Does great customer service mean the company will bend to its customer’s will, no matter what?

Does it mean that the company is bound by “the customer is always right” — with no recourse?

I’m wondering what your thoughts are, because I recently read a thread at The Babywearer forums in which baby sling business owners discuss a particularly nasty customer service situation.

I would like to add another perspective into the pot. This situation reminds me of an entry in Seth Godin’s blog regarding the customer is always right:

Rule 1: The customer is always right

Rule 2: If the customer is ever wrong, reread rule No. 1

Rule 3: If the customer is wrong, they’re not your customer any more.

Bet you hadn’t thought of that.

Seth gives some additional advice for handling customers who are wrong:

Fire them. Politely decline to do business with them. Refer them to your arch competitors. Take them off the mailing list. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, don’t be rude, just move on.

If you’ve got something worth paying for, you gain power when you refuse to offer it to every single person who is willing to pay you.

Now that’s something to consider, especially for small WAHM businesses who can’t afford to spend 95 percent of their time placating the 1 percent of their clients who are unhappy and always will be.

Thoughts?

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