Taking care of a customer's issue isn't an easy thing to do. First of all - if they have a problem, they are already irritated to some point and you or your customer service employees don't have to do much to cause a customer meltdown. You know you don't want such thing - it is bad for everyone. So, here are the worst things to say to a customer:

1. There is nothing I can do - this is the sure way to lose a customer over some minor problem (or major). Don't say that you can't find a way to make things right, you have to. As I said before - the customer is already slightly irritated (depending on the problem) and if he needs to wait more than 1 minute to contact a customer service employee he will get even more irritated. And if after all the commotion your employee tells him that there is nothing he can do... well, do the math by yourself. What you can do is teaching your staff to work towards solving the problems, not towards diverting the problem. You can always give the customer's money back, but if you can find more creative and nice way the find a solution - you will earn a customer for life.

2. This is a responsibility of our partners/manufacturers/delivery company - it is always your responsibility. If you take the money for the product - it is always your responsibility. So, if there is a problem along the line, you need the back the customer up if he has a problem, because you have a financial relationship with him. So, no matter what happened - you need to find a way to fix the problem.

3. Do you mind holding - everyone minds holding on the phone, no matter for how long. If you need to check something with the manager or need to find more information on the problem, the best way is to tell the customer you will contact the manager or the supervisor and you will get back to him as soon as you have information. This way you can calmly find a way to fix things, while the customer won't need to stand on the phone and get more and more nervous with every second.

4. You can check our website for this information - wrong, he already called and wait on the line, and told you the problem. Saying "Check our website" is the same thing as saying "I can't help you". If this is the case, at least send the direct link to the information to the customer so he won't bother to search through your hole website.

5. This isn't our policy - probably the best way to quit working with a customer. You need to understand this - the company's internal policy has nothing to do with the expectations of customer satisfaction that the customer has. Does your policy states that you don't have to help the customer? Or that customer satisfaction is something dumb? i guess it doesn't. So - fix it.