Customer Service, Part II: How to Deal With Escalated Customer Disputes

* Tell me what happened.

* Let’s solve this together.

* I’m sorry that you had a negative experience.

* I’ll be happy to assist you.

2. Acknowledge the customer’s feelings. It is important for managers to acknowledge a person’s perspectives and feelings of stress, anger or fear. This strategy is particularly useful in dealing with irate, irrational or delusional individuals for which rapid conflict resolution is desirable. Best practice phrases include: