11 Ideal Ways to Help You Deal with Unhappy Customers

by Willy Smith Owiti
Updated on : October 13, 2025

Tips to help you deal with upset customers

For an incline in your business, you have to deal with unhappy customers. Despite how fantastic your goods or services are, some clients will inevitably experience issues. That is an inescapable fact of doing business. However, you can still work with unhappy customers by handling them properly.

Certainly, angry clients’ expectations and reactions will vary depending on how they interact with your support staff.

If they have a bad experience, they might never use your company again. However, if they have a good experience, they might become a lifelong client.

In this post, we’ll examine how your customer support staff can foster joyful interactions that stop unhappy customers from leaving.

What makes customers unhappy?

88% of clients believe that the customer experience provided by a company is as significant as its product or service.

Therefore, in order for you to provide the best customer experience that keeps your consumers happy, you must first be aware of potential sources of annoyance and irritation.

Below are some typical causes of irritation for clients:

Reasons why customers become unhappy

Negative or poor experiences
Untimely responses or being put on hold
Poor-quality products or defects
Issues with bugs and technology
Unexceptional client service
Unethical business practices
Inaccessibility of a service
Poor communication
Limited payment options
Slow delivery
Customers’ opinions and recommendations are being ignored

Any of the above issues can frustrate and upset customers. They can even be a major cause for customers to leave your business.

Therefore, you need to eradicate these issues to maintain your customers and win new ones.

How to deal with unhappy customers

According to a recent study by Zippia, 91% of customers won’t willingly do business again with a company that left them unhappy.

When handled correctly, unhappy customers can turn out to be the most loyal. How can you make this transformation happen?

Let’s take a look at the best steps to take when dealing with unhappy customers.

1. Recognize the cause of customers’ unhappiness

The first thing to do when you realize a customer is upset is to identify the source of their problem. This will help you understand what you are about to deal with, thus allowing you to prepare.

2. Communicate clearly

The best course of action to deal with customer dissatisfaction is to communicate and obtain further information.

Unsatisfied consumers who receive a prompt response are more likely to continue working with you. Therefore, you need to communicate clearly to unhappy customers that you will review their complaints fairly and without bias.

Additionally, describe the procedure you are going to use to address their problem, tell them the follow-up time period, and provide a resolution to correct their situation.

3. Listen to your customers

Prioritizing listening is the best course of action when dealing with unhappy customers. Never forget that every customer is a benefit to your business.

Therefore, when a customer is dissatisfied, you need to show them that you care by listening closely before you start resolving their issue.

Let them share their problem while you take notes about the issue and mark further questions you can ask to fully understand what the problem is.

Showing the customer that you care will reassure them while they may be having second thoughts about continuing to use your product or service.

4. Consider yourself in their position

Customer dissatisfaction is a result of a variety of reasons, but for businesses, understanding objections is essential to creating the ideal experience for the right clients.

Before talking to unhappy customers, put yourself in their position. How upset would you be if you were facing the same problem? How would you want a support team to address the issue?

With empathy in mind, use the customer feedback to suggest a solution that is both appropriate and assuages the customer’s worry.

Similarly, give the customer the agency to drive the support process while resolving their issue (use their suggestions).

5. Thank them for their feedback

Regardless of how negative the customers’ feedback is, the best way of dealing with unhappy customers is to listen to their concerns and thank them for their comments.

Additionally, provide them with a level of customer service that not only meets but also surpasses their expectations.

An initially dissatisfied consumer can become a devoted and satisfied one when you go beyond their expectations.

6. Collaborate with your team and ask for help

Don’t be reluctant to ask for help in difficult circumstances, including when a customer is using abusive language or engaging in other improper conduct.

If you’re unsure whether you need to end a customer relationship, ask a manager to step in and perform a qualitative assessment.

They can examine the problem and find the best course of action for both you and the consumer.

7. Be kind and respectful

Nevertheless, dealing with unhappy customers is a part of working in customer service.

Certainly, if you can’t handle that, you need to find a different line of work. Even when someone behaves horribly and rudely, you must always be respectful and kind.

Remember that you are representing your firm. You are a brand ambassador, and what you do reflects on the business.

8. Record every service and purchase procedure

Customers are often upset because of miscommunication. The best way to deal with this is to record all of a customer’s service and purchase processes from start to end.

This will help you identify the problem’s root cause, if any, and begin to take corrective action in a methodical manner.

Additionally, it provides clear information to both your customer service team and your clients on what went wrong thus avoiding future misunderstandings.

9. Find and correct the main issue causing the unhappiness

To win back unhappy customers, find and capitalize on the largest issue that is making them unhappy about the current circumstance.

Is it a major problem in the product or service, or is it a problem in the customer’s personal experience?

Additionally, you must find what is profoundly important to the customer, and keep in mind that it may be something that your company is not capable of.

Regardless, this helps unhappy customers escape their despair by helping them toward the resolution of the issue.

10. Express regret for their trouble

The best way to deal with customer dissatisfaction is by apologizing for the trouble. Expressing your regrets will build a positive relationship. Additionally, it shows customers that you are willing to address inconveniences and wrongs.

It changes the client’s mindset, thus improving their level of satisfaction.

11. Thank them for their cooperation

Handling unhappy customers doesn’t stop at providing a solution. To ensure that the customer comes off the interaction happy, you need to express gratitude for their cooperation. Saying thank you makes the customer feel valued and sets a positive mood for future interactions.

Moreover, it helps to deescalate any further issues when you acknowledge a client’s patience when handling an issue.

How can you prevent customers from becoming unhappy?

Poor customer service can have significant financial repercussions for companies.

Research by Zippia indicates that it might require as many as 12 positive customer service interactions to make up for a single negative experience.

Preventing customer unhappiness is, therefore, critical for running any business.

Here are steps to take to prevent your customers from getting irritated.

Offer the best quality product

All customers prefer a quality product over a high quantity of products. Therefore, you need to be proactive while designing your product and deciding what features to include in it.

When you offer a quality product, your customers will use it for a long time. They will be loyal to your product and will be likely to recommend it to their friends, colleagues, and others.

Provide lenient customer service to handle upset customers

Regardless of how simple your product is to use, not all customers have the same level of understanding. Therefore, you need to supply customer service that is generous to all customers.

As a result, customers who reach out to you for support will be satisfied, thus increasing your company’s level of customer satisfaction.

Additionally, a higher customer satisfaction score gives you the opportunity to promote your customer support, which will help you expand your business.

Gather feedback

The first step to making your customers happier is to understand what they enjoy and dislike about your product or service.

Therefore, you need to gather information on:

What your customers struggle with in your product.
What features do they find enticing?
Which areas do they want to see improvements in?

By gathering information directly from unhappy customers, you can improve your product to increase their happiness.

Reward your most devoted clients

Customers who return to you repeatedly are your most devoted supporters. They are the ones that adore your brand and tell others about your product.

You could reward them by providing them with something extra, like a bonus month of support, or even discounts.

After all, this will benefit you since the customer will continue being happy with your business.

Master the art of dealing with unhappy customers

One of the key elements that will determine whether your business is successful is whether your support team can handle upset customers.

Even if your customers are satisfied with the value they get from your products and services, their relationship with your company can sour if you are not able to deal with them when things are going wrong.

Ease their concerns with empathy and patience and put their satisfaction first. Doing so will help lift your company to new heights!

To advance your customer service capabilities, try using BoldDesk. Contact us to schedule a live demo to experience firsthand how BoldDesk’s capabilities can complement your efforts in dealing with unhappy customers. Or start a free trial to get instant access today.

Related articles