A female customer on a video conference says the following I

A female customer on a video conference says the following: “I’m calling about this purse that I bought at your outlet store. I really liked it but I noticed that there was a stain on the bottom. I went back to the store, and of course that was the only one there, but when I went up to the counter I couldn’t believe what happened! The woman at the counter took the purse, and my receipt, rang it as a return and then cut it to pieces right there in front of me! She said it’s your policy that imperfect merchandise can’t be sold, and must be destroyed. I did get the refund, but if I would have known that, I would have kept it. It was only a small stain and I really liked the purse, but she didn’t even give me a choice about what to do! Is that your policy, or was she just crazy? What are you going to do about this? You have other outlets somewhere, but now I don’t even have the stock number, and I can’t figure out how to find it online. It’s not on your website, but I was even looking at auction sites at this point. Is that really your policy? How can you waste all that money? It makes me want to not buy your products anymore. I’m sure that the planet doesn’t need you wrecking it with factories only to throw things away. Someone could have used that purse! I’m just very upset about the whole thing and the way that it was handled.”
Indicate at what point you would have given her verbal or nonverbal feedback, and what form it would take. Then, paraphrase her response, looking for the essence of the complaint. Imagine that you are talking directly to the customer as you type your response.

Solution

Manager: Hello mam… How can I help you?

Customer: I’m calling about this purse that I bought at your outlet store. I really liked it but I noticed that there was a stain on the bottom. I went back to the store, and of course that was the only one there, but when I went up to the counter I couldn’t believe what happened! The woman at the counter took the purse, and my receipt, rang it as a return and then cut it to pieces right there in front of me! She said it’s your policy that imperfect merchandise can’t be sold, and must be destroyed. I did get the refund, but if I would have known that, I would have kept it. It was only a small stain and I really liked the purse, but she didn’t even give me a choice about what to do! Is that your policy, or was she just crazy?

Manager: First of all, we want to convey our apologies for all the trouble and inconvenience caused due to the incidence. It is true that as per our company policy we are not allowed to sell imperfect merchandise. The imperfect products are scrapped to ensure that it could not be resold to the customers. This helps us to deliver only high quality products to our customers.

Customer: I got your point. But, how can you waste all that money? It makes me want to not buy your products anymore. I’m sure that the planet doesn’t need you wrecking it with factories only to throw things away. Someone could have used that purse! I’m just very upset about the whole thing and the way that it was handled.”

Manager: We understand you concern, mam. We also want to avoid the wastage of resources in such a way. For this we are using strict quality control mechanism in our entire production as well as distribution line. It helped us to maintain high quality standards in our products. Furthermore, it has also reduced the percentage of materials and goods scrapped by our company. The incident happened with you is really unfortunate. If there is any way we can help you then please let us know.     

Customer: Actually I liked the purse so much that I searched for it at different auction sites. I don’t have the stock number, so I couldn’t search for it in your other outlets. Besides this, I can’t figure how to figure it online. Could you help me to find an identical purse in your store or suggest me any online sites to look for it.

Manager: It would be our immense pleasure to assist you to find this purse. Please provide us your transaction receipt so that we can identify the purse and track it in our stores. Our executive would personally update you regarding the product availability and it would be delivered to your house without any cost.

Customer: Thank you so much for all your help and support!

Manager: It’s our duty to listen and handle the concern of our customers. Thanks for bringing the matter to us. It would help us to further improve our product and services. Thank you!