How to Answer: Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate customer?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for an Accounts Payable Clerk job interview.
23. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate customer?
How to Answer
It is a good idea to think about this type of question before your interview. It requires you to think back to a previous situation when you had an unhappy customer. You want to give the interviewer a full story when explaining the situation - this means explaining why the customer was irate, how you dealt with them and how you resolved the issue. The interviewer wants to know that you have the skills to be able to handle any situation in a professional manner.
Anonymous Interview Answers with Professional Feedback
Anonymous Answer
"I once worked in the shipping department of a carpet warehousing company. A customer called who was very unhappy about the delivery driver not being on time. Unfortunately, they were very irate but I was able to get them to calm down by keeping calm myself and listening to their story. I empathized with them and assured them I would be letting my supervisor know of this. We were able to offer the delivery for free as well as a discount. This appeased the customer."
Stephanie's Feedback
This response is very well-rounded and follows the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) interview method very nicely. My only suggestion is to add a closing sentence that shows what you learned from this or how you have continued to develop these conflict resolution skills and customer-service approaches in the rest of your work.