Taking negative customer feedback

[milly007]

Melancholy makes a good point. Further to that, these types of situations are dangerous/sticky because it's like the game telephone. Some message about someone is passed from one person to the next, and not only do you question who or what they're talking about, but by the time this message has reached your ears, who knows if the message you are receiving is what was intended.

If anyone from High Garden took issue with the training, they should have contacted you directly and asked for clarification.

[annie24]

Know what? It irritates me to no end when someone is trying to do business with me, but they are on their phone. I don't care if they're waiting, answering emails, or whatever. You are there to do a job for them. Be present. Turn your d*mn phone off and put it in your bag. Rant over about that.

Ironically, after all that today, I got another call from my coworker telling me that Cersei (another coworker) needs me to return her emails. I hadn't replied to any emails in the last 2 days because.... I had been at customer sites. I had my away message up too. You can't win sometimes.....

[annie24]

Melancholy makes a good point. Further to that, these types of situations are dangerous/sticky because it's like the game telephone. Some message about someone is passed from one person to the next, and not only do you question who or what they're talking about, but by the time this message has reached your ears, who knows if the message you are receiving is what was intended.

If anyone from High Ground took issue with the training, they should have contacted you directly and asked for clarification.

Yeah, I agree, the game Telephone is no fun. I remember back in high school, someone spread some rumor about me, and the by the time it came back to me, the grain of truth in there was spun into some bigger, totally incorrect thing. I really hate the rumor mill for this reason. Or anytime someone tells me something nasty about someone else, I really kind of temper it in my head.

[journeynow]

Ironically, after all that today, I got another call from my coworker telling me that Cersei needs me to return her emails. I hadn't replied to any emails in the last 2 days because.... I had been at customer sites. I had my away message up too.

Does your away message give a timeframe of when you'll get back? And can you follow up with a quick customized response to Cersei (and others) saying you got their message, you are tied up out of the office, and will get back to them about XYZ by such-and-such a date? (Can you give an alternate person for them to contact if there is something more urgent?)

[annie24]

Does your away message give a timeframe of when you'll get back? And can you follow up with a quick customized response to Cersei (and others) saying you got their message, you are tied up out of the office, and will get back to them about XYZ by such-and-such a date? (Can you give an alternate person for them to contact if there is something more urgent?)

I just replied to Cersei tonight and told her my plan. I don't have a time frame but that is a good point. I have 2 away messages - one for customers and one for coworkers. Both have other people to contact. Cersei reached out to both my coworker and I to ask, I guess he had already given his answer but I literally had no time to reply to her until tonight. I am going on an international vacation soon and I will not check my work emails at all, so I need to make that clear in my away message. I will probably tell them I am in xxxx country, I will have no internet access, please contact .....

[shellyf62]

I was going to suggest you take Jon Snow along for moral support, but then I remembered he knows nothing

[annie24]

My coworker told me not to feel badly and not to take it personally - he said some customers will always be unhappy no matter what, and others will think you are awesome and amazing even when you didn't do a great job.

[milly007]

My coworker told me not to feel badly and not to take it personally - he said some customers will always be unhappy no matter what, and others will think you are awesome and amazing even when you didn't do a great job.

Your coworker sounds like a good person. What they told you is gold and it's nice to know that you have their support.

Plus, I'm sure your coworker has been in and will be in the same position as you (i.e. - having to deal with customer complaints made about them), so they can relate and empathize with what you're going through.

There will always be a customer complaining, regardless of how hard you work.

[annie24]

The one thing I have always hated are these really rushed deadlines, like rushing for things to be done before the end of quarter so that the sales go through. It just makes everything stupid. I mean, I understand from a business perspective why it was done. But then the customer is sitting wondering why I was cutting corners (aka, doing a bare minimum testing instead of more extensive testing that I would do under other circumstances). But I was doing that because of the end of quarter deadline so sales could meet the financial projections. I'm starting to dread the last week of the quarter. I've been warned that the end of the year will get hairy too.

[annie24]

Your coworker sounds like a good person. What they told you is gold and it's nice to know that you have their support.

Plus, I'm sure your coworker has been in and will be in the same position as you (i.e. - having to deal with customer complaints made about them), so they can relate and empathize with what you're going through.

There will always be a customer complaining, regardless of how hard you work.

yeah, he is dealing with that himself right now and our boss might have to get involved - a customer was having a problem and he suggested they change 6 things. And now things are working and the customer wants to know why it is working now and he doesn't have a really good answer for them and the customer is not ok with that as an answer. I understand the customer's perspective - they want to prevent a similar problem in the future. From my coworker's perspective, he's not watching them 40 hours a week so he can't always pinpoint what they did right this time because they took all 6 of his suggestions.