Winning Steps to Customer Service Recovery

Every company will occasionally deliver bad  service.  The real issue is, how is the company going to recover from this bad customer service experience? The customer will be irate and upset over having experienced bad service, and may never want to come back to this company. Also the customer will spread negative word of mouth to everyone they know, which is obviously not good. So how does a company try to satisfy the customer, when they have just had or are still experiencing horrible  service?


The most important issue, will be to properly detect when a customer is experiencing bad service, and then go to the customer right away. This is where you would need to ask some questions to ensure you understand what the exact issue is so  that it can be properly corrected, based on the customer feedback. This is the time where it is very important to listen  intently, to show empathy and to make sure you fully understand the service issue.


For example, if you notice an unhappy restaurant customer and find out  they  just received a cold meal, the first issue, would be to take that dish back and then have another meal  promptly cooked and brought  back out. The most pressing issue is to always solve the immediate service issue, then ensure the customer is happy with the resolution.


Once the immediate issue is resolved, then actions need to be taken to ensure the customer is happy, and will want to come back to the business. The customer needs to be assured that this issue will be corrected for the future, and that management will take their  feedback seriously. If the customer provides contact info, a followup call can be made to let them know what actions have been taken to correct the issue. This will assure the customer that the company took their feedback seriously. 


When it comes time for the customer to pay, this is where the manager provides  tangible evidence that they are serious about wanting to keep the customer happy. The manager  would provide a substantial discount  on the bill, as a token of goodwill. This would show the customer, that the company is really serious about wanting to keep their business and are really sorry for the poor service they experienced. Bad  service happens sometimes, but if the company solves the issue well, they will gain a very loyal customer, which is great for business.