The best way to do it is to make it crap, but technically competently enough that they can’t complain. Nothing pisses them off more than when they can’t actually find anything to complain about.
Oh, they usually still find a way to complain. I can’t tell you how many times I had a customer tell me they didn’t like what they got, I asked if I could make them something else, then they’d say ‘no, I just wanted you to know’.
But they can’t spin that into a story where they get to be the “hero” putting that “no good, lazy service worker in their place.” That’s why they do the second confrontation like that, they’re hoping you say or do something that gives them an excuse to vilify you, and when you don’t, they slink off.
The best way to do it is to make it crap, but technically competently enough that they can’t complain. Nothing pisses them off more than when they can’t actually find anything to complain about.
Oh, they usually still find a way to complain. I can’t tell you how many times I had a customer tell me they didn’t like what they got, I asked if I could make them something else, then they’d say ‘no, I just wanted you to know’.
But they can’t spin that into a story where they get to be the “hero” putting that “no good, lazy service worker in their place.” That’s why they do the second confrontation like that, they’re hoping you say or do something that gives them an excuse to vilify you, and when you don’t, they slink off.