA customer calls because their order has been sent to the wrong address. You check and see that the address was misspelt on the original form.

What do you say?

A“I’ve checked the order and the address shown is the one entered at the time of purchase. I understand this is a frustrating situation, so let’s go over the options we have to get your order to you as soon as possible.” B“What happened is that the address wasn’t entered correctly. It’s not something we can change after the fact, but if you like you can place the order again with the correct details.” C“The error comes from the address entered on the form. We don’t usually take responsibility for this kind of situation, although in this case I’ll see if we can make an exception.”

Situation 7 of 8 · Support chat

Chat with an impatient customerIn the support chat, a customer writes:

“I’ve been waiting 20 minutes for a reply. Is anyone there or do I have to go to another supplier?”

What do you send as your first message?

A“Hello, thank you for getting in touch. Sorry for the wait. I’m just finishing another case and in less than 5 minutes I’ll look at yours and update you.” B“Hello, we’re experiencing a high volume of queries. We’ll reply to your message in order of arrival as soon as possible.” C“Hello, I understand your frustration. We’re doing everything we can, but we can’t guarantee specific response times right now.”

Situation 8 of 8 · Social media

Public complaint on social mediaA customer posts a very negative comment on LinkedIn tagging your company:

“We’ve had issues for weeks and nobody takes responsibility. I wouldn’t recommend this supplier to anyone.”

How do you respond publicly?

A“We’re sorry to read this. We’d like to review what happened in your case; we’ll send you a private message to ask for more details and find a solution.” B“We’re sorry about your experience. To handle incidents, the right channel is our support channel, not social media. We invite you to open a ticket so that we can help you.” C“We’re sorry about your comment. According to our records, we resolved the previous incidents within the expected timeframes, but if you feel that wasn’t the case, please contact us again.”

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