How NOT to Treat Your Client

Hi Friends!

During the course of business, one occasional runs into a person who forgets that their state of mind should not affect how they behave with their clients.  Let me explain....

Last month, I came across a rather simple opportunity that involved the purchase of a time-share which I was planning on buying for a friend.  Time shares are not an area of my expertise, nor do I want it to be, so I felt I should contact an expert in the field to get comps.  I simply wanted to buy it and make sure I was getting a great price.  I won't mention the company name here, but they are very high profile, and everyone knows their name worldwide.  I inquired with a simple question about the valuation of a specific type of property and the response I got was that it depended on how many points I had.  Well, I don't own a time share so therefore, I have no points.  I wanted to know the fair market value based on comps.

By the time I got an answer (which wasn't what I requested), the opportunity had passed and I didn't give it a second thought afterwards.  They continued to hound me on the phone leaving message after message.  Does anyone seem to think that excessive communication creates exactly the opposite effect of what one wants?

Now...here's where it got interesting and funny:  I quote the following activity exactly as communicated, and I did try to be nice...!

ME: Kindly remove me from your mailing list.

Thanks,

Alex

REP: We do not have a mailing list. YOU contacted US on 7-14-11 asking for a value on your **** package.

ME: Well, YOU or your co-hort is calling me and leaving messages, so you do indeed have my information on a list. I'm NOT interested further, so HAVE a NICE DAY!!!

Perhaps I overdid the capitalization here but I thought I would have a little bit of fun with the rep because they insisted on capitalizing the word YOU and US in their initial communication with me (above) and then denied that they had me on a list!!

REP: First of all I do not have a "co-hort" second of all you are right we probably did call you - at YOUR REQUEST. When you ask for a value on a timeshare points package it is important to say how many points you have. We are fine if you no longer want the information buut you then need to stop requesting information. It's pretty simple. We only help those who ask - we are NOT telamrketers and have NO desire to deal with unpleasent folks. My freind is the project director at your property in Oralndo and they have no resale program so if you call them for help they will just refer you back to us.

The rep was so intent on making a point, it seems that she misspelled several words in the last paragraph.  I didn't ask for a value on a timeshare points package either and I only contacted them once, not multiple times as she claimed.  It's clear to me that this person was having a bad day, and I take it we all can have a bad day here and there, but this is clearly an example of how NOT to treat your client. 


Enjoy your day!