Not Quite The Photo Finish You Wanted

I work in customer care for a large manufacturer that makes a variety of food items. Sometimes if food is stored incorrectly, or for too long, or in negative environments, it can be affected by insects.

Customer: “Hi, I bought this [item] yesterday and it has worms. What are you going to do about it?”

Me: “Hello, sir, we are so sorry to hear that! I can definitely assist you further; we just need a few details in order to proceed. If you can provide me with your email address, I can send you a mail asking for further details like which store you got it from, photos of the affected food, and batch details so we can see what is going on and trace when it was made.”

Customer: “What? I don’t want to touch it! Why don’t you come here and look at it, instead?”

The customer is at least four hundred miles away, and even though we have agents, it’s a bit silly to drive out all that way to look at a $5 item when the customer can easily give us these details.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, I’m unable to come out and look at it myself, but if we can have these details, I can have your concern raised with our team, and send you a replacement [Item].”

Customer: “No! I refuse to touch it and take photos. I don’t know what has contaminated it. It’s a health risk to myself and my family! But I will be taking a lot of photos to put all over social media and Whatsapp, so people know what a terrible product you have and how you refuse to help me!”

Me: “Apologies, sir, if I’m understanding correctly, you don’t want to take a single photo for me to assist you further, but you would like to take a variety of photos to put over social media, to say we won’t help you?” 

Customer: “Yes! You are being difficult and putting me at risk, so I’m going to put it all over social media and Whatsapp!”

Me: “Well, sir, if you don’t have an email address and would prefer sending it over SMS, instead, we do have an office number and a Whatsapp number that can be used.”

Customer: “No, I don’t have a Whatsapp number. I can’t do that. You just refuse to help me. I’m going to record this conversation so I can put it on social media, too! This is terrible service!”

He just said that he has Whatsapp, and now he doesn’t?

Me: *Pauses* “All right? Well, if you can give me any information over this call, I should still be able to assist you further. It’s no problem at all. Whichever is easiest for you.”

What followed was a fifteen-minute call while the customer held the [item] in his lap to read all the information I required and gave me his address to send the replacement [item], instead of taking a photo of it to send to me. I’m still confused about the whole ordeal.