In my personal life, I think that many people think I’m a pain in the rear end. As someone who used to be passive-aggressive, I try to tell people what bothers me and what I want, so there is no more guessing on how I feel and there is less shock when I make a move or decision. On the flip side, I’m always generous in offering thanks for excellent service and quality of work.
For the past 6 years, my daughter has gone to the same summer camp. The summer camp is family owned and I have always been very honest with them in what I have liked about the camp and what I haven’t and what I’ve liked far outweighs the one or two things I complained about in the past 6 years.
The camp hires many parents for the summer to work as barter for their kids going to summer camp. My wife has been working there for the past two years. The camp is very big on social media and promotion, so they have hired three parents to serve as their media team. The only problem is that the media team is busy taking pictures of their own children, essentially escorting their children from event to event and taking professional quality photos that other parents who aren’t working at the camp can’t get. Even other parents who work for the summer camp are told that they can’t stalk their children on campus to take photos. So I heard from a number of parents who were upset and I’m not shy to complain while they are because if I don’t complain, they won’t know how I’m disappointed.
Rather than listening to my complaints, they’re ignoring me and ignoring the stream of photos of the media team’s children. They’ve even suggested that my three courteous emails is some sort of harassment. They wonder how I know who are the media team’s kids except the fact that my wife works there and there is something called Facebook and narcissists such as members of the media team post pictures of their children everywhere. Now I ask you, is that the way to treat a customer for the past 6 years especially one who has made referrals that has gotten them paying campers?
The customer is always right and even when they’re wrong, you need to listen to their complaints whether they are justified or not. It is far easier to lose a client than to gain them and when people complain and you ignore them, they will take their complaints and business elsewhere. The retirement plan business is very competitive, unhappy clients will leave especially when they feel that their complaints and concerns are ignored. I worked for a third party administrator who I thought didn’t do such great work and I can tell you that we had someone who was at the helm who would always listen to the client’s complaints whether they were justified or not (most of the time, it was justified). As far as whether the complaints are justified or not, the complaints need to be investigated as to whether they are fact, fiction, or just opinion. Dismissing a complaint out of hand without looking at it first is just a sign that you don’t care how the client feels.