“It’s our policy.”
Those three words can send a person’s blood pressure through the ceiling faster watching a shopping cart crash into their new car.
The person delivering the line intends it to be a conversation stopper. End of discussion, I’m right, you’re wrong, I win, go away.
The recipient, however, is more likely to see it as a conversation starter (more accurately, a launching pad for an angry debate, or worse, a reason to extend the conversation into blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…helloooo, United Airlines?).
They’ve had a door slammed in their face, and they know it.
Recently, it was my face in the doorway.
As regular readers know, I’m a huge believer in automated computer backups—both local and off-site. Fortunately, my provider of choice is located here in the Cities. Yesterday morning, when it occurred to me I still hadn’t added my travel laptop to the account, so I gave them a call.
Typically, adding a computer means having an external hard drive shipped from the company, on overnight FedEx, so the initial 175Gb backup can be done “wired.” When finished, the drive goes back on overnight FedEx, headed to the company. Makes sense, since most customers live far away.
For me, however, they’re all of 15 minutes from the office, making it more logical (not to mention cost-effective and time-efficient) to drive there, pick up the external hard drive , do my backup, then return the drive. Easy peasy, done in a day.
So of course, they said no. I inquired as to why.
First, I was told it’s a liability thing—they couldn’t guarantee my external hard drive wouldn’t be lost or damaged. I responded by reminding them we’d be using their drive—the same one they would otherwise ship.
Next, they said it was a liability issue because I might damage their drive. Again, I reminded them that’s the same drive they’d be shipping; in this case, I’d be using it under their watch, on their property. Definitely less liability than shipping it to someplace they’ve never seen, not to mention putting it in the hands of a third party shipping company. Twice.
After that, they said it was a security issue, since their office is not open to the public. No problem; I offered to do the backup sitting in my car, in the parking lot, if not in the lobby. I even invited a company employee to sit with me, if that helped.
Still no.
Then…the words: ”It’s our policy.”
Translated, “We’ve run out of lame excuses that don’t apply, so we’re just gonna shut you down cold.”
The crazy thing is that I would have understood, if they’d given me a logical reason right up front. “There are no electrical outlets in the lobby,” “There’s no lobby in the building,” or better yet, “You’re right about FedEx being unnecessary, so we’ll waive that part of the fee.”
Instead I got “It’s our policy.”
The Teaching Moment
• “It’s our policy” is the adult version of “Just because.” You hated it as a toddler, so what makes you think customers will like it as adults?
• Canned responses are poison. Ditto for scripted explanations. They’re obvious, disrespectful, and a reflection of just how little effort you’re willing to put forth.
• Existing policies provide wonderful opportunities to win favor with a customer, either by finding a reasonable workaround or explaining, in detail, why a policy exists. Customers like to be spoken to as educated adults; most will understand if you give them something to understand. They’ll adore you for finding a way to make things work when the policy makes no sense.
• If a policy is broken, fix it. Customers are you best troubleshooters. When one gives a glimpse of something non-sensical, change the policy, then thank them profusely for helping you run a smarter business. It’s the “forest through the trees” concept; sometimes, we’re simply too close to the problem to see the solution.
Am I still a customer of the backup service, in spite of having to pay for overnight FedEx to traverse 15 miles of road…twice? Yes, but begrudgingly. The crazy thing is that I’ve been promoting them for years, even having written about them in my column (national trade magazine with a big honkin’ audience). Will I extoll their virtues again? Nope.
But hey, maybe I should thank them. They did give me something to write about in social media.
What’s the most ridiculous “policy” a business stopped you with? C’mon…let’s hear ‘em in the comments.
Click here to tell me what you think....
Apple cannot give me any explanation as to why Location Services must be turned on for my Camera app in order to upload photos to online hosting services, such as Shutterfly or Snapfish. I have pointed out that nobody deserves to know where I take my pictures unless I want them to know. Plus it is REALLY hard to get an actual response FROM A PERSON at Apple. Thus, I have stopped using all these services, which sucks. But I still love my iPhone as a device. Hmph.
Editor’s Note: I could be mistaken, but my understanding is that the online service (in these examples, Shutterfly and Snapfish) make that determination—not Apple. Call the customer service number for Apple—you’ll always get a human (in the U.S., no less).
So did you take the issue up the chain of command? If no one except the one person you talked to knows there is a problem, it’s pretty guaranteed it won’t be fixed. You need to tell them, rather than us.
Editor’s Note: I tried…but was passed off to a gate keeper instead (the second worst thing you can do to a customer). That’s who ran me through the “liability-liability-security” maze, ending with a very clearly defined brick wall. The first person I spoke to understood and agreed that my suggestions made sense, but was instructed to tell me “no go.” Too bad, since he was willing to make things work, smooth as silk.
Hi Cinda,
Great post! You should never, ever say “That’s our policy” to a customer, unless you never want to see that client again. I always try to find a way to say yes, and if you can’t say yes, say, with empathy, “I’m so sorry. I’m not able to do exactly what you are asking-however-I CAN do this if that would work for you. Does that sound fair? And if not, let’s figure out a way we can work together to solve your problem” Go the extra mile whenever possible and differentiate yourself from your competition. In most cases this will work. Thank you! Kirt
Thank YOU, Kirt, for the great workaround. Would definitely win me over. –Cinda
In my 25 years of retail experience I have had the unpleasant duty of enforcing company guidelines without much wiggle room to provide a work around. The first thing I learned was to never say the word policy to a customer. It’s like a red flag in front of a bull. I always refer to guidelines which gives the impression that the situation is workable and it alleviates the reactionary response on the customers part, giving you the breathing room to explain why the guideline is in place. I always offer to go up the chain personally if the customer is unhappy with the explanation. If they are aware that you are willing to go to bat for them it really helps for a more positive interaction. Everyone is, if not a winner, at least happier than they would have been with the ‘policy’ scenario. Sometimes all you can do is be sympathetic to their situation and amazingly, that is often all it takes. Oh, and NEVER take it personally because it really isn’t.
While I agree with the overall sentiment of your post, as a local business owner in a mid-sized college town in North Central Florida (you see a lot of Orange & Blue in town), I do have one “policy” I have found it necessary to enforce. That policy is not allowing people who frequent the business next door to “hang out” on our property. We don’t share the same customer base and since our space had been empty for a couple of years before we opened their “clientele” got used to being able to loiter on what is now our property. Regardless of anything else, if you are not my customer I can’t have you “hanging” out on my property, in this case it is not only a liability issue, but a business issue. So this is the one case that I do say, “I’m sorry Sir or Miss, but I can’t have you hanging out there, It’s our policy!” And it’s not meant personally to anyone. I’ve gotten some flack, some threats, but most people respect that and go on the neighbors property, which is in fact the business they are patronizing in the first place.
Like Joni, I’ve spent years in retail (30+). Roughly half of these have been in small business where I *never* had to utter the word “policy”. I was (and am) always able to say, let me see what we can do about this. With the owner involved, we have always been able to find a solution that works for everyone involved.
In the corporate retail world, I was hemmed in at every turn by regulations – regulations I had been told must be followed to the letter or risk termination. This meant angry, frustrated customers, frustrated employees and, invariably, a corporate representative who would *shatter* the rules, all the while making the employees look like idiots.
Giving employees room to breathe, allowing them to make judgement calls without fear of losing their jobs, is the obvious answer. However, that would require training… something all too many companies seem to see as a waste of time.
I totally get the it’s policy setting off a red flag. Last year my mom and I bought my brother who’s been out of work a long time a couple of dvds to try and cheer him up. He said thank you, but really would like to return them to get some shoes. We said fine. He called the store we bought them at and explained that we had written a check and wanted to know the return policy. He mentioned the dvds were unopened and we had only bought them 2 days earlier. Their return policy isn’t stated anywhere on the receipt or at the store. They said that was fine he could get CASH back since the check went through electronically. So he rode his bicycle to the store to be told he had to have a valid ID. He doesn’t because he can’t afford one. He doesn’t drive either. It was a very hot day when he did this. They didn’t bother to tell him that on the phone. So, when I got home I called to check what their policy was. I told them I was very upset/angry because they should have told him that on the phone. Not everyone has an ID and that’s discriminating towards people who can’t afford an ID. I asked specifically if I would get CASH back not store credit and they told me yes. I get to the store I fill out the return slip after I got very angry about the whole situation and they hand me a gift card. I said I just talked to someone and asked if I would get CASH back and they said yes. I demanded the manager. He promptly tells me they only give store credit for dvds, because so many people copy them and then return them. Really??? It’s unopened and nobody told either one of us when we called or when got there. THEY HAVE LOST OUR BUSINESS FOREVER. There was another incident years ago with the same store and it literally took us over 5 years to go back to them. They have good deals on things once in a while and as much as I dislike Wal-Mart at least they price match.
I instruct my staff to “solve the problem” all the time. Do whatever it takes to make the customer happy, then tell me what you did. If they do something more than I want them to do, I tell them first, “Good job, you made the customer happy. Next time, why don’t you try this…?”
The only time they say “It’s our policy” is when someone says, “Wow! You guys are so helpful.”
It is my shop’s policy that for the safety of my staff and the security of my store that no one other than staff is allowed in before or after our posted hours, so when a demanding, entitled, aggressive customer arrives before the shop is open and pounds on the door for 15 minutes because he can see someone inside and yells “Don’t you know who I am?” until they are in tears, it also my policy that they call 911.
That is the answer that we received from Chase Bank when we called to find out why they started to take out our debits and checks from the account before adding in our deposits. They also had changed the way that the checks went through – they would take the largest check out first and then all of the smaller checks so that we would be charged several NSF charges and then they would put in our deposit and take out their charges.
When we called they at first denied that the “policy” had changed and said that they do the transactions as they come in. We called them on it and proved that was not the case…anyway… very long story short….we got the its our policy answer. We are no part of a class action payout with Chase because of their “policy.” Not good business or good choice of words.
Good article. I sure know how it feels to get that door slammed in my face and now that I really think about it, I would hate to do that to any of my clients.
This is why I went into business for myself – too many big companies have this idea that all employees cannot be trusted to make the simplist decisions ie why employee people you can’t trust to make a simple decision? When I worked on the front desk of a large hotel we wern’t allowed to price match the price head office put on laterooms to a customer who walked through the door with it showing on their phone, and that price was at 15% commission ie they would then just book it on their phone and we would get the same price minus the 15% – how is this not business madness? Glad I work for myself. However in the accommodation industry so many places have policies due to the bad behaviour of previous guests ie we are non smoking – doesn’t seem to stop people!
“It’s our policy” is a bad policy to say to customers, but it ought to be mentioned that there might have been a really good reason for their policy, even if those communicating with you didn’t know what it was. The problem was that they didn’t ask why and communicate that to you clearly.
For example, I can imagine them trying to avoid having two different departments coordinating drives coming in and out. Or maybe their front desk staff aren’t trained to handle the dries correctly. Or maybe they are, like most companies in the data warehousing business, monumentally concerned about security. They really don’t want anyone to visit except the FedEx guy, and they don’t really trust him either. They might have been embarrassed to tell you that they don’t trust you on the premises.
So just because they said something dumb, doesn’t mean the policy is dumb – just that the customer-facing people need more training.
As a business owner it sometimes is the policy. Why should you as a customer assume you can insist it be different for you? You compare it to when you were a toddler – you’re still acting like one. You don’t want to follow the rules. I think we try really hard to provide excellent customer service but sometimes the answer is “No”.
Editor’s note: Stephanie, I hear what you’re saying, but think you may have missed the point of my post. Rather than fall back on an easy cliche, it’s better to explain why a request can’t be accommodated, with patience. Definitely more respectful, and far, far more effective.
I worked for a co that had a similar policy in Ireland .. I circumvented it changed it ,bent rules & basically did what I could for customers sometimes a job restricts what is possible however if u can fix it & call to car park .. just do it .. my ex company closed their operation in Ireland … Its Our Policy is a cop out ask Gateway ?