Apologize Even When it's Not Your Fault

This can be really hard to do because you did not do anything wrong!  Even though it is not your fault, it is still appropriate to apologize to a frustrated customer. 

There are several reasons why you should try to do this:

• Sometimes, it can make a frustrated customer feel better when they hear "I’m sorry." 
• It tells them that you understand their feelings and you wish they did not feel that way. 
• Many companies expect employees to do this.  It’s part of providing quality customer service.

Here are some situations where the customer might feel frustrated, but it might not be your fault:

• They had to wait.
• Another employee was rude or unhelpful to them.
• Another employee makes a mistake but does not apologize for it.
• They could not find what they were looking for.
• The product they purchased did not meet their expectations.
• They are just in a bad mood or having a bad day.

What do you say, and what do you really mean?

If you see that a customer is frustrated, here’s what you say to them:  "I am really sorry" or "I’m sorry."  When you say this, you are not saying that YOU did anything wrong.  What you really mean is: "Even though it’s not my fault, I’m sorry that happened to you." "Even though it’s not my fault, I’m sorry you are frustrated."  "Even though it’s not my fault, I’m sorry that you are not happy right now."