Behind Belinda’s Desk

The Customer Isn’t Always Right. There, I Said It.

By Belinda Birt

Well, this one might get me into trouble.

We've all grown up hearing the same golden rule of customer service:

“The customer is always right.”

I've worked in customer service for most of my adult life, and after almost ten years of running a dress rental business, I'm going to say something that apparently we're not supposed to say.

Sometimes, the customer isn't right.

There. I said it.

That doesn't mean the business is automatically right either.

We make mistakes. Of course we do.

We've sent the wrong size. We've had double bookings. We've had dresses not arrive when they should. We've made decisions customers haven't agreed with.

When we make a mistake, I firmly believe we should own it, apologise and do everything reasonably possible to fix it.

But there's a difference between expecting good customer service and expecting the impossible.

And there's an even bigger difference between being understandably frustrated and treating another human being terribly because something has gone wrong.

“Why Didn't You Buy This Dress?”

Let's start with one of the more innocent ones.

We regularly have customers send us beautiful dresses they've spotted online:

Are you getting this one?

Why didn't you buy this?

Can you get this in my size?

And sometimes I look at it and think...

Babe. It's $2,000. That's why.

Take a designer like LEO LIN. A collection can contain dozens of beautiful pieces.

I'd happily buy half of them.

Unfortunately, I'd also quite like to remain in business.

We have to select a handful of pieces that we believe will work for our customers, across different sizes, ages, body shapes, events and price points.

Then I need room in the budget for ACLER, BY JOHNNY, NOOKIE, MOS THE LABEL and all the other designers we stock.

I can't buy everything.

That's the reality of running a curated rental wardrobe rather than an enormous warehouse.

And believe me, nobody is sadder than I am when I have to leave a spectacular dress behind.

Then There's Australia Post...

Oh boy.

If you've ever worked in online retail, you already know where I'm going with this.

We use Express Post for our rental deliveries, and approximately 95% of the time, everything works beautifully.

In fact, we deliberately send the majority of our rentals well ahead of the customer's event.

Which regularly results in emails saying:

“My dress has already arrived and my event isn't until Saturday. Is that okay?”

Yes!

That's exactly what we wanted to happen.

We'd much rather your dress be hanging safely in your wardrobe several days early than have everyone panicking on Friday afternoon.

But then there's that tiny percentage.

The parcel that just...

Does. Not. Move.

We've sent it on time.

We've tracked it.

We've checked the same tracking information you're looking at.

We've lodged enquiries where appropriate.

We've crossed every finger and toe in Hampton.

And it still doesn't arrive.

Is it incredibly frustrating?

Yes.

Would I be upset if it were my dress?

Absolutely.

Will we try to help?

Every single time.

But here's the difficult part:

Once that parcel has been handed over to the postal network, we cannot physically make the van drive faster.

We can't climb into an Australia Post depot and retrieve it ourselves.

We can't tell you anything magical that isn't showing in the tracking system.

And unfortunately, screaming at the person answering the phone in our store will not make your parcel suddenly appear.

Frustration Is Okay. Abuse Isn't.

This is probably the distinction I wish we talked about more in customer service.

You are absolutely allowed to be annoyed.

If we've made a mistake, tell us.

If something hasn't arrived, call us.

If you're disappointed with the condition of something, we need to know.

If you believe we haven't delivered what we promised, give us the opportunity to fix it.

But being a paying customer does not give anyone permission to humiliate, intimidate or verbally abuse the person standing behind a counter or answering a telephone.

Especially when that person is often a young staff member who had absolutely nothing to do with whatever went wrong.

I've had young women working for me spoken to in ways I wouldn't dream of speaking to another person.

And that's where my customer-service philosophy has a very firm boundary.

I will absolutely stand behind my customers. But I will also stand behind my staff.

Sometimes We Get It Wrong

I want to be very clear about this because otherwise this article becomes incredibly one-sided.

We've stuffed up.

One incident that has always stayed with me involved a beautiful black and gold dress that was incredibly popular for us.

There was an internal communication error around a customer's booking and the correct size wasn't ready when she came to collect it.

She was annoyed.

Fair enough.

That part was on us.

So we found where the correct dress was, organised it and paid to have it couriered directly to her. Her event was still several days away, so we knew we had time to rectify the mistake.

Dress delivered.

Problem solved.

Except it wasn't.

“This Dress Is Unacceptable.”

The customer was extremely unhappy with the condition of the dress.

There was some fading to the gold underneath the arm.

Was it brand new?

No.

It was a rental garment and one of our popular pieces.

Had our team or previous customers considered it unwearable?

No.

In fact, when we eventually retired and sold that dress, the person who purchased it was thrilled with it.

But this particular customer wasn't.

And here's something else I've learned:

Two people can look at exactly the same garment and have completely different expectations of what constitutes acceptable rental condition.

That's okay.

If a customer doesn't feel comfortable wearing something, I'm not going to tell her she has to wear it.

So we offered alternatives.

She selected another dress.

We offered a refund.

We even offered an additional complimentary rental.

In our minds, we were trying to do everything reasonably possible to turn a bad experience around.

But the situation escalated considerably beyond the dress itself, including demands for additional compensation because of the distress the experience had caused.

And this is where, as a business owner, you occasionally have to say:

We've acknowledged the problem. We've apologised. We've offered a solution. We've offered compensation. What is a reasonable resolution from here?

Because customer service can't mean there is no limit.

The Double Booking From Hell

We've also had the dreaded double booking.

And let me tell you, there aren't many phrases a rental business owner wants to hear less than:

“We've double booked the dress.”

It's awful.

Systems fail. Humans make mistakes. We've improved our processes enormously over the years because of situations exactly like this.

But on one occasion, a customer was understandably furious.

We apologised.

We offered a full refund.

We offered to help her find another dress in store.

She wasn't interested.

Again — fair enough.

You don't have to accept the alternative.

What happened next wasn't quite as reasonable.

She proceeded to walk through our store, loudly telling other customers not to rent from us and criticising the business while our fitting rooms were full.

She then called friends while still in the store to tell them the same thing.

All because of a double booking that we'd acknowledged, apologised for and offered to rectify.

Here's the slightly hilarious ending.

She came back about six months later.

And laughed about the whole thing.

I didn't.

I actually reminded her how she'd spoken to our staff and explained that publicly behaving that way inside a small business can have genuine consequences.

I think she was slightly surprised I remembered.

Trust me.

Business owners remember.

The Customer Has More Power Than Ever

This is something I think has fundamentally changed customer service.

Twenty years ago, if you had a bad experience, you told your friends.

Today you can tell thousands of strangers before you've even left the building.

Google.

Instagram.

TikTok.

Facebook.

Reviews.

Community groups.

One angry post can make a small business look absolutely horrendous without anyone hearing the other side of the story.

And businesses know this.

There's enormous pressure to make every complaint disappear as quickly as possible because there's always that underlying fear:

What are they going to post?

I don't necessarily think that's healthy.

Businesses should be accountable.

Absolutely.

Bad service deserves to be called out.

But customers should be accountable for their behaviour too.

Good Customer Service Doesn't Mean Saying Yes to Everything

This might be the biggest thing I've learned.

Great customer service isn't:

“You're right, we're wrong, here's whatever you want.”

It's listening.

It's communicating.

It's admitting when you've made a mistake.

It's finding reasonable solutions.

It's treating people fairly.

And sometimes it's politely saying:

No.

No, we can't stock every $2,000 dress you send us.

No, we can't guarantee what Australia Post will do once a parcel leaves our hands.

No, we can't magically produce a dress that's already been booked.

No, we can't undo something that has already happened.

But we can listen.

We can apologise when appropriate.

We can refund.

We can courier alternatives.

We can find another dress.

We can learn from mistakes.

We can change systems.

And we can do our absolute best to make things right.

What we can't do is guarantee perfection.

There's a Human Being Behind the Counter

I think this is the bit that's increasingly easy to forget.

Small businesses aren't faceless corporations.

There's a person answering that email.

There's a young staff member answering that phone.

There's somebody packing your order.

There's someone frantically checking tracking because your dress hasn't moved and they're probably just as desperate for it to arrive as you are.

And somewhere behind all of them is a business owner thinking:

Oh God. How do we fix this?

So complain when something isn't right.

Please do.

Give businesses feedback.

Hold us accountable.

Expect good service.

But also give us the opportunity to solve the problem.

Because there's a big difference between saying:

“I'm really disappointed. What can we do about this?”

and walking into a shop and screaming at someone.

So... Is the Customer Always Right?

After nearly ten years?

No.

Neither is the business.

Sometimes we're wrong.

Sometimes you're wrong.

Sometimes nobody is wrong and Australia Post has simply decided to send your dress on a scenic tour of Australia.

The important bit is what happens next.

Can we communicate like reasonable human beings?

Can the business acknowledge its mistake?

Can the customer accept a reasonable solution?

Can everybody remember there's an actual person on the other side of the transaction?

Because I still believe exceptional customer service matters enormously.

I just don't believe exceptional customer service requires accepting unacceptable behaviour.

The customer deserves respect.

The staff deserve it too.

And that's one customer-service rule I will happily stand behind.

Now I'm very interested to hear from other small business owners...

What's the moment that made you realise the customer isn't always right?

I have a feeling there are some stories.

Belinda x