Put yourself in the customer's shoes
How do you deal with angry complainers? Delve into the source of the problem, then put yourself on their shoe and ask, "Will I be angry if this happened to me?" You might be surprised at the answer.

Besides, all of us experience lousy service at some point; all of us become the angry, complaining customer.

A case in point: repeated suspicious deductions on one's prepaid account. When I tried complaining to their customer care, it was like complaining to a blank wall. After hours of unproductive follow-up calls, customer service ultimately asked me to fax a written complaint to the head personnel of its Investigation and Correspondence Team. The worst part was that the company did not accept follow-ups--- you have to wait for them to respond. And there was no guarantee that they would.

Not too many customers get enraged because of a single insignificant problem, or just because they are less satisfied with the service; people are too preoccupied now to waste time and energy for that. Usually anger starts when problem persists and complaints are not handled well. What's more angering for a customer is when the case drag; no updates or assurance is given, but only vague promises.

After being on both sides of the coin---the one handling customer service and the one asking for it---experience has taught me the following important lessons:

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