Question: I’m a customer-service team member for an auto manufacturer. Recently, a gentleman called requesting to speak with someone “high up.” When I asked him what the issue was, he refused to say and continued to request that he speak with a supervisor. I didn’t want to upset the guy even more, but in order to get him to the right person, I told him I had to know what the situation was.
After a moment of silence, the caller finally told me that he had flooded his new SUV while he was launching a boat. As he put it, “I backed down the boat ramp and stopped a little past the launch point, and when I got out to roll the boat off the trailer, water came pouring in through my door and totally flooded the interior. It’s obviously a manufacturer’s defect, and I’d like it fixed!”
To say it was an unusual case would be an understatement, so without a word, I transferred the call to my supervisor. Unfortunately, I never heard how she handled it, and now I’m curious. What would you have said to the caller? (The cause of the flooding seemed apparent to me and probably worth a joke or two, although I know a joke would have been inappropriate and cause for a disciplinary write-up, or more.)
Answer: You know, after nearly 18 years in this industry, I’ve heard some strange complaints from customers, but this one definitely reaches unchartered waters. A “little past” the launch point? Just a hunch here, but something tells me the guy was half a mile out into the lake — so I’ll crack the obvious joke for you: “Sir, is your SUV the LE (Land Edition) or the H2O Edition?”
No matter how absurd or amusing a customer’s claim might be,…