Everyone who has dealt with customers in any type of business, has probably come across at least a few people who are looking to take advantage of the company by making phony claims or unreasonable demands.

How good are you with situations like this, and what advice could you offer others in dealing with them?

First, manage your prospects expectations. That minimizes stuff like this. Be professional - and realize you cannot please everyone. At some point cut the cord and let them harrass another provider.

I couldnt have put any better. Nice job steve.

suspend their account and refund them it is not worth the trouble.

An amazing post, I could not agree more with what you have said. I think with many its hard to find where the cut off point is, But when you find that point, still be polite and give them notice... i have heard some web hosts just close the account right away which is unfair. They may be a pain in the arse but they still are paying customers

When I did hosting I tried to hold off on firing a customer. What it comes down to is my techs insanity is more important then the small amounts of revenue shared clients bring in.

We simply tried not to let it get to that point and would recommend other hosting companies before the relationship ended with a client hating someone.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "exploit" or "take advantage". We have users that have attempted to exploit our systems by way of hacking utilies. They get suspended immediately. Spammers are another that we don't put up with.

Now if you're talking about a user who wants you to install "X" script, it doesn't work, then they want you to resolve it for them - that's something else. We'll gladly help with what we can, but we make it very clear to our customers up front that we are not web developers or programmers for their site. We can possibly assist (given that we've all done HTML design at some point in our life), but really they need to contact their programmers.

If at any time it comes down to an abuse of staff in which users swear at the staff, customers get ONE warning, then suspended and terminated. Much like you can't go into a brick and morter store and scream your head off, we have the same policy with online help.

We underpromise and overdeliver (the 90/110 rule), but there does come a point where no matter what is done, the client (or us) will not be happy. At that point you must cut ties and advise them to seek hosting elsewhere. Often, if pitched right, telling someone to find another host will settle them down and they become one of your better clients.

That's probably the worst kind of thing one can do as a provider.

There is nothing wrong in trying to resolve issues/demands of a customer, if it is within reasonable scale. If they consistently asking for other services, this or that, it can be explained that you are running a business and as such their particular request(s) cannot be met because of their scale. Since its not something that you usually do (and its not within the scope of services you offer), you can tell them it will cost more if they want them.

Excellent post, and I would have to agree with you on all points made. While it's a good idea to be as helpful as you can to customers, there does have to be a point where you will say "alright, this has been going too far!" and let them see if they can get anything better from another host. Of course they aren't likely to find it any better elsewhere, and some may even go as far as trying to go back to your service later on!

my staff had ever felt that experience.

that 's top part!

Agreed. I'm very straight up with them and simply ask "what would you like me to do?". If I can do it and it's no problem than it's done. If it's unreasonable than I explain why and give them other options..

Options are the key. Don't just say yes/no. Don't focus on what you can't do for them, emphasize on what you CAN DO. That's just customer service 101 IMO.