Customer service. Scenario 1 of 6. Policies and exceptions

Forty days later

You work on the returns desk. A customer brings back a coat with the receipt. Your policy is refunds within 30 days. It has been 40.

She says she was in hospital for two weeks and could not get here. She is polite, and upset.

What is the best call?

Say, "Sorry, it's past 30 days. There's nothing I can do."

Could be better

You have applied the policy correctly, and that is not wrong. But "nothing I can do" is rarely true. There is usually someone who can make an exception, and offering to ask costs you nothing.

Give her the refund. Her reason is obviously genuine.

Not the best call

Your sympathy is right. But if you do not have the authority to override the policy, you could be the one in trouble, and the next customer with a similar story may get a different answer from a colleague.

Say you are sorry to hear it, explain the 30-day policy, and ask your supervisor whether an exception or an exchange is possible.

Good call

You have been kind, honest about the rule, and taken it to someone who can decide. Whatever the answer, she has been treated as a person and the decision has been made by the right person.

Tell her that if she had read the receipt, she would have known the policy.

Not the best call

It may be true, and it helps nobody. She already knows she is late. Pointing it out makes an upset customer feel blamed, and turns a simple request into a complaint.

The principle

A policy is there to keep things fair, and you should apply it. But when a case seems to deserve an exception, say what you can do: ask someone who has the authority to decide.