How often do you get clients who are just complaining too much and just difficult to manage? So that you almost wish they never came across your business in the first place?

What is a difficult client yo you?

Best,

Difficult clients...bah...best thing to do matey, if the same client is phoning you 6 times a day is to tell them that your package doesn't sauit their needs and they should look elsewhere...
The audience that I am trying to reach locally tend to be a little bit uninformed and often not very clued-up about computers. I percieve a difficult client to be one that is always trying to outsmart you even though he knows that it is your game. Take for example someone who tries to be clever and trip you up during a Sales or Technical support phone call...what you would like to say is "#### you, you good for nothing piece of ####", but you cant, so instead you bear with them as they talk absolute trash to you and wait for them to stop...thats the main part of my enjoy that I enjoy the least! Nevertheless, 'the client is always right' and thats the way it has to be!

~EQUINOX

Had a client demanding for a $500 app to be purchased/installed on his $2/month account. I told him that as he was the only one requesting it, and it could only be used for his account and no one elses, then he would be required to purchase it and we would be happy to install it for him if required.

His response. "fuk u den". That's fine and dandy, account suspended. E-mailed him telling him that for $2/month he can find a different host. He E-mails me back, "no no no no no, I was juz testin my filtars." *rollseyes*

lol John. Thats a new one....blame it on the filters. I've actually been fortunate to never have a client who has been too difficult to deal with. I've had potential clients that were kind of difficult like asking for 5 gigs of extra bandwidth for free. Or "I'll use it now and pay when I get the money". I'm not that dumb....

I agree with Equinox.

The clients that are the biggest pain in the rear, are the ones that think they can pull something over on you.

We've had quite a few of these.

Funny story John! Funny story! Why? Cuz it waz funny.

You stole my words. This was a funny story, John.

John, that was a great story...maybe he could have tested his filters to himself??? Just a thought. Anyway, there are always clients who want the best service and support for the smallest amount of money. These clients think they are always entitled to whatever they want with their "holier than thou" attitude. I believe customers just don't understand how hard it is for a host to operate their business. Maybe some people think it's just all run by computers--wouldn't that be nice.

We get difficult clients every so often.

The latest one was somebody asking for the installation of a particularly unstable component on a shared unix server.

He was told (7 times, on seperate occasions, by three seperate people) that we would not be installing it, but kept saying but <Company name> allows it.

Finally, when I spoke to him, I simply said "then go sign up with <Company name>."

There's a certain threshold with clients, and it they go over it by a long way, it's advisable to seperate from them - it can only be harmful to your business if it continues to be a relationship built on unsteady foundations.

Simon

Agreed. Once a client has ran miles past that line, his presence will most likely bring more bad than good to your business.

Well said Simon.
The old addage that the "customer is always right" has outlived its purpose.
The customer has abused this to such an extent that the host or business has to protect his/her own interests and just write some clients off.

I have no problems whatsoever with a client who has many "newbie" questions but I will not tolerate an abusive or unreasonable person. It they cross the line then it's time to cut the cord.

Ive been fortunate to have great customers. Most of them I actually like talking to and so dont mind it at all when I see tickets come in from them, gives me a chance to check in on them ,find out how things are going, and gladly fix whatever problem they are having.

There was this one guy though, boy oh boy. After realizing that he was going to be a tough one I starting hinting at the fact that we offer a 30-day money back guarantee. I would do that whenever he complained about something. Until finally he agreed that another provider would suit him better. I had that refund issued and the account deleted in less than 15 minutes; that was the first time I found myself thrilled about having to issue a refund.

I once to phone a client to enquire if his account was stll being used. I got as far as saying who I was before the client launched into a lengthy rant, which included legal threats, and then put the phone down. I did actually have a simple answer to his problem but he hung up when I rung him back to try and tell him.

The only difficult client we ever had was someone who has never been happy since the begining but kept his account for nearly 2 years now. So that's the funny part of it, complains but stays with us. He hasn't sent a single support ticket since the past 4 months, so I guess he has nothing new to tell us.

We have more problems with pre-sales then with existing clients