A Study Looks at When Sorry Doesn't Cut it for the Customer

After experiencing a lose-lose situation with Time Warner over a visit from one of their service technicians, some comfort was found in a recent study that appeared in the Journal of Marketing co-written by a Brigham Young University professor.

The study found that in this world of consumerism, there are three types of customers, and that for only one of those three will the overused "we're sorry" line work for an unsatisfied customer. The other two customer types want something more.

According to the study, some customers are emotional, some want the victory and others cling to the bottom line. This isn't particularly earth shattering information, since everyone at some point in time has called up a company to complain about a company's service, and we all know what we wanted as an end result to those calls.

Instead, the information provided from the study begs the question of why more companies are not investing in better customer service strategies since it costs more to attract new customers than it does to retain old customers.

For the customer profile type that complains at the emotional level, a sincere apology will usually work and any idiot working on the corporate side can offer that.

However, for the other two customer profile types, there is a little bit more skill involved with how they should be handled from the perspective of a business.

The customers who want to win and the customers who want to be compensated for the wrong and for the time they spent righting the wrong.

Yet, some companies tend to be apathetic when it comes to their customer service representatives who are trained to apologize and apologize like broken records. Even a level-headed customer calling to complain and explain the company's error with rationalism and facts sometimes will just get the apology but there is no resolve.

So, if you encounter an instance where you need to complain or get some answers (which eventually happens to everyone), there are several options. For starters, it's wise to choose your battles carefully. Not everything is worth complaining about and sometimes, complaints tend to fall on deaf ears at certain businesses in such case you may just have to deal with it.

According to the author of "Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day - and What You Can Do About It," Bob Sullivan, Sullivan found that credit card companies are more likely to reverse a wrong after a customer complains and airlines are second to follow suit.

Sullivan found that the more stubborn companies least likely to reverse charges after a customer complains included cell phone companies and pay-TV firm.

Thus, as long as some companies remain apathetic about offering reasonable customer service, you may just have to bear it out.

However, if you think you are entitled to something or the company has done something illegal, you can always bring it to the attention of state or federal officials.

You just have to look at your case with an objective state of mind (if that's really even possible) to determine if your case is worth complaining over.