Topic: "the customer is always right" - who started that BS?

[ejamer]

So after being reminded why I don't like dealing with eBay (at least not as a seller) any longer, it got me thinking: who started that "customer is always right" garbage?

I mean, 99% of the time it's not a bad maxim. Most customers aren't utter asshats who are trying to abuse the transaction process and cause grief for everyone around them... but the fact that the other 1% (probably an overestimation) out there are actively egged on and supported by this policy blows my mind.

The customer isn't always right, and that's ok. You still want their business and should treat them with respect and honesty. But when a customer is an utter asshat who tries to take advantage of every situation possible and treats others like dirt, they deserve to politely and responsibly shut down instead of catered to.

[nickmitch]

who started that "customer is always right" garbage?

A customer who was almost certainly wrong.

[Ian Sane]

I work in support and a saying our former manager had at the office is "the clients will lie" as in a client will sometimes neglect to tell you the thing they did that's obviously the source of the problem or that settings are one way when they clearly aren't or that the software "used to work that way" when we can easily prove that it never has.

The saying should be "the customer is the focus" as in your goal is to serve the customer and keep them happy.  I guess that isn't as catchy as "the customer is always right".

The silliest thing is when people talk about "the customer is always right" as if it's in the US Constitution or something.  No, this isn't an inalienable human right.  It's just a catchphrase.

[Plugabugz]

I prefer to stick by "don't piss off the people who want to give you money".

Many places don't understand that particular point.

[pokepal148]

It gets fun when there are regulations behind whatever policy you're trying to enforce.