Kill’Em with Kindness… Well Not This Time
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OK, if there is one rule of thumb you should follow with customer support it is the you want to “Kill’Em with Kindness”
What this means is be nice and even when you want to scream… still, just be nice.
I however do not practice that in all circumstances… and the reason is because some people are just ignorant… and so I like to be ignorant back.
Oh and YES.. I have a lesson in this.
First of all, I am not asking whether I am right or wrong here… I don’t care. This person pissed me off and well… I will explain how it is stupid to act that way.
So, I was cleaning out my emails and found a few that I missed. Because of the launch of the Web2Mayhem I got swamped with emails. Anyway one that I missed was this one…
On 09-12-25 2:47 PM, “C Cam” wrote:
This is the third time I’ve tried to download a ‘free’ product from your site
and have never received any of them. This is why I would NEVER order from your
site.
Well, I could not find any other emails asking for help from her but anyway I went and got the direct link and sent it to her. I was a little pissed at what I thought was a very negative and ignorant comment but instead of deleting I just sent the link anyway.
Alas… I messed up and the link had a w missing. So in response the email I got was this…
Thanks Jason (for trying),
A link to the same download that still doesn’t work…hmmmm.
This does not instill any more confidence in your site for me.
Thanks anyway,
C Cam
OK, now I want to stop before I move on. First of all the person said they would never order from me, so in the first place I knew I was wasting my time with this person because I am in this to make money (oh big surprise there) and this person admitted they would never buy anything from me… but I sent the link anyway but yes the link had an error in it… but hey I am a human.
So the next email she decides to add even more ignorance by saying “This does not instill any more confidence in your site for me.”
OK now why does that bother me so much?
Well for the simple reason is that people like that frustrate the hell out of me. People that sit there and immediately judge and criticize people or products without having a clue are in my opinion a waste of everyone’s energy and in my honest opinion… DO NOT WASTE A MINUTE OF YOUR DAY ON THEM!
I have been doing this full time online for a while now and every so often I get someone who is just plain and simply an asshole and it used to get under my skin a lot. I would do everything I could to try and make that person happy… but you know what… I have never made a single one of them happy. And you know what else… NOT ONE OF THEM is successful today that I know of…. NOT ONE!
OK… so I have more to this… this is where it got fun for me.
SIDE NOTE: I do not send the johncow contact form to my support team because I want to personally handle them and my support team is already busy enough… so that is why this email was missed, but hey even in support systems these get missed occasionally.
OK, so after the second email reply I was just going to delete it… after all she said she was never going to buy from me and sorry but I am not in this for charity. So I decided to be ignorant back… cause sometimes it is just fun.
So this was my reply…
Re: No download Lol, well people like you are usually those that never amount to success anyway and are huge support burdens who feel the world owes them everything. Personally I see the energy you waste on comments like that a joke cause they offer nothing positive to this world and act like you never make a mistake. The link I sent you was missing a w and it is the Christmas season so support is slow… But hey good luck with your attitude in the New Year.. Hope it makes you feel like a better person anyway.
Did I think this would cause a discussion… 100% yes and I did it on purpose cause with these kind of people it is funny… and as you keep reading you will see why.
This is the response I got back…
I was not rude to you… but rest assured I will certainly post your arrogant reply to me on my websites and twitter. May you business accounts reflect you low level of customer satisfaction. Scam websites like yours fall by the wayside on a daily basis. Your link was broken… and that is my fault how?
Thank you for your time and lack of customer service. I will be sure to pass along the wonders of John Cow.
OK so first of all…
“I was not a rude person”
Uhmm…. did you read your emails to me.. LMAO
Second of all…
“Scam websites like yours fall by the wayside on a daily basis.”
I love comments like that… ok, I have 33000+ readers on this blog, offer free content and how am I scamming again… sorry but I am missing that.
Now the lack of customer support… ya I accept that, maybe I just need to let go of handling the emails for JC but I like it.
Believe me this is drama I know… and blown out of proportion… 100% yes but it is so fun sometimes!
So I think to myself… do I waste anytime responding?
Heck yes, this is going on johncow and is fun and will make a great post 
So I respond with this…
Re: No download Lol… Scam websites… I have been online doing legitimate business for years. Actually after today’s already scheduled post I had planned, don’t worry I was going to post about your email anyway, cause I want to show people how people that are negative expect the world to fall at their feet and treat people with no respect and as a result get no respect back.
You see I have over 200 000 double opt in subscribers that trust me and many who have been my paying customers (some paying $300 a month for me for over 4 years now). I have worked my ass off helping people that has helped me to have a healthy 7 figure a year income. So fall by the way side… Ya ok.. Sorry I am already successful and established because I work my ass off to help people.. You might want to read comments on the johncow.com blog before you make an ass of yourself.
Not trying to be conceded but yes you were immediately accusing me of being something I wasn’t and if you think you were not rude in your email… Well then maybe that is not what you consider rude but I think it was ignorant and I can guarantee you are not making a healthy living online with that attitude.
Oh and I live for this kind of stuff, so post as much about me as you want… People like you make me laugh… I will continue instead to focus on my business.
Do me a favor too.. When you are done supposedly revealing the truth about me, send me the link, I will even post a link to it on my blog for you… I have 33000+ readers just on my blog, so I will send loads of traffic to you.
Now you may be asking yourself… What the heck are you wasting your time doing this for?
Well 99% of these kinds of emails get deleted usually but as I said before, I just wanted to and I guess I am in one of those moods.
So, waiting impatiently for a reply, I finally got one… it was kind of lame though…
Nice to see such a fast reply from someone so busy. I feel so honored. Back to passing these around to my followers. Keep ‘em coming. I too teach customer service and you are giving me several posts of how not to handle it. So I guess you are helpful!
Thanks again,
C Cam
I love how she says that she too teaches customer service… sorry I have to stop for a second, I am laughing too hard.
Anyway, I am sure some of you will disagree with this and how I handled it… but I don’t care lol… like I said 99% of complainers don’t get handled like this but she got me on the right day.
Now I also loved how she said she is passing this around to her followers. Help me understand how that is a bad thing… I laugh whenever anyone says they are going to slam me in a forum or somewhere. Give me a break, my paying customers know I work my ass off for them and I could care less about people bitching in forums and to their “followers”… in fact I like it when people like this do that… it makes me smile.
Oh and I am not at the best part yet.
Feeling a little bored I decided to send her my phone number and I encouraged her to call so I could record the conversation… I really wanted too… so she could hear herself. Well… there was kind of sarcasm in it too… but this was the response I got to that…
See, now had you replied to my first email in this manner we would not have an issue. Instead you sent me ZERO text, no “sorry about that”, no “we’re a little short on tech help”, nothing but a link… that did not work. This is the down fall of your customer service. You then followed with nasty remarks (I was more abrupt in my second response, but let’s face it I appeared to be talking to a bot).
Thanks again, I think I have all the quotes I need for a full interview,
C Cam
LMAO… first of all I am impressed you are still reading this post
Chris… did you forget your ignorant initial comment about “never buying from me” cause a download did not work… that was your first and only email to me. This download is for a free product that I have gotten hundreds of thank you’s and testimonials for and people say all the time I should charge for… but oh ya, Chris it is a scam (cause you say so), I am giving you exceptional value for your email.. what a bad scam that is.
OK, so I have not received a link to anything from her yet cause I can’t wait to read it… but anyway…
WHAT THE HECK IS THE LESSON HERE
1. Do not waste your time on people like this… if someone tells you that they are never going to buy from you… why waste energy on them… unless you can get something out of it like a worthwhile post to your worthwhile blog
2. Do not do what I did… unless you can benefit from it. I am not wasting time here cause I am getting my post out of this and I am having fun… I love this kind of stuff for my blog posts.
3. Always try to be nice to the product owner at first. I have created three of my most profitable relationships in my business that have helped me create several million dollars in revenue because of the respect and help I gave a few product owners. I was wanting a service from them… I did not take the attitude I am your customer so I can treat you like shit and you better bend over backwards for me…
NO WAY
… instead I looked at it like, what can I do to help both of us… how can we make this product better so we both benefit.
4. Last but not least… have fun with life. Enjoy it… this is the only one you have and if you can either be a miserable SOB or happy… I prefer to be happy
There you go… one of the weirdest posts I have made on what Chris says is a “Scam websites that will fall by the wayside”… LMAO… thanks for the fun Chris… seriously thank you.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Cow, Evan LaRue, mariayanchevsky, topsy_top20k, topsy_top20k_en and others. topsy_top20k_en said: Kill’Em with Kindness… Well Not This Time: OK, if there is one rule of thumb you should follow with customer su… http://bit.ly/7AhA4P [...]
Come on John, no need to give trolls any bit of the spotlight. I understand that it was probably hysterical for you to do this… and admittedly it was a really funny and interesting read for me… but I feel like you should have just buried it
Hey stranger… i got your email and will follow up with you. Glad to have you back in the game and yes i will gladly post about your promo.
Yer killin’ me with kindness cow
You didn’t have anything else to post about other than picking on a female? Looks like it was a pretty slow day today eh champ?
She was optimistic about your service, you responded back with insults. If you’re such a great business person you should be able to prove who you say you are without insulting someone in 8 emails.
Uhmm first of all, no i am not picking on a female… but if that is your opinion.. ok.
As for “She was optimistic”… lol how do you figure that. She said she would never buy form me.. am i missing something there.
Wow. You are an ignorant prick. I will not be buying anything from you ever, either.
Sure, you have several customers now, but with this attitude, they will eventually stop buying from you too. I hope C Cam does post this all over the net and people see what a jerk you really are.
LOL… 10 bucks says you are friends with her and she showed you the post after i emailed her the link. I welcome all opinions… that is why i love blogging… its open forum… just try to keep it not vulgar please. If you are not in any way connected, sorry for the assumption… just your response is, well… fishy. Not for the fact you disagree with me.. i fully expect that, but rather the emotion behind it… but hey maybe your just an angry south pole elf.
well, googling your name….so are you male or female. And no link for all us “Followers of John’ to follow up on….AND WHY SOOOOOO NEGITIVE! Looking down one’s noise at others just to self-pet your own Ego ….
I am just starting out here, so NO I don’t have a web site…as for googling me, here is thee link, only top 3 have anything to do with me
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4ACAW_enUS306US311&q=d.l.sargent&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10
I am female! Am on facebook and Twitter, both which are private after getting to much unwanted stuff…my main niche is Genealogy!
I have personally dealt with a purchase here at John Cow dot com and I have had nothing but a great experience. I was LMAO when I read the post. Some people! And you’re right, you can only kill’em with enough kindness… when you get your days.. you just want to strike back. Good for you John! LOL!
I know the feeling man…
I may not agree 100% with how you handled it but I will say that there are customers who, from time to time, just need to be put in their place.
Remember that old 80/20 rule and take care of the 20% that bring in 80% of your revenues. Don’t mistreat the rest but don’t sweat the squeaky wheels either. They’re just shooting off much of the time.
That said, I get far more pleasure out of just deleting rude comments I know people spent considerable time crafting than responding to them.
Haha damn that is one funny lady, I have had a couple of similar incidents with members of my weight loss site which is completely free and they are not happy with the diets provided.
In the past i have spent maybe a couple of hours tweaking and tuning diets for fussy eaters only for them to complain that they dont like 1 particular meal out of the given 40+ meals and to not even say thank you for the work I personally put into their plan!
They are losers that only want free stuff and will never gross you any income, but like your incident I seldom can delete an email that is negative towards me so for that I certainly don’t blame you, infact I take my hat off to you!!
Well great post and I can’t say I really blame you. People many times do not understand that things happen and we all make mistakes. Many times I have used support on various websites and had horrible response times it happens.
You took time to send her a link and try to help. Many times I have gotten broken links where people forgot the w, but apparently she cared more about bitching than looking at the link or she could have figured that out herself. Apparently she was not into customer service or she would have figured it out.
All in all though sometimes you just have to have exchanges with people like this. It makes the job fun at times as you can see how some people really are. Great post and if you go under anytime soon I will contact support lol! Great Job John!
Reminds me of a customer I served when I worked at a music shop. Thanks for the laugh..Happy New Year!
John, I too have seen my share of rude emails and understand exactly what you experienced. Everyone thinks they are the only person that you have to contact, when you have 30k people that you have to keep up with. If you miss an email, it opens the door to them being rude and arrogant.
If this person “teaches customer service” then I would assume they have some common knowledge. Is it too difficult to notice it is missing a w on their end? Come on now seriously, don’t jump to being an ass right away. Look at the link and see if you can see why its broken. 2 seconds and you would notice its missing a w. Ignorant people..
More people need to take initiative in finding their own answers, instead of expecting someone to spoon feed them. Just Freaking Google It !!!
Anyways, I have taken an email that called me a scam very rudely, and within about 10 emails back and forth got them to join me
So sometimes I too will waste some time on these people.
Not to mention the fact that if she does post this on “her site” that may or may not ever be seen, it would only bring you more traffic.
I think you need to call up John Chow, and you guys start a fued on purpose, just in good fun. Start a war, with both of you knowing its just fake.. Then watch the traffic pour in!
Heck, now I see how I probably pissed of some lady out there.
Back 5-6 months ago I was still a “program hopper” chasing for that one miraculous program that will be the instant success with zero work. I used to buy a lot of stuff, but that was just a waste of money, because I never made a dime from that simply because I was not putting in any effort.
The thing was that I bought this service from some woman promoting it, and we had quite an e-mail argument.
Now I don’t make any money from that and I paid something like 60+ dollars, but that is because I didn’t realize the importance of work, because nothing comes with no work.
Now, reading this blog post, I can find myself in the character of this C Cam, and boy how ashamed I am about myself now :/.
Luckily, I am different now, I spent all my money I could spend, so all I have now is a knowledge how NOT to do this business, and to try to make my own way towards success.
Thanks for this amusing and funny post, really refreshing
Well, first let me say i laughed so hard i had to stop for a few times.
Secondly, why do you even bother talking to people that do not know what internet business is? I personally ignore this type of emails and carry on with whatever i`m doing. (Even if i`m just looking at the screen doing nothing, it seems better to me than ruining my day with such “customer service GURUS” LOL).
I really enjoyed this post, gave me a few good laughs, and it also taught me something useful: Don’t waste your time trying to convince somebody he/she is wrong. You won’t succeed.
Another great post, really nice.
Keep up the good work and don’t bother considering what this “genius” thinks. She can’t do more than she can understand. So, let her be (lol).
I can really relate to this post. I had someone buy my eBook about 2 months ago and immediately…and I mean immediately asked for a refund because they were unhappy with the material? I tracked the processing of the sale and the email request for a refund, it was about 40 seconds apart!!!
I offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee, but I always ask the purchaser why they were unhappy.
no mind you my refund rate is low at about 1.2%. This fruit loop emailed back stating her read through my book and did not find it useful —-in 40 seconds? When I brought this to his attention his Southern Deliverance attitude started to surface. The expletives were flying.
I immediately refunded him, but continued to ask questions. I ended up proclaiming him to just
be a fraudster and not worth my time. Boy that kind crap gets my blood boiling- Almost like
road rage!
Great post, btw – would love the $50! I could use the money to fund my anger therapy needed to stave off future email idiots
GO JOHNCOW!
Don’t really know if you are interested in what i think, but i say the “fraudster” took your material and asked for a refund, so practically he got it free of charge. People tend to do that to “Money Back Guaranteed” sites. They buy something and they say they are not satisfied. To make things worse, people also share it as warez after you are kind enough to refund their money.
Ehh, what can you do. The world we live in.
Hi John
Don’t worry about people like her, you know life is short and you have to enjoy it. Happy new year and thank you very much for all your FREE help that you give.
Warmest Regards
Carolyn Connor
Jason,
Not been around here for a long time, glad things are going well for you. My opinion on all this…
Firstly, other than for our entertainment (which I am not so happy about as I did read the whole post, which if this were a youtube video would warrant the troll like ‘I want my 4 minutes back’ sort of comment) I have to ask, why did you waste your time writing this post? I have to agree with Jim (Net Fool) on this one…just bury it. People like that, unfortunately exist in this world and the internet does a great job in promoting stupidity. Don’t sink to their level, just get on with your own game!
Secondly, I have to add that it has been an awful long time since I saw an online bitch fight on the mmo arena. Could there be more to come from this I wonder?
Sorry Neal… if i could give you the four minutes back i would. As for the MMO fight… nah, i just felt like doing something different today. Call it inspiration of being overworked lately.
i think i have read an interesting argument between John and the arrogant customer (i think). I think maybe i will do the same as John if i met the same situation. It is quite funny to listen to such reply from such people. Thanks for sharing John!:)
Lol! Jason, this is too funny. As an online entrepreneur, I know exactly what you mean. In fact, today, I had one of these people who went off on me after I politely turned him down regarding his request for me to do outsourcing for him (I barely have time to write this post.)
He went from very nice and asking for my help, to I don’t need your help and your sites suck anyway! lol
Needless to say, I said, “O.K. then, well you have a nice day.” and promptly blocked him from Skype. Keep in mind that I had several paying clients e-mailing me with questions as we were communicating back and forth.
This type of thing never ends. You are exactly right about how some people just get a kick out of getting a rise out of someone for no other reason than to do it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my customers and bend over backwards for them as you do, but as the saying goes, “You can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time…”
Happy New Year buddy!
May your 2010 be powerful and profitable!
Regards,
Gary Gregory
WOW…all those comments in the short time it took me to write mine! There might be some mileage here
Forgot to add – HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
John, I understand your comments about this person. Even though she said right off that she would never buy from you, I personally would of followed up, apologize, and sent her the link like you did. With the link being bad, missing one of the ‘w’’s, I would of resent the correct link and called it quits after that. You can’t and won’t please everyone. I also do not believe everything that she said, especially being in the help desk profession!
Hey John,
Theres always gotta be one asshole! good story, and hey, her “list” will probably appreciate the realitty of the situation..
Thanks for keeping it real
Be Cool
Simon
Great post,Seems you had a lot of fun with it.
I’ve had to deal with people like this before,but I never tried what you did.I always tried to be apologetic and help them any way I could.Of course you always have those few that no matter what you do,it never seems to satisfy them.Those are the kind of people you don’t want buying your products anyway.
Hey John and Everyone,
I had a beautifully written long comment and poof the internet ate it LOL! I know better, as this has happened before (Always copy text before hitting submit).
Sorry it vanished, I was on a roll about how customer service is my pet peeve, blah blah blah, now the whole train of thought went to the twilight zone.
Anyway, you did good with this “non-customer”, keep up the good work.
Have a Great Day and a Happy New Year!
Miles
I was really laughing in this post. LOL Yeah! I agree. Don’t waste your time with those people.
I think that person just do that to get your attention.
One of “those” days eh Jason?
Can’t please everyone.
You can give em a map and a flashlight but they still couldn’t find their ass with both hands.
Jason,
I love it. I completely agree that people like this will be this way no matter how much you try to please them. They just live a miserable life and have nothing better to do than to complain about everything.
I think her original email was a little tame compared to some that I’ve gotten but sometimes it’s good to have a little fun with them.
Keep up the great work.
Nice post john..For me,that it’s all about attitude.In IM,that problem will give you great motivation to success.
John,
I have to deal with at least one of ‘those people’ every week. I’m afraid the energy it takes to correspond with trolls is a negative energy spent proposition. While I wuld dearly love to give every one of them the same time and energy you gave up to this one, it just doesn’t add up. Remember…Time Is Money!!
Happy New Year!
Well when it comes to support, I never retaliate, since as you have found it gets you nowhere fast.
I’ve been lucky enough to not have had to learn the hard way, I have always just given them what they want and they move on quickly enough.
However my replies are short and sharp, without any extra help that I normally give to nice customers.
There is definiately a lesson in this post.
Thanks for sharing it.
Aaron
Sure understand your response to ignorance, John! Have had many dealings with people in person, over the phone and online who have no idea how to talk to people that will actually create a win-win, what did their mama teach them, anyway?!?!?! Sometimes you just have to go for the entertainment value ;~D
One way I’ve used to calm such situations is to say Thank You. It doesn’t matter whether they are right or wrong, thanking them for their perspective catches them off guard and sometimes allows things to become more positive.
Keep up the great work, I’m an avid reader & fan!
Glad to see you have added your douse of humor to the situation. I guess you can’t avoid these situations with so many people visiting your website and downloading stuff. There will definitely be such people around so don’t be discouraged. Continue the good work you’ve been doing!
I like the fact that John always has the tendency to make out of everything a “contest”. Contest isn’t the best term to describe it.
Not only that you (in my opinion) politely “convinced” her of what you do and who you are, but you even placed a 2 x 50$ prize for people agreeing / disagreeing with you.
I really like the way you do things around here, maybe after this is over, you can email her with this link (don’t miss any W
and she can convince herself what a fool she made out of herself.
Oh Christ!!
That brought back serious memories. Many years ago I was a customer service rep and a tech lead for a cell phone call in center. I had my share of moron’s and attitude queens and kings. I can definitely relate to your post.
Working in the call center field we were taught to be on our best behavior but sometimes it is damn hard.
I had an hour long conversation with someone who’s phone would not work. We did the tech steps etc…after about half an hour I asked the person to turn the phone off and then back on. True story, I swear to God, the man says I can’t turn it off you jack ass it’s still in the box!
I almost fell off my chair. I replied with “You are calling me a jack ass when you are too stupid to take the phone out of the box and try it FIRST!”
Needless to say there were very unpleasant words exchanged.
Most agents stress over those calls. I never did. It was comic relief and it made me want to help the kinder customers that much more. Not to mention I had a mantra; If they were understanding and nice to me then they ALWAYS got a free service tacked on. Everyone likes a freebie.
I agree with how you handled it and I respect you for sharing it. It is a valuable lesson we all learn from child hood but sometimes forget:
You catch more flies with honey…..
Hey Jason if I win the $50.00 do me a favor and donate it to a charity of your choice!
All my best
Garret Belisle
Wow, I don’t know where to begin. I can see that you were having fun with this. Customers should be polite-especially if they aren’t paying for something. Mistakes happen. I appreciate the information you provide. Happy New Year and may 99.9% of the emails you receive be polite (you want to have a few to talk about!)
You always are so generous with your time Jason. I still can’t believe how awesome your products are and the time you spend on all of your members and all of the quality downloads that you give away. It just boggles my mind how people can be so rude about getting a FREE product though, especially since you responded to them. It was blatently obvious that you were trying to help. Maybe subconsciously, she knows what their missing and frustration is getting the best of them. IMHO: Sometimes all you can do is find the humor in the chaos
Hi Jason,
I have to confess that sometimes I like to have abit of fun with people like this as well… there are plenty of them however I have learnt that it can go terribly wrong and I have been the one to feel really hurt… I guess the internet can be pretty non personal and we never know just whats gone on in the persons life before we get the rude email… so there are lessons to learn on both sides…
The only other thing I note from this is that it can take our eye off the ball and while we are playing with these people other good people are posting great things about us and we should be posting about them..
have fun day… New years Eve here in my world.
Gail
Hi John
Enjoyed your blog entry immensely. Like most of us I usually try not to rise to the bait, but did have one episode a year or so back, when someone actually conned me out of cash. I decided to write a polite email to see if it was a mistake, and it went on from there. It quickly became too amusing to ignore, went on for some time, and the outcome – I got my money back! While I would never do business with that person again, we actually ended up wishing each other luck, and (I think) meaning it.
The addage that “the customer is always right” does not stand true in every case, sometimes customers can be wrong (for want of a stronger word), and people who deal with them have to be
saints if they do not react, even if only occasionally.
Your comments are a great lesson in how to turn something like this to advantage.
Happy New Year/Decade
That is what my wife means when she says “post topics seem to find me”, well that’s a rough translation from her German phrase.
I get some many ideas for posts just from my own experiences on a daily basis – it’s finding the time to do that writing that is usually the problem!
For our IT blog (in German) I often have cause to praise or criticise customer service, and it can be really fascination to write about some cold caller only to receive lots of hits from Google because so many people are experiencing the same thing.
Other than ignore that first e-mail, I don’t see really what you could have done. After all, if a customer is unhappy you can always give them their money back. But with giveaways you don’t have that option. Still, someone will always find a reason to complain, even if something is free.
I agree that you shouldn’t put any energy into the negative emails. Just keep moving forward with what you are doing. I appreciate your efforts in sharing your information!
J,
All I can say regarding this non-customer is that they appear truly one can short of a six-pack…
I thoroughly enjoyed the saga of the back and forth emails. Not knowing what the link was, I can’t say for sure where to put the missing “w”, but I have encountered the same type of thing before… What I did, was guess where the missing letter was, and insert it in its proper place, and hit enter. Viola! A working link! I then email the vendor, in the spirit of helping, and point out the unintended error. More times than not, I get a thank you, and have occasionally gotten increased access…
“Some people you just can’t reach…”
Be Well!
ECS Dave
I love what you said “Do me a favor too.. When you are done supposedly revealing the truth about me, send me the link” – you don’t know how many times I want to respond and say that to some people that threaten to close my business down…oh yeah and those people have never bought a thing so they have no clue about me or my product. I’m not even in the IM niche and I get these same things happening. I’m glad I’m not alone in some of the rude and ridiculous things people say to me. I think they feel they can hid behind an email and rant about everything that’s bothering them, taking it out on the wrong person and assuming anyone who is successful is shady and scammy. I’m saving this post to remember it when I need a good laugh and to know that I’m not alone in dealing with ridiculous people that waste my time and make me feel bad when I definitely don’t deserve it.
I actually don’t respond like you do..but I wish I would sometimes!
What tends to work better for me is to make myself really human (cause duh, I am…even though they forget that!) and I basically tell them I was really hurt by their negative comment…honestly, in my niches its worked great and have gotten about 75% to respond positively back to me and even apologize. So I guess I kind of kill them with kindness, but just in one response…I don’t waste time and keep going.
Great post!
Jenn
LOL! This post made for a great laugh, I could hardly keep the water I was sipping on inside my mouth and off my monitor.
People like this really aren’t worth our time unless, as you stated, you get a laugh or have fun. In this particular case, it’s even better because 1) you got a laugh, 2) you got a blog post out of it and 3) many of your readers got a laugh, too (well, at least I did :p).
I get into these moods sometimes and if an ignorant customer or user hits the spot, the flame comes spewing. I’ve laughed to my own conversations like yours several times.
Anyways, thanks again for the laugh. You had fun, and that’s all that matters here.
What I can’t understand is, if she’s been on your list for a while she would know that you give out more free info than any other marketer. I’m talking about great useful information, not your run of the mill crap that many others give out.
With so many subscribers I really wouldn’t bother with the odd whinger John, if they are rude just get rid a.s.a.p.
Regards,
Ken.
Hey John,
Must agree it would have been better buried…but having said that I’ve had customers like this myself and the temptation to shoot off some steam is hard to resist sometimes…
Pity the poor soul – obviously jumps on the defensive pretty quick which doesn’t say much for her general outlook – keep smiling!
Jason
You are crazy dude. Give them hell bro. Everyone is entitled to a nice bitch every so often.
Jason Berkes
Hey John!
I thought this was funny. I usually don’t have a problem with MOST complaints, but one thing that has ALWAYS got under my skin is when people complain and complain about something that is FREE! WTF?!
I mean, really. If she looked at the URL a little she could have figured out what the correct URL was. I’ve done it before. One of the URLs was incorrect in your PDF training (it was nothing really important – Just the Squidoo Hysterectomy example) and I managed to figure out what the correct link was and it really didn’t deter me from “ever using your products” again! lol
While I may not have handled this exactly the same way as you (maybe I would have been kinder – maybe I would have been more mean. Just depends on my mood. ha!) I will say that I completely understand how frustrated I get with people who have an attitude like hers. People take “the customer is always right” and really play on it as much as they can.
I think in this business critical customers are typically a waste of time. Any hey – they say any press is good press, right? haha
BTW – I totally know how to go about getting the interview I have been wanting with you now!
In my opinion customers always right even that he doing wrong. In that situation we have 2 option either to give our customer full support or just ignore it. Most cases(if customer like this) i just ignore it. Example if he/she request a refund just give it and block their name from buying again in my future release product. Request a refund not a pain but if we didnt give what they want surely they will do the chargeback which is effect my net profit.
http://www.pumwebtraffic.com
Dude, if all I have to do to get featured in a JohnCow.com post is write you an ignorant email expecting the world from you because you offered me a free product, then COUNT ME IN!!! I can write ignorant emails all day long for that kind of exposure!
Seriously though, I don’t know that I 100% agree with responding like that, but there are PLENTY of times I’ve wanted to send those exact same emails to stupid people. What gets me are two things:
1. Why couldn’t they do a little troubleshooting and look at the URL? That seems ultra basic to me and would have saved them having to send you a stupid email. Chances are they could have figured out the missing “w” in a matter of seconds. Maybe you should send her an email back and say you’re sorry, but she’s too stupid to use your products, so you won’t be able to send her the correct link.
2. This was a freakin FREE PRODCUT!!! I can see getting pissed off at customer support if you’ve gone round and round on a product you’re paying for, but for something someone is giving you for free. Sweet mother! That just makes no sense to me.
Thanks for having the Rocky Mountain Oysters to send the emails that many of us are afraid to send.
Hi J,
Well, you’ve actually taught me something here. I can REALLY relate to this as I had a similar problem recently. Almost ALL of my mailings are content based. Occasionally I will promote a product if I believe in it but my list is more a labor of love than anything else.
Anyway – one guy went nuts because I promoted a popular product. I was SO nice to him throughout 4-5 emails even though he was rude, ignorant and arrogant.
I kept my cool and didn’t bite because I was concerned about my reputation. I knew I was never going to turn him around but I spent my valuable time kissing ass to a stranger that just assumed I was out for a quick buck.
I kinda wish now that I’d just told him straight from the start.
So my advice to myself, you and anyone else who deals with these people.
Be polite, BUT be yourself. Help those who actually WANT your help.
John Reimann.
Ha! OK, Yes – I got fished in and read the whole post and it is nearly 01:00AM in the early hours of new years eve here in the UK, I should be in bed preparing for a late one tonight!
John, is it just me or do I get a feeling you have upset her!? LOL! – You see I am receptive like that!
The funny thing is you were providing some totally Free info, and some people are still not happy. What can I say!
Right, let us not forget it is the holiday season so I suggest you guys kiss and make up – Actually forget that this is entertaining! Tell me there is more?
Wayne
John,
As a current (happy) member of Web2Mayhem amongst other of your products I only had to contact your support once and they handled the issue immediately and correctly.
It has taken me close to 30 years in business to get to your point where I will only do business with amiable people no matter what the financial repercussions.
Kudo’s to you and your team.
Best wishes for a very Happy New Year,
Abi
Hey Abi.. thanks and thanks.. oh and glad you are liking Web2Mayhem… I got lots of cool stuff coming soon… just these holidays got in the way.
Agreed some customers just don’t respect the services they are getting for FREE. As a visitor she should respect the fact you are providing her with info she needs.
People have become too lazy to work things out themselves. People only think me…me….me and that’s it!
The moral of the story is, John don’t waste your time unless you want to. And as for the customer, she is desperate to make money on line, but that shouldn’t mean losing your manners.
What a great post. I too was laughing through the whole thing. You reminded me of my younger brother who would do exactly what you did Jason.
I have to admit, I am guilty as well. I worked a customer service desk and when I got one of these idiots on the phone I just gave it right back to them doused in sarcasm. It made me feel good to outwit the witless.
Now I know you have a great sense of humour! Keep up the good work. Just remember, this was a once/year thing!
Brenda
This is scam, but I like your idea
lol.. it is.. damn i was unaware of that.
Boy ol boy….
She knows you offer true value on this blog!
She will be back. Give her a few months to stew and I bet her ip will register a visit in whatever tracking you use. She only tried to use your blog because she found value.
Her frustrations are likely due to the fact that its probably a full moon were she dens! Either that or she has a 9ft marine of a husband back from the frontline that swallows grenades while sleeping and he’s asking her were you live!
If you need backup just let me know as i have a blackbelt in ankle biting as i’m 5ft 4 and I throw
ninja stars faster than you can get a page indexed!
AS
Hey Jason,
I worked in a call center for about 4 years so I know a little bit about customer service. I remember what one of my mentors told me.”No matter how good your team is, there will always be one.” I guess even that applies in internet marketing. No matter how good your niche is and no matter how good your customer base is, there will always be one who acts as a child. Someone so ignorant you dont know if they are purposely acting it or they are just an ass.
I guess that person really just sent a well timed email to you and caught you in a good mood. lol!
Your rate per hour is way too much too spend it on people like that. Heck if you spend 20 minutes of your time just to handle that customer, Id probably send you an email complaint just so I can get some personal time! haha.
Happy New Year J!
Regards,
Jon
And the moral of the story is John don’t waste your time unless you want to.
As for the customer I know you are desperate to make money on line, I am too! But please don’t lose your manners.
cheers
Hahahah…way to go. Thank you posting this, it really is a good read.People like this are just plain ignorant. Get people like this out of your life and off your list, they are not worth the effort to be nice too. Hey…I got an idea…send them to a competitor and let them deal with the negativity. Just kidding, I wouldn’t send this person to anyone, just delete them. Anyway thanks for putting this up and just delete all the assholes that come along in life.
John,
I have been reading your blog for a long time and following your advise. It’s one of the best on the Internet and it’s awesome how you help so many.
Thanks and Happy New Year
Jerry
“Pay it Forward
We live in an online world in which we can not avoid “meeting each other”, In this case I liked your “Alchemy” way of transforming her emails comments to a “worthwhile post in your worthwhile blog”, You used it to ease your conscious and to transfer a good message to your readers while she will continue to search for ways to project her bitterness, In life, what we project is what we get.
Have a wonderful new year.
Ziki de Naim
All i can say is sometime’s people have bad days and miraculousy they bump heads with someone who might also be having a bad day,the fact they called /cussed you out for something that was human error which happens to the best of us is just not good at all, added to the fact your free downloads are not worthy of being downloaded?? due to this too just shows ignorance on this persons behalf – i think depending on my mood i may just have responded in like manner and the fact they blindly threaten to show you up by posting on twitter etc is just too funny – all publicity is good publicity i’d say “Thanks for the free ad’s”!Lol – Thanks for posting this it made me chuckle at how blind some people can be – all we can hope is that they come across someone that tells them just how silly they have made themself look and the wasted time / effort they spent on this as opposed to actually trying to make money!
Keep up the good work & i hope you & your family have a Great New year!!
Hi,
Yup, I’ve been there too. There’s an old adage that goes something like this: You can’t please all the people all of the time, you can’t even please some of the people some of the time…
Also it is said that you can cure ignorance but you can’t sure stupid. My experience would prove that. I say do what you can and forget them as quickly as possible.
Okay, now that you’ve had your fun get back to work!
Phil
Hi Jason,
Love your blog and find myself reading it quite often. I don’t mean to be disrespectful here but you sent me an email asking for my reply. This reminds me of a run in I had a while back with John Chow. It started with me sending him an email asking him to review an ebook I wrote. He got so angry with my request that he plastered the email and my name on his email of the week post. Of course this angered me so I wrote a blog post about him being such a bonehead. The end result is that he looked like a big asshole and I looked like a big idiot. Sure, we both got a bunch of traffic from the dispute but nobody won. It just made us both look unprofessional. I don’t think the majority of website visitors care about our insignificant little battles. They only care about how we can help them. Obviously this lady was looking for your help. She certainly went about it the wrong way but I don’t think you needed to write a post about it. Probably should have just ignored her after you responded and corrected.
Dan… all i can say is… YUP, you are most probably correct but sometimes having a blog is about just doing that “blogging”… venting, sharing…. getting it out. Do i feel better… well not really cause i felt good to begin with, i just felt like… hey i want to post about this. None the less Dan… good advice on your part.
So, not only are you an arrogant prick, you’re too big of a chicken to post dissenting views in comments?
Hilarious.
Uhmm… it is called spam filtering. Ya comments are not all instantly approved… and i cant check constantly. Wow I think i was right in my reply above to you.. you are an angry person. You must be a south pole elf.
Hi Mr. Cow,
I’ve never purchased from you but I’ve read plenty of your stuff and you give great info.
Now, I’m Not A Guru but much of the stuff I’ve read from you, I already knew.
All that aside, about your post, you are only human and like all humans, we have human days.
No one is professional 100% of the time and you did the right thing by exposing this to your followers.
Honestly, when I got the email from you I thought it was about something else, free money or something
but alas, no free lunch today.
Just do what you know is best for you, your business and your customer base and you will do just as well as you have always done, if not better.
Jason,
I have to say that I always look forward to the valuable content that you provide!
Unfortunately, being a Real Estate Broker, I can promise you that this happens in all industries. There are just plain idiots out there that have nothing to do all day but put other people down because they are miserable individuals and feel that everyone else should be, too.
They are just a “pattern interupt” in your business. Don’t exert the time or energy on them. They’re not worth it!
I sell custom built outdoor kitchens and grill parts. Last year we got everything on site built perfect and were ready to install the accessories (grill, refrigerator, sink, access doors, etc) and collect the final payment, A crew member was out sick so I came in on a scheduled day off to do the install myself. Onsite, the customer isn’t home and his wife says to call him.
He tells me he wants to add several thousand dollars of work to what we’ve already completed. No problem. I’ll finish up here, collect the final payment and get back to you this afternoon with a proposl for the addition. He says no to final payment and I explained I can not leave $5000. worth of equipment here withoutfinal payment so I’ll put together a proposal and come back when the job and payment are ready.
Again No. He wants the install completed with no payment. I took all the equipment and left, called him the next day to discuss the additions and he refused my calls. He bought the equipment online and I lost $1000. on the job.
This is the only time I got so angry but I went to the courthouse and leaned his home.
As you said, i do think you were probably wrong. I know I’ve allowed a lot more from customers to keep their business.
Don’t you just hate people who supremely believe that “the customer is ALWAYS right”? We may be working for them but that does not make us their slaves. The money they are spending (if they are spending) is not for a charity but for a service they need. Professionalism says both of us should be treated with respect. Customers like you encountered are plain arrogant.
Entertaining post. I agree that most of the time you should be extra friendly to customers, but sometimes some of them just aren’t worth your time. The two points I see out of this discussion are 1) Most of the time you shouldn’t waste time on people like this who aren’t going to benefit you and 2) Sometimes it can be worthwhile to have it out because of the “any publicity is good publicity” adage. If she really is trashing you in forums somewhere, then a few of those people are going to be curious about you and come check you out, which means more traffic for you.
I can’t blame you at all for being angry. People in general make me mad, especially the ignorant ones. So, all in all, I think that you handled it well.
I personally would’t have started anything with her until she at least had the correct link to check out…I’d have sent the link again, making sure it was correct, then if she complained about something (which she probably would have), proceed to tear her head off. But hey, she was rude first, twice….we all get tired of that kind of negative attitude and want to jab back sometimes so I see nothing wrong with your approach really.
Tom
Fingerstyle Guitar resources Http://FingerstyleGuitarist.com
I can certainly understand the feelings involved here, but I won’t congratulate you on your rant. I too have been in similar situations, and have lost my cool. Afterwards — after justifying it to myself and my supporters — I usually find myself asking if it was REALLY worth it. Sure it does our egos good not to let someone walk all over us, but in the long run what did you gain? It doesn’t make you look like a schmuck to anyone if you can take a few deep breaths and suck up the undeserved criticism, but there are those out there that will take her side, as I’m sure you have done when a friend tells you of their adventures in customer service. I would say there are no winners in this scenario, because neither of you has profited in any way.
Randy… i fully admit i could have been 100% wrong here… not trying to justify anything here. This is a blog post on my blog and well sometimes its good just to let go and rant… thats the nature of blogging. But yes.. sigh… i do agree with you… there are no winners… and yes 99% of the time i accept the criticism… i just felt like blogging today, that’s all. I do however 100% respect your input, feedback and thanks for the great comment.
I’m not one to offer wise consul regarding bitchy women, I keep marrying then. I was just hoping the 50 bucks was a random drawing…but while I got you here…are those mushrooms in your banner.
Ya.. west coast shrooms actually.
Hey Jason,
While I agree that some people can make you want to pull your hair out, this doesn’t make it ok for someone to drop down to thier level. I also don’t believe posting about it is good for you or anyone reading this post. As the saying goes “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t saying anything at all” (something like that)
There are other points that could be made, but I’m sure you already know them.
Dave
PS Love reading your blog. Thanks!
John Cow:
I agree with the initial gut reaction to not take it from some e-mail idiot, but in the end, is it really worth it? Don’t let some one steal your time, energy, effort and spirit.
Your world is what you create, don’t be lured into what others want your create in your world.
Jason, I think you owe this lady a refund. Give her every penny that she spent on this free product as that is the right thing to do. I actually think it would be hilarious to send her a check for 0.00 but I have a silly sense of humor so who knows lol.
I hate people like this. Those that would take the time to be rude and complain about something that is free. Sure, most people don’t take the time to even thank you for going out of your way to provide free tools/info/ideas but to go out of their way to complain about it is pathetic…as is pretty obvious to most everyone reading.
Funny thing is you will probably get even more positive response because of this post than you would have. I’m actually really curious what the free download was now…mind posting a link (please include the “w” because I am too self-involved to figure out missing letters in links)?
I’m also really curious about the $300 a month membership customers you have. Any chance you might do a post about working the paid membership angle anytime soon? …If not f’you. lol jk
.
Keep up the great content and positive sense of humor man!
I totally understand the feeling. I myself handle customer requests in a small software start up of mine and really, really try to always be polite and helpful and understanding – but some people just make it soo hard to.
Then again there is this wonderful saying: “Never argue with an idiot. They’ll drag you down to their level beat you with experience” – so probably engaging in a conversation with such weirdos who can’t appreciate anything in life, is not that constructive.
But I loved the read because I can relate to it.
Kind Regards,
Margho S.
Fatcow Reviews | Web Hosting Reviews | IX Web Hosting Reviews
Quoting her response to you:
“May YOU business accounts reflect YOU low level of customer satisfaction.”
HILARIOUS!
There are, well, two typos in her reply to you. It was pretty generous of you to not point that out.
Who would not know to put an extra w if the link didn’t work? It is the world wide web.
Go ahead and rant awhile because your own blog should be your place to let go.
I love this blog. It’s a happening place to be.
thx, JCow
Hey, John, you cannot make your visitors happy all the time. But for me, I’m satisfied with your service. Thanks man for giving me a change to subscribe to JohnCow. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Hey Jason,
Thanks for the post. I admire you for putting it up. I can’t say I would have handled the same way, but considering it was free info, which you offer an abundance of I might add, I can understand your reaction.
We’ve all been there and some people you can never satisfy and I hate to think of the hours I’ve wasted trying. It’s almost like a personal challenge to sell them something though when I get one like that.
Best wishes for the new year and thanks again for the content you provide for FREE!
Happy New Year
Well I was beginning to think I was the only one who came across people with lets just call it an “odd perspective”.
I used to struggle letting things lie when people were unreasonable, especially when they attack me personally without just cause.
I work very very hard genuinely trying to help all my members succeed in many ways, much of it done behind the scenes on a personal level well away from the public gaze yet there are still those that despite spending hours with them on a one to one basis still manage to blame their own inadequacies on everyone else but themselves.
Unfortunately there are a lot of people with real bad attitudes out there and you simply have to cut ‘em off!
The way I see it is there’s not enough time for those who do deserve it so when you find those who don’t, every minute you waste on them is a minute you cant give to someone else.
Keep up the great work, love the blog, but next time you find yourself facing another person like this don’t get dragged in
Wow John! You arrogant, ignorant jackass! How dare you?!? Now can I get some additional “love” from JohnCow.com? ;-> I wouldn’t mind getting link juice from a PR 4 website, with 33279 subscribers and an Alexa ranking of 24,629! Damn! I’ll call you a jerk and a prick every day for that!
Seriously though…yeah, maybe it could have been handled a little better. HOWEVER…we are all human, and we all have our “off” days. Hopefully this person does have a big list. Then you can “promote your promoters” (something you and JP taught me on Gauher’s webinar…good thing you didn’t send me the wrong webinar link!). People are going to want to check out what a jerk you are. When they get to JohnCow.com, they’ll realize just how much valuable content you provide.
Keyword Corral…for free?!? with supplementary videos on how to profit from it! Come on! Does it get ANY better than this.
This is my favorite affiliate marketing site BY FAR! And I’m sure traffic sent your way, regardless of how your site is pre-sold, will be converted into a loyal follower after reading even a few of your posts, because you provide meaningful, valuable, useable…free content!
Keep doing EXACTLY what you’re doing!
Thanks for everything John,
Alex
I think it’s more your warped sense of humor (which I enjoy) that has escalated this barrage of verbal dirrehea between the two of you, it’s certainly made good reading!!! and thank’s for the backlink
I think this is the beauty of doing business online. It is much easier to ignore those who you would like to forget. I have an offline business as well. When you get a sour client it can mean a lawsuit. Online it can be as simple as you said, just don’t write back.
Spanish learning software (I am newish at this if anyone has any suggestions let me know)
HA HA HA HA!
Your an Ass Jason! It is soooooo easy to get these type of people going, must have been quite the mood to bother wasting your time;-) Which I suppose is the point…don’t waste your time. There comes a point where it doesn’t matter what you do or say, you are ‘wrong’, even when your right. I find it amusing that she is writing back and telling you she is dejected…come on.
But if your “in a mood” or bored, these kinds of people are perfect bee hives for pokin’
Cheers!
Jeromy
Jason,
I’m not gonna buy anything from you either…..
at least not today. ….actually, I stopped buying products a while ago…..now i create my own and sell them……anyway, I love the free information….yes I think her panties were in a bunch…oops, sorry, …..I’m on your list and I DO read e-mails…..yours captured my interest…getting a free key-phrase link is nice…50 bucks would be nicer…….any hoo this made me chuckle a bit……when she crushes you, you can j.v with me to get back on top again!
Very good post. Lots of things you can learn from this post that everyday people in this industry face from time to time. Its all about how you handle the situation. Sometimes it does make you want to say how you really feel which may not be good for business or impression but focusing on the positive things is more worthwhile then wasting efforts on someone that doesn’t want to even be bothered.
Hi John,
Maybe the girl was having a bad day? I just read a book with some of the Dalai Lama’s teachings (Art of Happiness), and he says to try to see things from the other person’s perspective. It’s possible that this person may have other things going on in her life causing her to act like a jerk. It’s still not your problem, but it’s people like this that help test our patience. On an unrelated note, I would not suggest recording phone calls depending on your state since some states require you to get permission or it could be a crime. Funny post overall and a great way to turn a negative experience into a nice blog post.
I 100% agree about the empathy thing… in a perfect world we can all empathize with everyone… know i wish i was better at it.
As for the recording… ya i mentioned it would be for an interview and i would of mentioned it was a recording… i would never be sneaky about something like that.
Yeah you’ll run into these people sometimes, at least you had fun with it lol.
This is really good .. i read everyday your fundoo articles & Concepts in Email
I can certainly see why you were upset by this, but you are right about having handled it wrong.
Even though you are getting this content to be able to post about on your blog, you are likely alienating existing prospects within your pipeline. There wasn’t that much ignorance, or rudeness contained in the original email exchanges.
However, you had nothing to gain even by sending the original link to this individual. Once they came back rude after that, you were overly aggressive coming back instead of just moving on with your life.
Everything you said may be right, but none of it was necessary, and I doubt this thread is garnering or sustaining respect for you.
I find your moral to be even more funny than any of it. You basically said the moral is to not bother with this kind of crap, and yet you’ve totally pushed the envelope well past anything that matters.
Very entertaining. Anyway, I still dig your stuff, and I even wouldn’t mind winning some free paypal cashola.
Take care, and let this stuff roll off.
Having dealt with customers all my working life, I can certainly understand the frustrations that come with the territory, Jason. However, it’s important to remember that the few nasty attitudes we encounter simply reflect poorly on those who have them. While it’s always tempting to retaliate, when we do we truly are lowering ourselves to their level and then it’s reflecting poorly on us.
I can understand venting a bit, but to use profanity (whether either directly to them or even just here in the blog publicly describing them as an “asshole”) only reflects poorly on us and especially on our witness for Christ. The primary reason why I began following your blog was because of this in your “About John Cow” area:
(from http://www.johncow.com/about-john-cow/)...
What Else Do You Do?
Blogging, SEO, PPC and Web 2 Marketing, Software Development, Mentoring, Family Man, Freak (to some) and Christian!
It was that last description that won me over, Jason. But sadly, this blog seems to be turning into an angst-filled rant with profanity and excessive bragging about how many zillions you’re making. We trust you’re making good money or we wouldn’t have been one of your readers to begin with so to rub our noses in it like that is really over the top.
And to not take any negative feedback from your readers to heart and just reply with statements like “Oh, you must just be that nasty person’s friend…” and then follow it up with more braggadocio is only a disservice to yourself.
Calling C/S (be it Dell/India or Bluehost/Utah) the customer is usually all pissed off about something and its the rare bird that can calm them down to get to the source of the matter and make things right. when a good C/S agent does do this, they customer will tell 20+ people how smart they were to do business with company X (but) once in awhile, no matter what, customer Z is gonna be harsh not matter how hard the C/s tries to remedy their issues and like you said… its time to cut `em off and click the next button. On this we agree
Hi John,
This is so common and has always been a case for most successful sites. I run http://www.CrazeFM.com and the amount of funny mails I get due to its strength in the market is amazing. The latest I got was something like
“Hey Wakas, why don’t you add a list of favorites for all users so we can all see who likes what song, and also add the feature to request songs via other pages.
I have heard that you ban people when they suggest something good for the site. I didn’t write my email but I guess you will try to locate my IP now. So If you are man enough do what I say or take your anti-depression tablets that you recommend on your sites”
First of all, I had two choices. One is to be mad and respond, other is to BE A MAN and delete this mail. I did the second
And man oh man it felt great. I love suggestions, which make CrazeFM.com one of the most heard Asian Radios, and at the same time won 2007 best TV n Radio site award. So I guess there are lots of kids out there who just don’t feel they can reach a spot where someone might have spent endless sleepless hours daily to give people free entertainment without charging a single penny. Btw I pay from my own pocket all costs to run the radio, and when I started charging for an amazing feature a few freebies were like “how could you .. how could you”
So in the end, John. I know sometimes these people do have a mission to get you to be derailed from your track. The best thing you can do for them is to NEVER ever mention them, since they feed on publicity and negativity.
This lady could have been a great customer service expert or whatever but in this case sarcasm in the very first mail is just not so healthy. I talk a lot about positivity and other stuff in my radio show at http://www.WakasMirlive.com and sarcasm falls no where on my list, so if a mail contains that.. the user never gets a response but is placed in the “report spam and remove”
You offer great stuff on your blog. And keep the great advice coming, since it’s your blog I don’t find it offensive when you write such posts. It’s the personalization that surfers enjoy. So those that feel you shouldn’t maybe should ask themselves if they want to deal with a brand or a human. I would prefer human.
Keep it up and Rock on!!!
Wakas Mir
CrazeFM.com
ZipFor.me
This is the 2nd time I read post like this. It’s true that if a customer is a piss off then we shouldn’t waste time with them.
Well I guess since you are already famous people will understand and believe me I understand too.
I found this interesting but a little hard to understand. I feel that some people have a hard time communicating what they mean. This “female” obviously felt what you were offering worth the trouble to contact you. Also, everyone has a bad day and it could have been the case. I would have probably handled this different. But, I really don’t care. She isn’t making me any money. I do however find value from you and your knowledge. HMMMMM I guess that makes you right from my point of view.
Thanks for the link John. Just one more reason that makes you right! LOL
I think this quote says it very well…
“Negative comments of others merely reflect their limitations – not yours.” ~Cynthia Kersey
Have a happy new year
Hey J,
In words of the late great Jim Rohn “Self sacrifice only breeds contempt.” Keep on rockin’ it!
Thanks,
Javi
DUDE! If you let me have this one more link. I will tell you that she should be banned from benefiting from your knowledge for life.
Not to change subject. But, user name seoseattle uses Web2mayhem as a training tool with our new employees. Thanks!
P.S. She really should
Alright guys , I might not have experience of being a customer service person , or anything like that.Sure c cam’s e-mail was a bit rude , jumping to conclusion that John is a scammer and what not. Hey if someone said me that to me ( which did happen a couple of days ago) I would e-mail back defending myself.And thats what John did , yea he could of been more professional, which he did try to be in the beginning by sending a link, and heck he made a big mistake. The world’s not over. C Cam didn’t have to respond with another nasty remark , but she/he did anyway. I’m pretty sure at that point knowing your not going anywhere with this person , you’ve been nice to people like this and you just realize that you had it. So obviously your going to give them a piece of your mind whether it be because your mad because your being accused wrongly or you just want to have fun. I myself hate people like C Cam, Now she/he could of also just had a bad day but thinking she’s better than everyone else. C’mon a guy’s trying to make business here, if you had supposedly trouble downloading something 3 times that why don’t you post a question if your doing something wrong instead of accusing someone. All i’m trying to say is yea C Cam had the right to be mad , I would too . The frustration kicks in sometimes and heck sometimes we do stuff like that. But realizing that someone (john in this case) was trying to help you at first . Then you decide to send another blow maybe evening hurting the person’s feeling who knows. I sure wouldn’t like someone talking bad about me and my work when its not true. At this point John could and did do whatever he wanted. He didn’t swear or threaten the person. He just gave her a piece of his mind , and you know what John I give you probs for that. Some others people desperately wanting cash or whatever would try to speak nice , so I think that proves the guy’s not all in it for cash. There you go , the mind of a teenager at 10:30 at night. Hate it or love it people , but we’re not always perfect and it’s about time people stop being ignorant and all that. Just RELAX and live LIFE ! Wooohoo !
. Btw John I myself have downloaded your free product and have taken ideas from it , so I thank you. And for people thinking I’m trying to be is pet and suck up to him , than you know what ……… thats your opinion (thought I was going to swear eh 
). Take care guys and you know what truly you’re all amazing , you just gotta be patience sometimes and not be stubborn, or else you might be getting what comes to you.
I know this frustration!
You can’t reason with someone who is unreasonable. You can’t rationalize with someone who is irrational.
The decision you have to make, and you made it, is will this exchange be worth while entertainment considering the potential cost? You obviously decided that you can afford this kind of entertainment.
Considering the feller who coined the phrase, “The customer is always right.” died penniless and insane, you likely got more bang for your buck!
Still, as frustrating as these exchanges are, I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone.
Best Regards,
John
http://www.DollarCardMarketing.com
Hi Jason,
You can’t satisfy all people. Even you try very hard and bust your ass off, there are always people that are unhappy with you. And i agree with you, those kind of people with “that” kinda attitude will never get success, UNLESS they are change their attitude.
But, the line in this post that i agree the most is “Do not do what I did”. LOL.
What’s happening Jason…
You’re a master in your craft. From your free eBooks to your webinars, your knowledge is up-to-date and spot on! If I had an extra $127 a month it go to web2mayhem.com… but it’s all going to outsourcing at the moment in effort to clone myself.
Anyways about your post… after the first 30 seconds I think you wasted your time replying to the emails and me reading them.
I think a valuable lesson can be learned that was taught to me just recently… “Customer/reader satisfaction is worthless, customer/reader loyalty is priceless!”
This is not one of your readers that can’t understand the passion and time you spend on providing the quality knowledge and insight from experience.
Personally I feel you wasted some valuable time of yours (even though self satisfaction feels swell, I’ve acted similar dozen of time).
You should of just hit the delete bottom and moved on… or better yet, send me the IP and I’ll take care of the problem. JK
Regardless, just brush off the pest on your shoulder and keep publishing relative and up-to-date content!
Too much, I agree with Kill em w/ kindness but not this time. But I bet you she did ad the w and downloaded it after all..lol….
(I’m so new I don’t even have a website)
To start off, two things:
1) Please don’t kill me………it’s “conceited”
2) Did she call? She should’ve called.
I really interested to know if you’ve gotten any “conversions” (if I’m using the term correctly) from any of the traffic that she sent your way (to think she has “followers” is doubtful). It would be absolutely hilarious if you gained a number of fans/customers from her complaining about free things.
I wonder if a future post will be titled “aw hell, slap ‘em every now and again and make money”?
I didn’t have a problem downloading your free book. Thanks a million by the way.
Thanks,
John Meadows
no website to speak of….
I guess there is no right or wrong way how to deal with this kind of person.
For them, what you give is not enough and if it’s enough, it’s not right.
I know the kind, even offline, but this is another story.
The purpose of the game is to provoke a good fight so they feel virtuous and more alive. (and feed their blog?)
Good for you that you got inspiration for a post out of it.
I did the same with some people who stole my content to start their own blogs and now you can find my blog easily in french on page 1 of Google for the terms “Vol de contenu”.
After few coffees and a collection of french words much longer and colourful than your 4 letter words (I mean in the English vocabulary, not that YOU would use such words, of course), I decided to find a way to stop (to a certain extent) theft of articles on Blogspot and to explain to my readers how to defend themselves.
And I researched other blogs and sites who had problems with that kind of people and gave them publicity.
More wood to feed the fire.
Happy New Year and keep up the great work !
I thought it was very funny. Not necessarily needed but still funny. Trust me, I have thought about doing the same thing many times with emails I’ve gotten over the years. In fact, I probably have done it but just don’t remember right now. Back in the day I used to get all worked up from negative emails but now I just delete them and never give them a second thought. I say good for you on this one though!
I wouldn’t have handled it the same way, but I totally understand why you did Jason. I worked the front lines at a Help Desk as a manager and had to constantly “defuse” these types of people… it is HARD WORK! If you don’t have to put up with it, consider yourself fortunate! In this case you didn’t have to, but you chose to just for the fun of it. I gotta admit I wanted to act like you did on several occasions… but I never did because I needed my job and I had the position as a leader/manager. Now… in your position it is a different story. So I get to live vicariously through your story. Thanks.
The point is this: don’t get sucked into pointless battles that just waste your time, focus and energy. Thanks for helping to make this point to us all.
Hello,
All I could think as I read this was what is the point. It sounds like you both were a little stressed with the holiday season. But, look at the bright side; you both got great blog content. Especially yours!
Keep up the good work and the great posts. And remember you can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time.
Hmmm, I hope this was the exception and not the rule.
While I don’t think the way she handled things was ‘not rude’, I still think you couldve been a little nicer. Though I’m curious as to what she’ll post to her “followers”.
And I’ll be honest too, I got your email and read this just for the contest, sooo…
Paypal email: dawahgear [at] live [dot] com
Great post, It was a fun read!
Kristina,
Being in customer support, I understand what you did and why. Hey, it got me to laugh too
That said, you always have a choice. Some ways to respond are: you can choose to be helpful, choose to ignore, choose to have fun, and/or choose to do ask someone else to respond to the issue as it isn’t something you can respond kindly to. I think most people have done all of these approaches for many similar reasons.
I like to respond with the reasoning “it is true, is it necessary, and is it kind”. And sometimes kind is helping the person do better next time rather than in the moment.
Thanks for all your helpful posts and knowledge.
Hi, and thanks for your good work here on the site. My comments are along the line of the others: ie you should let it go, she’s not worth it, everyone wants something for nothing, etc. these are all ‘given’ I think, especially since you were giving her s freebie, gee wiz.
Try to rise above the greedy masses. You know what to do. You are worthy and I know that after a time, you will forgive her.
You do good work here. Be strong. The public is sometimes harsh and unreasonable.
thanks again
chuck
Hi John,
I can’t say you handled the problem right in the beginning but what you have done after what happened is just brilliant.No wonder you are so successful at what you are doing.This is a pure great marketing lesson for wannabe IM marketers.Congratulations.
Best Regards
ismail
http://www.emusicdownloadsites.com
Your narration of this email conversation is amazing. Interestingly written and very engaging. If I were as established as you, I would have done the same thing in a similar polite but assertive manner, telling a person you’re wrong, in a right way and also not sounding ehh… RUDE
. If I were in a small time non-established position, I’d have ignored the email and definitely not wasted time on explaining what went wrong and why the link didn’t work. And of course, almost everyone aspiring to make a living out of online business would know about John Cow very well and I’m sure one post by a random person talking negative shouldn’t have mattered. Your assertive and still KIND and POLITE – sounding feedbacks were very well written 
Ever thought of writing fiction? :- ))
Customer service can be tough, and some people are hard (impossible) to please. Though it may do your heart good to respond in kind, it’s probably best to revise before hitting send. And, that gives you time to correct urls.
No need to link to the website. We really don’t want to be found by too many people. And, the website is dead last on our priority list–we’ve got a bunch of books to write, edit, design or printed!
Nicki
Jason,
Your response was very immature. If you were annoyed and said what you did about her, what does that say about you since you reacted in the same manner?
This is such trivial stuff and you’re making a big deal out of it. Some words of wisdom – The things that aggravate you about other people, are your own faults. Wisdom also says it is far better for you to be the bigger person and respond with kindness. It will only help you in the long run. Conversely, doing what you did only hurts you, even if you can’t see it now.
As a police officer I have run into the same sort, you did what most people want to do, tell them off and get a laugh out of it. Who can blame you after a while if you just let people get away with it all the time you build up a lot of stress, its good to clown them every once in a while. Great Post
Wow. You’d think she would’ve apologized once she realized she wasn’t talking to a bot. Oh well, you’re right that you can’t please all the people all the time.
I do have some clients like that (and some worse), and you just have to breath deep and continue working.
I guess you just had to take out some steam! way to go, too, showing her her attitude.
This is too funny!
John you know you were wrong but hey I get it. Like you said brother, we are all humans and sometimes we all need to vent. And since this was a strategic vent than I think it is all the more acceptable. After all there is an underlying point here that is attempting to be made.
In the end its all about getting the 10 points for gaining the insight and picking up on the hidden messages. And those that want to see it my brother will.
Way to encourage the validity of this businesses and way to bringing back the human factor into the internet.
Keep it coming!
Hi ,
I am new to this Website. Your post is simply superb ! ! ! ! Good to see this ,
Keep rocking .
Regards :
yuva
I’ve been on both sides of the fence on this one. I’ve blown up on someone before giving them a chance to fix a problem. I deeply regret that.
I’ve also received tirades from people whose problem I could have fixed if only they would have let me.
I happen to be one of those people who have spent thousands of dollars with you over many years and have not regretted it in the least. You’ve always given exceptional service.
As a matter of fact, four or five years ago, I listed one of your current partners on a list of “the good guys of Internet marketing” for the exceptional value he gave to customers.
The only reason I didn’t list you as well is because you weren’t yet partnering with him on the product that I now buy from you and him.
Some people have questioned the wisdom of you posting your correspondence with this Chris who called you out. I think something good will come from it.
Nothing gets people to come forward with the positive comments that they think, but never get around to saying, than an unreasonable attack on someone they hold in high regard.
I think you’ll get a spontaneous outpouring of positive word-of-mouth across the Web that will dwarf what some bitter, wannabe marketer will be able to generate with the limited resources at his or her disposal.
Hmm… I think it might be about time for me to revisit and update my list of “the good guys of Internet marketing.”
I can pretty much guarantee that Chris will fall by the wayside long before you do, Jason.
If I where you I will not go far at that stage, I will just make sure that next time all links that I will give will be working.
Time is important and wasting it for a nonsense conversation is not worth.
In the internet everybody could say what they want, because you cannot see them.
Anyway that is life and we have to face it as marketer
Take the high road Mate! I know it’s hard sometime but try not to let exchanges like this get under your skin. Good Luck! I will continue to read your website! Best wishes in 2010!
I have read you post, what i can say is that some pepole will still complians even if you give them good service and they attack you if you don’t. they don’t try to solve problem they creat it.
Very Poorly Handled Beginning To End.
Some people are such a-holes! I love that you followed through with this because people like your “friend” love to run their mouth but when you confront them they have nothing intelligent to say, lol. Good for you!
Hey John,
First of all, you don’t owe anything to anybody unless they have paid you for a service or product. So, to even reply to her in the first place was a sign of good “customer service”. Although I really don’t think you can call it that as she isn’t and probably would never have been a “customer”.
This type of situation reminds me of what the great Bill Cosby said: “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is
trying to please everybody.”
Although I probably would have handled it a little differently as I’m just not as cocky as you are, I still can’t blame you for it. I have read lots of your posts and you’ve helped me learn stuff I needed/wanted to learn for awhile now and will continue to do so.
Take care John and Happy Holidays!
Hello from Africa. ;+)
Here in Africa we behave in a much more polite way, as a small misunderstanding such as yours could get email “friend” in bigger trouble than what your response was.
In Africa we sometimes leave off the “with-kindness” bit, and this is good – as people are a lot friendlier and a little less quick to send those stupid YOUR-LINK-IS-BROKEN-AND-I-THINK-YOU-ARE-A-CROOK messages.
While this all was the result of both of you having one of those days i think that I have found the cause of your correspondees problem.
Either a complete sense of humor failure..
OR
too tight underwear. I have found that if you have your nether regions restricted then you could find yourself a little grumpy on the day, and hence all your emails will reflect that problem.
I hope this high quality advice helps.
Clearly there was a break-down in communication.
The customer did not communicate in a clear and respectful manner, but you stooped to her level. She was testing you, clearly. Just because she SAYS she’s not ever going to buy, doesn’t mean that’s true. If you had not answered her in kind, showed some understanding for her frustration, explained the reason in the delay in support, and assure her that you’re there for her (if she has an issue, etc.), you would have taken the wind out of her sails, she would have shown some humanity and you may have gained a customer.
Or not. But you would have chosen who to be rather than a knee-jerk reaction to her.
You do have every right to fire customers who are not worth your time. That’s totally your call.
I think kindness and understanding never go out of style. You got sucked into her melodrama – you’re better than that, I know you are.
Hi J Cow,
Well …. it is a change to see some comments by one of the internet success stories that has a touch of humanity about it.
Whether your readers agree with you or not JC (no pun intended), at least it shows there is a real person with feelings replying to an email; rather that a paid support person who really doesn’t have a personal interest in the issue except that their response contributes to a profit that pays them a salary.
I understand this story from both sides. Perhaps Chris has dealt with too many of these internet marketing gurus who try to stuff back end product after back end product down the throat of an unsuspecting subscriber who has been promised a “real” product for free that actually has “real” value. I have been around (unsuccessfully) a long time trying to get an internet life up and running and I have just been totally befuddled at the unbelievable barrage of stuff that was pushed at me when I unsuspectingly signed up only a week or so ago for a tremendously valuable (free) product from a very well known guru. I actually had to write to support to confirm that I had not inadvertently signed up for some sort of recurring subscription. While I understand that offering value for free is a very legitimate way of getting people to have a look at something that has a cost associated with it; there is a fine line between acceptable and downright rude.
That sort of stuff leaves a bad taste and can cause someone to be fairly negative and de-constructive and can cause them to respond to honest mistakes in the same manner as they would to the obvious “over the top” back-end sales pitches that we are all brain-washed into believing is good salesmanship.
I am actually not a paying customer of yours, JC, so anyone reading this who thinks I view anything you say through rose colored glasses can think again. I am, however, someone who has “listened” to dozens, if not hundreds of internet successes and you and your mate JK are on my short list of who to take advice from.
So having made my position clear I can see where you are coming from also. You state at least twice that Chris happened to time her/his reply at one of those times when you were ready to take a particular course of action that may not have been the one you would have taken at another time. I am someone who has read a lot of stuff about personal development and how to be a better person and one of the things I try to remember is that taking a retaliatory stance rarely achieves anything constructive. (Except if you like to let off a bit of steam). Now don’t think I live by this creed. I just mention it because that is what I have read. It is another matter when it comes to living by it.
The bottom line is that your “tit for tat” with Chris has been far more interesting and constructive than what 99% of the people who vegetate on FaceBook and Twitter post about. So “good on you” to both of you for having opinions and taking positions in relation to things that “bug” you.
Best wishes to both of you and HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
Oh, and by the way, I’ve downloaded several free things from your Sites Jason and have never had any trouble.
I loath complainers also. We could go on about how the government fosters this attitude but what’s the use? This is not a political forum… Cow pie for all the Senators!!
So you drop a “w”. “Wooo” “Woooo” “Wooo”! If it was in “coW” or “http://WWW.whatever.com” the reader should have figured that out. But then who has to read anymore? Computers should just do that for you. Yeah, right. And milk comes from a cardboard box….
There ought to be a site to report these nimrods; but I am sure some people would put King W, BO and Ocho Cinqo on there thinking “all that prints fits.” Which only goes to show you they thought they read the NYT. However if there was such a site, we reporters would be too much like the COWardly complainer. And that would be unbearable. Kinda like ring worm.
That too will pass.
John, I.m not sure how I would have handled this person and the supposed problem.
But, I do need to say that many time people feel that they do want to pushed around any longer. See, you may not have been the cause of the displayed attitude.
It was the the guy before you that lacked the ability to be forth wright with the client.
I could call names of marketers who don’t deliver the promised goods that leave a bitter taste in the mouths of their clients.
Without having all of the facts its hard to say what is the right thing to do.
Let close by saying I’ve followed you for some time now and believe that you have the goods. I am saden that this lady felt that you had, purposely dealt her a short hand.
Ther is an old saying which goes something like this, “you can please some of the all of the time; but you can’t please all the people all of the time”.
gearl
I understand why you got so upset, we work so hard for our readers and customers and what we get in charge is that one little mistake make them say we are scamers. This is amazingly ridiculous. And was good you made a post like this to teach us about customer support. Some people that read your blog are starting in the online biz and can learn a lot with you. Regards.
You’ve earned an extra cocktail for the New Year’s Eve celebration after that ordeal. I try to remain patient with people and try to see things from where they are sitting, but that would have pushed too also. I get e-mails daily about DSLRs and netbooks from folks that are already feeling overwhelmed and there is the occasional ONE that really pushes it. In those cases I try to deal with them, but I’ve already considered them a lost cause and try to commit too much time to them.
I believe those people are the trolls that have stepped away from the bulletin boards and are just stretching their legs on new ground. Don’t lose any sleep over them.
Have a Great 2010.
John
After any complaint you should try to put it right.
People may say they won’t buy. If that was the case she would have just walked and not bothered with an email.
She was giving you a chance to put it right and you blew it with a dodgy link. Big mistake.
All I can say is you must have been having a bad hair day with your next response because she wasn’t rude at all. In fact she was simply giving you yet another chance to put it right.
You messed up big guy.
This isn’t meant as a dig, but you take it anyway you want, but more of constructive criticism saying, be more patient with people, we’re not all as smart as you.
Cheers
Jeff
Cheapest Schwinn 430 Elliptical Trainer
Well, it made for some interesting reading, and I can understand we all have days when we do stuff we wouldn’t normally do.
But, you say people who ‘immediately’, judge you? Sheesh, she’d tried to download from your site 3 times, and then had another broken link that didn’t work sent to her? That’s not an ‘immediate’ judgement.
Yeah, you can argue that she could have emailed the first time she had a problem, she could have figured out the w was missing… And you could have just ignored her email.
See, maybe she was having one of those days too. We all get them.
Ok, so you won’t get an order from her, and yeah, I have to agree the customer isn’t always right and there are limits on what the hell you can do to please them… but I reckon your judgement was off on this particular day.
John,
I don’t even know where to start:
I f*#@ing hate people like that. Reminds me of an ex (recent) girlfriend.
She ACTUALLY begrudges people that have an abundance of money and are genuinely happy.
I would have done AT LEAST the same thing!
We are all here to make a living; how well we do that is dependent on various factors.
The point though, is that while “the customer is always right”, you are right, people are thinking of themselves, not considering what is going on “on the other side of the fence” so to speak.
Then they wanna get beligerant? Excuse the F#@! outta me?!
You (we) are definitely in the customer service business because that’s where the money comes from. Let’s face it though; you have 200k+ subscribers, and offer valuable content and products, otherwise you would not have these “subs”, or am I reading this wrong?
I say, whatever fucktard, and by that I mean your adoring fan.
Have a GREAT NEWY YEAR!
Sincerely,
Drew
I’ve downloaded a bunch of stuff from you, Jason, and I’ve never been disappointed. What a load of garbage from the beginning of that exchange. She’s losing out, and you’re right, you’re better off without her!
In the IM game you have to have a think skin and ignore all complainers.
I had a guy recently who downloaded my free guide to build a blog and they said the guide was TOO LONG!
Idiot!
I totally agree with what you say, Jason.
Happy New Year!
Andrew
Andrew’s latest post…I May Have Just Made One Of The Worst Decisions Of My Life!
I wonder if they did do a post about your customer service. If they did you probably got more subscribers.
You know, to be honest this posts was simply genius. For one it was just plain old entertaining and teaches a few valuable lessons about human interactions but those are just the toppings…
For all the marketers out there, did you notice how a potentially negative interaction was turned into an absolute win?
Mr. Cow you are the man. If C Cam decides to put you blast you win because people are naturally inclined to see for themselves and will most certainly stop by to see whats what and they’ll see that youre nothing like what Cam would have them believe which is a blow to her credibility. Also, by drawing so much attention to the matter yourself you show a person lives here (I hate those guru types).
Keep it up. Some people need to be told about themselves.
Hi John Cow,
With all due respect that is not the way I would have handled this issue. I would have simply ignored it. Anyone can see that C Cam’s first message itself was offensive as hell, but as a busy, successful online marketer (which I am not, but want to be, and which you are) I would simply tell myself, “It doesn’t take all types to make the world, but the world DOES have all types, so I can’t please all of them.”
Incidentally, I did have a probolem downloading one of your freebies “Building a Business, Not a Blog”, I did write to you about this (email on Nov. 14 and through this blog some time before that), but never got a response. You can check it out, hopefully.
So what did I do? Nothing. It hasn’t stopped me from opening your emails, and reading their contents and your blog posts with great interest.
When it comes down to business all businesses must treat customers with respect, show service with a smile and above all be “friendly and helpful”.
You help others and in turn they help you too and when customers are ranting and raging it’s best to stand there and defuse the situation.
However I work in a supermarket and get grief from customers on a daily basis BUT sometimes when a customer’s in my face I just show a great BIG CHEESY GRIN because I know just how even more frustrtaed and angry they get when it shows underneath that I’m really just LAUGHING at them!! HA!!
They say that ATTACK is the best form of defence so go for it Jason and continue to fight fire with fire
Neil Clues
Receive a $125 sign-up bonus:
Hi John,
No idea why you entertained that person, no matter what you said or done you were going to be wrong…That person is one of those, always know’s better type…You can never win.
All the best and I will be now following your blog.
Regards.
Trevor H
Hey John,
Way to go. I tip my hat to you. You get to have a go at a client, which is something we all wish we could do on the times they deserve it, but dare not, and then you make money out of her after all by using her by taking advantage of the golden rule of advertising…all advertising is good advertising so long as you can prove your innocence or so long as you don’t get caught.
She slams you, you don’t back down. She continues the argument and you get great content for your next blog. She has tried to hurt you with words but her words gave you the fuel to gain more readers, which converts to site visitors, which takes your site to new heights in the search engines because of the click through rate and as a direct result you get found even easier and make lots of money. I suppose she didn’t see that coming.
Always look on the bright side of life. In the end you wouldn’t have won but because you do have a good product and are reputable you can stand a little bit of attention and free advertising.
Keep it up, I love it.
TasWIZ
Web Design Hobart
Yeah, I know from experience that things like that really get to you, especially when you put a lot of effort into what you and try to be as helpful as possible. But at the same time, you said how people like that are not worth spending time on, when you have just wasted so much time and mental energy on an argument with her. Plus you really don’t know her story, maybe she doesn’t really know how to use the internet well.
But the bottom line is that as a web entrepreneurs we really need to keep our eyes on the ball and not get distracted by other people’s negativity. We cannot please everyone. Some people are just looking for a good argument and it might not have anything to do with you.
I also thing that when you step in the role of a teacher (which is a component of your business) you automatically take a certain public responsibility. Just think back to junior high or high school- students often misbehave, say harsh words, miss classes, and doubt the teacher. But it was the teacher’s responsibility to just move on and teach the students when they were done acting out and got ready to learn.
What my Mother (and Bambi) always said:
“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.”
What I’ve learned over the many years of working with the public,
“Treat everyone as you would like to be treated and never, ever, stoop to a level that serves the ego.”
Addressing a customer’s anger, stupidity, rants, etc., requires patience and finesse…which comes with experience. I just wonder how you will feel about this exchange 5 years from now?
Kindness wins every time.
I don’t agree with the way you handled it. I have ample time to reply to such customers just like you had. I would have still enjoyed if I sent her emails in an attempt to convert her to become a customer.
Some people are bad-mouthed, but I would still spend my time and energy to make him/her happy rather than poking fingers or getting into a duel.
I still respect you for whatever you do for other customers !
Regards, Puneet
HoneymoonSwami
I do all my own support so I’ve come across things like this dozens of times over the years. My absolute favourite is the arrogant Mac user who despite all the warnings/notices to the contrary downloads and tries to install a Windows only FREE piece of software then bitches, swears and is as ignorant as you like when it doesn’t work “on my computer”. I get at least one of these a month.
For the first few years I used to react and got into some great slagging matches. Now I do things a different way. When I get a mail that really pisses me off I always leave it 24 hours before replying. This gives me time to calm down, if I’m still annoyed then I’ll run it past the wife. Either way the response is always polite or I don’t repsond at all. I actually got a $1000 donation last year for a free piece of software from somebody who started an e-mail with “Thanks for wasting my time a$$ hole…”
Hi John,
I can understand how you felt about this person but not sure I would have gone as far as you.
Many times, as a customer, I have had problems with downloads and contacting customer services but always remained polite and tried to remember that Internet Marketers (especially those of your calibre) are extremely busy – and also human.
I certainly would not have created such a fuss about a free download!
Thank you for all the help you give us here.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
Best wishes,
Thanks for a great laugh today, John. You can’t please everyone no matter what and maybe you will get some free publicity from her “followers”
i never buy anything from you but i am quite regular reader of your blog and i can say one thing for sure that you are a very honest guy.
I was immediately reminded of one of my favorite scenes from the movie “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151137/ where Joan claims the sword miraculously ‘Fell from Heaven’ and her conscious finds it ‘Interesting’ that of all the ways a sword could happen upon the ground; abandonment, loss by combat, loosed from saddle binding etc, she decided it must have been conveyed from upon high amidst an angelic choir with divine purpose.
I have never been a fan of ignorance but when the moment is right, I’m a huge fan of education. On one hand, I suppose its no better to send a well-written, eloquent yet remonstrative missive than a ‘pissing contest’ trolling flame. However, I must admit that if I wasn’t in the best of moods (in which I usually attempt to refrain from support issues), I would have indeed sent a reply with several ‘helpful’ links such as ‘How to verify an email was sent’ and ‘tips on how to download a file’, perhaps asking if they used AOL or requesting which browser they use since [enter large number of downloads] have been successful in the timeframe referenced as ‘We are eager to identify the problem’.
The way I see it, it is true that there is less than a 2% chance that person would or will ever buy from you based on the combination of their experience and there general method of resolving problems: (attempt the same failed operation a few times then vent frustration via email). As my father says “Never try and teach a pig to dance; It wastes your time and annoys the pig” (Never cared to find the origin, my Dads source enough for me).
However, I think there was something missed as well. While they’re value as a potential customer is certainly low, their value in identifying potential lost sales is potentially huge! (I recall someone mentioning something about charity). If the download failed because of user error then you’ve loss little besides a disgruntled person who divides their time between finding errors and hidding from success. On the other side of the coin, (the side that earns compound interest) and from some of the other comments (ok, comment, I only gleened one while I scrolled down looking for the comment box) it seems that ‘Disgruntled Dave’ may not be alone in his ire. You may have a site incompatibility (AOL is always my first suspect but perhaps it is Opera 10.4 browsers or Firefox on Mac OSX etc), bandwidth throttling, proxy-caching, a dead link or Apache headers or any other number of things. How many other people ran into the same problem and therefore never converted from visitor to subscriber to customer? 1% of 30,000 x your product price + word of mouth might just be worth a polite ‘enough’ word to identify that problem. One thing I’ve found is that people who are quick to point out problems and complain will tell you everything that’s wrong… free. Where some see ignorance, I see cheap troubleshooting.
All that aside, I enjoyed your post and wish you continued success.
- twitter.com/adarro
Great story there, John, thanks. The lessons you teach us from this conversation are true, I guess. The last one is the most important one, imho.
Keep up your good work!
I agree with Jim, an old boss of mine used to say you cant please em all so £*%K em; the world will still turn with or without their opinion.
I think I understand your comments about this person and I empathize with your feelings.
However, even though she said right off that she would never buy from you, I personally would have followed up, apologized, and sent her the link (just like you did). People often say things they don’t really mean just to vent or to get your attention.
So even though she said that she would never buy from you, that doesn’t mean that she couldn’t change her mind, buy from you and influence others to buy from you down the road.
With the link being bad, missing one of the ‘w’’s, I would have apologized again and resent the correct link.
There is no need for lengthy explanations and self defense. Just try to help the customer. If you get to the point that you can’t do anything more, then simply apologize for being unable to satisfy and perhaps suggest some other website or person who can help her get what she wanted. i.e. be helpful even when you can’t satisfy.
Taking a retaliatory stance rarely achieves anything constructive. You may get lots of sympathy from others in your position (successful beyond measure and frustrated by ignorant newbies) but many newbies will look at this and figure that they will be better served by someone else who treats the ignorant with respect. Chris will undoubtedly pass on her experience to who knows how many people that may have someday become your customers, but will now avoid you.
A simple – “Sorry I can’t resolve your issue. Best wishes.” – in my opinion would have been an appropriate response.
Best wishes,
Ralph Lyon
Founder, The Massive Giving Group
Give ’til YOU Smile!
JohnCow…I spent years in charge of customer service calls for a major car rental company and if nothing else it taught me that you can’t please everyone. I used to teach my reps “the customer is always right…unless they are dead wrong!” Don’t waste your time on lost causes, some people are just born to bitch and make life miserable for the rest of us.
I once saw a sign in another customer service center that said: Sic Illegitimus Carborundun. Below the quasi-latin phrase was the translation:
“Don’t let the bastards wear you down!!”
Blimey Jason… You got your moneys worth from your blog hosting getting that off your chest!
She really got under your skin.
Its a new year now. Time to look forward… Have a Great One, and I look forward to the new content!
hmm
Yes I can see why this makes such a good blog post, but thats the only reason why it’s been worth your time and effort.
Dealing with customers can be very frustrating, but I think you need to let these emotions just ride over you and get on with living your life.
Whilst her atitude sucks and your response is very understandable she really did have a fair point, both times…
Jago
http://www.couchto-5k.com
Hey Big Guy:
While I enjoyed reading about that and wondering why you kept going on with that woman, I still admired your persistence in dealing with her. Your comments towards the end of the post are spot on: don’t deal with these people, it’s a waste of time.
Now in regards to that, you know better than I do about being wary of people on-line that you do not know. There are a lot of “nut-jobs” out there and you just never know when one can go “postal” on you, tracking you down, harassing you at home or the office, harassing family or friends, or even who they might know who can also create on-line problems for you (hackers)……..you just never know these days who can do what.
I will say this though, you’ve got guts! Take care!
Although perhaps a little irritating this interaction has given you an idea for content. Somebody reading this interaction may take a very valid lesson, a great teaching greater than for those involved in the episode. So Jason you served others by sharing. Thank you
ROTFLMAO! That was hilarious! Sure, you “wasted” a little of your time, but every once in a while you need to do something like this — it has a great “cleansing” effect, for lack of a better term.
Unfortunately, the point is lost on people like that. Hopefully, she will post on some forums, etc, so you will benefit from loads of new traffic & new customers.
Thanks for the excellent customer service you always give, BTW.
We love your blog and think you are right to raise this important issue.
We have been thinking along similar lines here in BS. It is good to connect with other like minded thinkers on these issues. Keep up the good work and keep the debate going.
Cheers
Animation Dance Association
Well, the lesson (so brilliantly illustrated here), is that story-telling is an extremely powerful way to put over a point and to engage people in debate. Well done!
John,
You may have lost a good customer. I’ve worked in sales both offline and a little online for years. Many, many times these miserable customers end up being loyal customers. I have found that often times they are nasty as way to test you. If you’re nasty back, they’re done, if you kill them with kindness they end up with such respect for you that they will only buy from you in the future.
I have actaully had customers end up apologizing to me for complaining in situations where I was completely at fault by bending over backwards for them.
It’s not rational behaviour but this is how these nasty people’s brains work. They need to be killed with kindness to be won over.That meanness is just how they test you.
In bend-over-backwards fairness to C Cam, there are a lot of scammers out there and perhaps she’s been burned repeatedly… But honestly, they didn’t give you the slightest chance to remedy their problem; they were attacking in the first e-mail. Really too bad. I’ve gained a lot from studying your work, being a *paying* subscriber and enjoying the *free* download links. C Cam is missing the mark entirely — not just with you on this site, but in a number of ways… For C Cam’s sake, I hope they clue in; life’s too short.
John, read your whole post. I personally would not have wasted my time like this. I think you should have just apologized, sent her the correct link, and left it at that. You inspired her to make an issue of this and who knows how many people will read your posts and come away with a negative feeling.
I’m American, so I can say this…
I’ve been living abroad for the past 5 years and am horrified by the ways Americans (and other in the “first world”) expect everyone to bow down to them.
I mean, come on lady, you want something for FREE and are complaining…Do you think it’s your god-given right to get stuff from Jason for FREE?!?
Then, you go on to imply that you’re superior…
People like this are a total waste of resources…I agree, sometimes you have to fire the customer because they suck the life out of you while giving very little in return!
Wow, what an experience. You had a great time with a difficult person by exercising one of the most successful tactics of dealing with conflict. This is called verbal Ju Jitsu. One takes his opponents power and uses it against them. In the book, “Getting to Yes”, the tactic is described as inviting criticism from our attacker. When we say, “Gosh, you seem to feel strongly about that, tell me more.” We then give our opponent the opportunity to prove their own brutishness – they indict themselves!
Well done, John
I’m a newbie at this ‘internet game’ but I do run a night time taxi. While most of my fares are reasonably human, I do get the small percentage that are just downright ignorant, rude and abusive animals that should have their gene pool drained so as to not contaminate the future of the human race. I usually try to ignore the abuse (I have to earn a living) but occasionally ‘the worm turns’. I have even stopped in the middle of nowhere and turned the offending creature out and lost the money rather than take the abuse. There are times when being polite just isn’t worth the money. I usually get “I’ll never use your taxi again” to which I reply “Thank God for that”. There are always more people wanting taxis in this world … just don’t take the crap all the time!
Jason, I have a lot of respect for you and your advice, and always check out sites and offers you recommend.
That said, I think your testosterone got the better of your business sense here. When does it ever pay to anger a possible client, especially online, where everyone has a potential forum of millions? Besides, with an apology and corrected link, you could have easily made a loyal follower of her, and garnered recommendations instead of bad reviews.
Although the fallout from this isn’t going to affect your bottom line in any substantial way, it does reflect on you and your integrity. I truly believe it would have been more worthy of you to suck it up and make it right instead of acting arrogant and picking a fight.
Best wishes for the New Year!
Kay Zeeh
SEO Diva
Buzz Marketing Pros
I’m sorry you and she went through this. Though it was definitely entertaining in a sad kind of way. But it wasn’t worth your time or hers as the only positive was to entertain the masses. People need to learn to communicate better. Manners are unfortunately a dying art, as are respect and civility.
This was, however my favorite part: “I will even post a link to it on my blog for you… I have 33000+ readers just on my blog, so I will send loads of traffic to you.”
If I was a lesser person I’d go out of my way to piss you off. The traffic might be worth it. But Angels are suppose to be nice and helpful. So I’ll be good.
May you have a Happy and Prosperous New Year, from Blog Angel and http://www.blogswithwings.com
I think I would have buried it, but then some emails like that get under my skin, too. She was rude, but I don’t think it was a valuable exchange to either of you, even if you did get a post out of it.
In any case, probably the most important thing to learn here is that people should perhaps be a little more patient and enjoy life a little more. I get insulting comments on YouTube that usually make no sense at all and it just astounds me that people spend their time and energy in such a negative way.
Hope 2010 is more positive.
Conflict resolution can be very tricky and some people will never be pleased no matter what you do.
Difficult people are usually sad. Most of the time you or I can’t do anything about that, so best to just leave them alone and hope they find some happiness somewhere, somehow…
I am amazed that you would treat a pospective client this way. The reason she said she would not buy from you was to get your attention. If you had responded appropriately I think you would have gotten the sale.
Remember a satified customer tells 3 to 10 people but an upset customer tells averyone who will listen.
In future, I suggest you remember that everyone deserves to be treated with respect.
Love this post! I can totally understand how you feel and would do the same as well. Being the customer, I would not have sent such a “nasty” email but that’s her, I guess. I USED to work customer service on the phone, glad I no longer do, and had to kill everyone with kindness but NOW I can speak what I feel to people who have no customer service themselves. Chris, you may want to take some lessons ’cause you have no clue about customer service.
Something to think about in “Heck Lesson 1″:
“if someone tells you that they are never going to buy from you… why waste energy on them…”
One of the biggie mistakes made over and over (in life) is linking what people say to what they actually do. I’ve come across people getting frustrated like that *because* they actually want to buy. Strange but true (doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo).
Anyway – thanks for a fun read Mr Cow, and here’s a lesson 5 (imho):
Controversy plus entertaining writing plus cash to win = kick ass marketing
Hello John,
It didn’t take long for this conversation to get out of hand. First of all, if I want a report and have trouble getting it, I will respond with something like “what am I doing wrong?”. She could have handled that better than inserting a jab at you.
Your second response to her pretty much crossed the line (you must have been in a really feisty mood). After that, the battle was on turning into a real pixxing contest (misspelled for decency). At the end of the day, you both got your jabs in, didn’t change anyone’s mind and life goes on.
I hope you both have a happy and prosperous new year. And don’t look for any more ways to be offended since those opportunities are everywhere.
John A.
Well Sir…
I just think you dont need to give energy to that kind of people, because no matter what you do, they will not be happy. Period.
Just continue with your great work man!
I think you handled this extremely unprofessionally. In one blog post you have lost my respect.
Hope you think twice in the future about getting in to a ’shouting’ match with a reader. What on earth did you gain by doing this?
What did i gain… lol… what did i gain…. r u serious?
I got a crap load of traffic… a huge spike in my opt-ins and i had fun. Ya i can guarantee i pissed off and disappointed a few but that happens all the time
Oh this is just great. After writing a great comment I get the error page saying:
ERROR: Could not read CAPTCHA cookie. Make sure you have cookies enabled and not blocking in your web browser settings. Or another plugin is conflicting. See plugin FAQ.
I just love this. Anyway the main idea was that this post is a great way of teaching others not to waste time with frustrated visitors. I think you are better off without this woman as a paying customer. And since you wrote this post I take the chance and tell you that you’ve missed my email too
I wrote a few weeks ago asking some questions about CommentMilk and never received a reply. I’ve been a bit disappointed but since CommentMilk is a free product I thought that paying customers have priority when it comes to support. I might consider writing a nasty email too 
) (joking).
Too many people think that good customer service means that they are able to abuse someone without them talking back.
Of course the customer is not always right. In this case it wasn’t even a paying customer.
I am not in a position to deal with this stuff online but I’ve had terrible customers in my “real world” jobs. I don’t blame you for giving her a piece of your mind.
WOW! I’ve been told that I have a wicked way with words – but I’ve never (except for one childhood incident) used them on a customer/potential customer.
Many, MANY years ago, when I worked in our family’s business, I told a customer off for being a b***hole. I got my mouth SMACKED by my dad and told “the customer is always right”. Yep! It’s old school (back from the days when kids expected to be disciplined by their parents – without having them arrested for child abuse LOL!)
Had such an impact on me that I NEVER griped back at a customer since then. And I just don’t think it is worth the hassle OR the potential long-term damage.
You are obviously very successful in your business, so I know you don’t need any lessons from me. I just probably would have told MYSELF she was a “brain-dead idiot who didn’t realize you get more flies with honey than vinegar” or “simply too stressed or stupid to figure out how to insert a “w”.
It looks to me like she was just having a bad day and things always seem to sound worse in an email than they do in person or on the phone.
I think it is always a good thing to be slow to anger and quick to forgive. That includes our forgiving ourselves for being human and acting up a little now and then.
Seems that both you and she will benefit from this little dust-up and in the end it gives all of us a chance to see how it looks from both sides of the argument. I know I have been on both sides myself and it is often frustrating trying to do business without a personal connection.
I am sure that both of you will be laughing about this for some time and thanks to you both for the lesson in manners…Happy New Year…
Lol, to funny. Worse yet, you think you’re right and you’re not. However I’ve done the same thing in my 14 years on line. It’s fun but not productive for you or your business.
The download lnks that don’t work are a major problem. Rather than resolving the problem you, with great glee, alienated a customer and worse yet a customer with the smarts to post bad things about you.
I’m as cynical as they come but in the long run you have hurt your business. You seem to forget about all the potential customers she can affect. People like to read reviews, as you know, and hers are going to be some doozies. Better about you and your site than me and mine.
You seem to think your immune from bad affects becuase you have som many customers. Lol, 1 thing about rebills, they go down faster than they go up. The unprofessionalism you demonstrated is not a good thing for your business. You have forgotten that perceptions are reality to the people perceiving them. What you’ve left everyone who reads her blogs or posts or newsletter is that you are an ass of the first magnitude.
The net giveth and the net taketh away. BTW, do you know the top surfer bitch for the last 14 years. Links that don’t work,
You should have tested the link you gave her in the email. Not doing that caused you more problems than being professional and making sure of what you are doing would have.
Just curious what you would tell someone who had done the same thing. Your arrogance aside, what would you really say to someone who behaved as you did?
It would also be a good thing if your right hand columns were at the top of the page instead of below all of the posts. That would look much more professional. There seems to be a width problem in the right hand columns that you should really fix if you expect people to take you seriously. Busted links, sending busted links and a blog that doesn’t line up correctly is not professional.
I completely know where you are coming from on this. Sometimes when someone just has to push a little too far, you have to teach them a lesson. I too have gotten into email wars before over stupid reasons – that have a tendency to become the whole reason themself.
Also, I completely agree with her not ever getting anywhere with that attitude. Those bitching the loudest are ussually the ones not even listening in the first place.
Happy new year John!
It is amazing how much trouble you get from people when you give out something for free.
I do videos, webinars, etc and when they are free people complain about the quality or whatever but when I provide the paid material you don’t hear the same complaints.
Sounds like both you professionals could have handled this situation a little better, however I understand both frustrations, the need to give kiss-ass service at cut-rate prices. You can’t please 100% @ 100%. But ya gotta try. Bill
wtf JohnCow? I got in here from your email saying something about “I,m giving away money on JohnCow”.. and when I clicked I landed on this crap?
Anyways, Happy new year 2010 all!
It is probably best to but on a smiling face for the sake of PR even when you are gritting your teeth behind the smile. Why lose potential GOOD customers from the bad reviews of the ignorant few?
That said, you were more tolerant than another IM you may be familiar with…John Alanis.
I have heard him say several times that he immediately removes the name of any customer from his lists if they make a return.
According to him, if they make one return they will make another…a drain on his time and resources which he is not willing to endure. He only deals with happy customers, those who appreciate him for the products and services which he provides.
I can’t understand how a person such as this feels they have been slighted when they haven’t put forth anything causing them loss.
From the start, in essence she proclaimed, “I don’t intend to ever purchase anything from you, but give me my free stuff…or I STILL won’t purchase anything from you, you incompetent twit.
Kick her to the curb and dust yourself off, John! She isn’t worth your energy.
Note to C Cam:
Dear Jason,
I appreciate the free software you’ve provided on your website; however, the link seems to be broken. Can you please forward the appropriate link?
—————————————————
Dear Jason,
Thank you for responding to my request; however, the new link you provided also does not work. Please look into this again for me, as I see much value in what your product can do for me and am eager to get started in using it.
—————————————————
I don’t know, maybe it is just me. But whenever I want something from someone for FREE I am usually as polite as possible with them. I surely don’t come at them with a disposition of entitlement.
There are lots of people(jerks) doing like this just to kill their time and others and good option is to stop replying them after 1-2 replies.
WOW, I posted a response here about 24 hours ago and I just dropped in to see what’s happening and .. …. it’s still raging ??? Bullets are flying from both sides. There must be blood and bodies all over the battlefield.
I know I’m in another Country, (other than the US); but am I on another Planet?? I thought we just celebrated New Years Day. ……. and ALL you guys still had time to dump all this chat onto JC’s Blog ?? Can it be that “we” internet junkies are this boring ? Did you all take your laptops with you and blog between drinks or something at whatever type of celebration you attended ?
Man guys (and gals), get a life !!
I don’t drink, smoke or go out with wild women, and I still found my own way of seeing in a new decade. (By the way, I think my wife is pretty wild and gorgeous).
So, John Cow; you would have to be shaking your head in wonder. If you had followed the first part of the theme for this Blog post, (the bit about kill ‘em with kindness), and wrote about the customer being right … respect your customer … etc … etc ….you would have probably had about 2 posts.
But this is great fuel for a new wave of internet marketing strategy I think. Tell it like it is … if (you think) the customer SUKS then say it out loud and tell ‘em all.
This has gone to FaceBook, its on Tweets all over, blogs all over; JC you have stumbled on the secret that ALL off-line media live by. That BAD NEWS is GOOD NEWS for ratings. That’s what people like to hear about and here is proof that this is what people prefer to blog about also.
I reckon there are enough “soap boxes” in your blog to keep all of North America warm through your record cold winter if you put ‘em all in a pile and burnt them. (I’m sitting here in Australia typing in my summer gear after a lovely day of high 70’s)
Again …. WOW ….. I’m just amazed at how opinionated people can be about such a small difference of opinion and how it threads through all sorts of on-line social media.
Finally the BIG question ….who is the winner ?
John, I’m with you. For wasted time you had with your customer you could provide new or improved services to your existing customers – and all would be happy (except the complainer).
I do not recall how old you are but when you are 40, you just stop replying after first or second message. Don’t be like some Internet marketing gurus they never reply you back, that is rude now in social Web 2.0. I mean – they have enough money for paying support staff so I’m 100% for handling every e-mail we receive. You never know when you get an invitation to an event where you can really change this world to better.
OK, enough, Happy New Year and stay the same. We like you just who and what you are.
LOL… this is the craziest post I’ve come across on your blog, dude! You did the right thing by giving her back what she deserved, however, you could’ve been a li’l softer in your approach. Anyway, it’s her luck that she caught you on the wrong day and got more than what she asked for! Lesson for people – Don’t mess with what you don’t really understand! In this case, JohnCow
Hello John,
This ia a great plugin for Wordpress. It fits no matter what theme you chose to use. many have restrictions unfortunately. Your blogs are a revelation in the Internet world as each Article or info about a product is dead-on right. Always fundamentally accurate and practical. I have over the last year gathered a few golden nuggets
from your Blog which has helped me. I’m not a Geek unfortunately so I need the help.
Happy New Year and I look forward to more insight this coming 2010 year…bob
Well you did give her a bum link and when she called you on it you didn’t apologize you gave her attitude.
Sounds like this was two assholes talking to each other to me.
LMAO… wow that is funny… and true. Well sort of but not totally. I think you are missing the original point… when she opted in for the free ebook, for some reason she was not getting the email through Prosender… happens a small percentage of time and it happens to everyone.
Her first response to me was “I am never buying anything from you”… instead of “i did not receive the email”. I was immediately a scammer instead of “hmm maybe like the rest of the internet, i too occassional will not get an email because of my ip blocking it”.
Hey but its all perception and thanks for giving me something more to laugh at.
Am i an asshole??? Just ask my ex wife she will more then likely say yes lol.
I for one have been frustrated in similar fashion and have sent similar emails to product owners. I say, either you try and make up for it in an honest and amicable way if you intend to expend energy conversing with this person or just completely forget about it and move on. Just because a person says they will not purchase from you does not always mean that you cannot win that person back through professional and courteous customer service. I have changed my mind before and this could be a legitimate complaint. It could possibly mean just sending the download link and giving a short apology. If it does not work then just move on.
Negative conversing back and forth can come back to haunt you. You do not know for sure if this person is not successful and you are ignorant making that assumption. You piss of the wrong person you can ruin some of your credibility or possibly worse yet encourage some complete lunatic into stalking you online.
I for one am tired of people that think because they can hide behind the internet while running their business gives them an excuse for not providing courteous service. Karma is karma whether it is doing business face to face or online. Remember if you had a support email and did not respond in a reasonable amount of time then the failure was on your end regardless of what the other person says. Do your best to make it right and move on.
Hey Man, there are just some folks you cannot even kills with kindness. You try, try your best but it just won’t work. You can’t fake it anyway you try. Am not sure what to do next because they are so impossible to deal with. Maybe “Avoidance” is a good policy.
I’m just amazed you have the time to reply to your emails. (Although after that revelation I expect your email volume to increase substantially!)
All the best for 2010.
Chris
Nice informatio. Good to see some quality information!!
ok.. this is really too stupid to post any comments about… but, hey, i’m in it for the money!
john you are cool. chris you are cool. …so everybody just be cool and let Jesus rule…
peace, love, and the 5th dimension,
- brent
I too, feel like being a little stubborn sometimes, and have often said “if you got thin skin be prepared to get your feeling hurt”
Have a Great New Year!
I’m going too!
I’ve downloaded a bunch of stuff from you, Jason, and I’ve never been disappointed. What a load of garbage from the beginning of that exchange. She’s losing out, and you’re right, you’re better off without her!
My initial reaction would also be to asked why I didn’t receive anything (specially if I paid good money for it) because there could always be a problem somewhere.
Huh…. it was a free ebook… did you read the post?
I have been doing work for you at ODESK. thru booksmac as VA. Sorry just got your email today. Really now…$50…happy new year!!!!!
ahah.. I find it funny cause usually happens to me.. Thanks by the way, now I have an idea where to burst my anger next time..
JK,
I love it. Why is everybody slamming on you about this? Its one ‘pain in the ass’ person who no doubt has nothing to do other than bitch to everybody about how badly treated they are by “everybody”.
She got what she deserved, lets be honest. I’m in IT support and I wish I could let loose like that every so often….
No harm in it I reckon. 33000 minus 1 = 29999 other people who actually give a shit about what you write…not bad figures if you ask me!
Matt
You said, “I like to be ignorant back” and I’m still waiting for that part especially since that’s what got my interest. I was looking forward to hilariously laughing at you pretending to be ignorant.
You were more sarcastic which some people consider rude depending on how far you stretch sarcastic but above all, almost everyone missed the main point of this whole charade. FUN, FUN, FUN and whatever develops from there, fine. I am a professional Fun-Haver and expert Procrastinator and people are always asking me the same dumb question, why are you wasting your time? Or, that’s a waste of time, blah, blah, blah.
To whom is “that” a waste of who’s time? Excuse me, but nobody died and left you in charge of my time. You have your own 24 hours every day – that’s all you get. You can’t have mine too. If I want to sit in the corner on the floor and comtemplate the meaning of string, I’m spending my time, not yours.
Here’s a little secret…those who say you’re wasting your time doing something else is not their concern for you. No, they want you to spend that time doing something FOR THEM otherwise people really don’t give a hoot. Tell 10 people your problems, 7 don’t care and the other 3 are secretly glad – you’ve just made their day better.
Another fact of life: Nothing is a waste of Time IF, and that’s a big IF, you enjoy what you’re doing. That’s a lesson I learned as a child – never do anything you don’t like doing…hire someone, trade work, ask, borrow, plead but never settle for WASTING YOUR TIME!!!!
Having FUN every day is just so…FUN!! Jason, you understand the FUN concept very well. Now, if everyone else would just admit they do too…we can all have more what? FUN!! How? Spend freely and die in debt…Will anyone care how much debt you have? Just make sure your loved ones know how to catch their own fish.
Traffic Kahuna was sooo much to keep up with but it works. Mayhem2 is huge…is there a smorgas board we can choose from instead of piling the whole kahuna on one plate all at once?
http://syntheticsolvent.blogspot.com <–you can link to my new blog about …you'll see!!