Quick thinking!

Good for

Face to face and telephone representatives

Length

It’s a good customer service energizer to play between longer sessions, and keeps the participants alert to the needs of customers.

You will need

Very little – that’s one of the reasons it’s a great enegizer to have in your toolkit.

If you want to you can print the series of cards.

Instructions

Prepare a list of things that a customer may say to a member of your team.

We’ve helped you out with a few below.

These statements should be from the ordinary to the ridiculous. Some of these are actual complaints made by tourists  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/galleries/ridiculous-complaints-made-by-holidaymakers

Your role is to get people to think about their answers to the following range of customer facing situations. Some of them are ridiculous; you need to help participants think through answers that are helpful, courteous and polite. Do not let people think they can laugh at customers.

Call Centers

Your phones take ages to be answered, why has it taken me 10 minutes to get through?

I know it’s not your fault but I’m fed up with having to keep phoning to sort this out

I can’t remember my password can you tell me what it is please?

On asking some security questions for data protection “I’ll tell you my address if you tell me yours”

I want to speak to a manager

You’re the 4th person I’ve spoken to; I keep being passed around. Does anyone there know what they are doing?

So I’ve just spent 20 minutes trying to get through to someone, and you tell me I need to go to your website to do this?

12.01 I know that there are 6 feet snow drifts out there but I haven’t received my on line shopping that I ordered for this morning

Travel

The animals in the zoo looked very sad; it upset our children

There were no signs to say that you shouldn’t get in a hot air balloon if you didn’t like heights

I spent a whole week on safari, and didn’t see any good animals; all there was were antelopes

You said the town was next to a volcano, but we went and there was no lava. I’m pretty sure it was just a mountain

A man who took a summer cruise around Alaska complained about the weather not being as warm as he expected

A cruise passenger “ The sea was too loud – you need to sound proof the walls against the noise of the sea”

No one told us there would be fish in the sea; they frightened my children

The beach was too sandy

It took us 9 hours to fly home from Jamaica to England; it only took the Americans three hours to get home

The sand was white in real life; in the brochure it was yellow

I compared our 1 bed apartment to the size of our friends 3 bedroom apartment, and our was significantly smaller

On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry which I don’t like

We want to take an excursion to the waterpark; will we need to take swimming costumes and towels?

We bought “Ray-Ban” sunglasses for five euros from a street trader only to find out they were fake

Retail

In a 99 cent shop / 99p shop where all items are 99p - How much is this mug?

How much does this £11.99 top cost?

In a gas station / petrol station; I’ve spilt gas / petrol filling the car; it’s very smelly

I’ve brought this T-shirt back as it ripped while I was bungee jumping

I’ve bought this saucepan back as the soup I made has burnt on the bottom and I can’t use it again.

Do you sell kittens?

Do you have a “Happy Divorce” card

I don’t feel well

Where did I park my car? I can’t find it

Hotels

What time does the 7.00 a.m. breakfast club start?

In a German Hotel – Why is there no English milk here?

The sauna is very hot

I don’t like the cups you service your tea in; they are too heavy

I don’t feel well

Your swimming pool is very wet

Your website states “ No hairdressers at the hotel” – we’re trainee hairdressers is that OK?

Our bedroom is very smelly

It’s long way to walk to the dining room from our bedroom

I don’t want to be on the ground floor; I don’t feel safe

The key doesn’t work to the hotel room door

I’m on a special diet at the moment. I can’t eat dairy, meat, gluten, shell fish, or nuts. Can I have spaghetti bolognese please?