How to deal with cold or downright rude customer service representatives if you’re aN accounting software wholesale petroleum distributor.

Jun 28, 2021

You’ve run into them before.  

The barista that pretends to not see you and talks to her colleagues for another five minutes before taking your order during rush hour.  

The airline agent who refuses to move your seat to the aisle with an icily arched eyebrow even though you’re hobbling around on crutches with a broken leg.   

The rude. The cold. The indifferent. 

Sure, everyone is entitled to have a bad day every now and then. They’re only human after all.  

But imagine that you paid a premium price for an accounting software product that works well for your business, yet every time you call the support staff you feel down, frustrated or invisible.  

At what point does a bad day turn into a bad month, a bad year or just a plain old bad attitude?  

And at what point is it just not worth calling them anymore so you try to troubleshoot your own software issues, ignore it all together or persuade someone else to call them instead? 

Being treated rudely, coldly or indifferently by people providing the product or service you paid for is annoying to say the least if not downright infuriating. 

The hardest part is once your blood starts boiling, then you’re the one left dealing with the burn, not your software support team. 

How is this fair?  

It’s not. Remember, most customer support is designed to drive you bonkers, which leads to negative impacts. 

Research shows that there’s a measurable “cost” to rudeness.  

To paraphrase Georgetown University Management Professor, Christine Porath, in the Harvard Business Review, once rudeness happens, negative thoughts get into and stay in people’s heads longer. This can lead to more negative behavior.  

In fact, her experiments reveal that, “…people exposed to rudeness…are three times LESS likely to help others.” In the end, it’s easy to lose confidence and trust in a support team that can’t quickly and effectively solve the issues at hand. 

Speak up and demand better treatment.  

There’s enough rudeness in the world that you can’t do anything about. So, it’s worth it to stand up and change the situation whenever you can. Here’s what you can do to try and make this better: 

  • Try to assess whether it’s a bad day for them or whether they’ve just got a bad attitude. Ask how their day is going. Sure, it sounds counterintuitive but sometimes the support staff need some kindness too.  
  • Take a moment after the rude encounter to breathe deeply. Remember it’s not your fault and you don’t need to carry it around with you. Then, call the higher-ups if warranted. 
  • If their rudeness is chronic, as in every time you interact with them, talk to the supervisor or owner of the company and report the mean ones.  
  • Ask about the personalities and characteristics of the support staff. Which ones have been there the longest? Which ones are the friendliest? Which ones are the best at explaining the software?  
  • If you’ve tried everything to change the situation and no dice, limit your interactions with them and the channels of your communication. Stick to email and keep it short.  
  • Lastly, as a final straw, if avoiding the rude helpdesk is interfering with your job, you can ask someone else in your company to help troubleshoot your software issues or to contact support for you. This could be a supervisor or your assistant.  

When it’s time to seek a new accounting software partner.  

Let’s say you’ve tried to quell your helpdesk’s rudeness and their ineptitude. YOU need to get back to your software’s golden heyday, but they can’t seem to get you there.  

It’s time to switch software partners. The company, the product or the management might be in decline and the issues you’re having are likely to get worse.  

When the time comes to vet a new accounting software partner here are a few things to inquire about: 

  • What does their customer onboarding process look like and what does it entail?  
  • Do they spend enough time learning your company’s unique needs?  
  • Do they communicate clearly, timely and accurately?  
  • Do they treat you like family?  
  • How long, on average, do their customers stay with them? 
  • How long, on average, do their employees stay with them?  
  • What type of software training do they offer? Will it meet your needs?  

At AIMS, we value education and training. We find that the more in-depth training that our customers get, the more knowledgeable and comfortable they are with our software. They tend to feel more at ease when contacting our support team as soon as they need it. They also tend to make fewer mistakes because they understand the software better.  

In order to better serve our customers, our support team are also software trainers. Most of them have led our new client education bootcamps and other custom classes. This in-depth knowledge makes them much better at solving your software issues.  

If you’re done with settling for poor customer service and the time and money it’s costing you, please call or email Annette for a free demo at 318.807.9313 or akesler@aims1.com. 

We’d love to partner with you to solve your software issues. 

Robert Canterbury 

President 

AIMS, Inc. 

Office: 318.323.2467 

Info@aims1.com 

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