This is probably the touchiest subject to talk about with optometric practices. There are times that an office will change office policies because of the refund you just paid out. The point being, you can’t be everything for everyone, and you can’t control a consumer’s perception of your practice. How much do you refund? The national average is 2% of your annual revenue is the accepted number for refunds in a practice. The fact that you might be at .5%, doesn’t make your practice better. How much time is spent with a consumer, haggling over a refund?
An angry consumer will tell 4-6 people about the problem they had with you. If you satisfy and solve that problem, the consumer will tell 9-14 people about how they had a problem and how you solved it.
Do your front-line people have the RIGHT tools to deal with a consumer that has a problem with their exam or eyecare solution, contacts or eyewear? We have a video training that talks about Troubleshooting. It’s not about a specific problem and how to solve it, but it talks in detail about how to analyze the consumer, problem and perception that they are currently experiencing.
It’s time to get the staff on the same page on how to deal with consumer issues. Whether it’s just a wrong consumer perception, a real problem that needs to be addressed, or the associate is not handling the situation correctly. Have that staff meeting, listen the staff concerns about irate consumers, and together, plan an approach that all can follow and resolve the issues.
If you’ve tried everything else to no avail, then issue the refund quickly and in an apologetic way to the consumer.
