Firing Customers?

A recent news story told of a Tanaka's of Tokyo restaurant patron who was denied a reservation when he called in. It seems that he put some negative comments on a feedback card ... and ended up on a "no serve" list. It turns out that there are 17 other customers on that list.

Another recent story surfaced about a Minneapolis man who was "disenrolled" from the Delta/Northwest frequent flyer program. It seems that he had lots of complaints about the service and had gotten lots of bonus miles and refunds and the airline just wasn't going to take it anymore.

Is this a trend? We used to teach that the customer is always right. I guess the question for these companies came down to "when is the 'customer' really a liability?" That's a serious question, especially in this day and age of litigation and internet forums.

I have to admit that I once "fired" a customer when I was the director of marketing at Hawaii Pizza Hut. We had a woman and her family that came in every week (every week!), ordered pizza, complained, and then asked for a refund or a free pizza coupon. At first (being customer friendly) we accommodated her. But when this became a habit, I had to tell her that we obviously couldn't satisfy her and that, perhaps, she should buy her pizza somewhere else. Now, I didn't bar her from the restaurant (you can't do that), but I did stop giving her free product.

So, is Tanaka's right in not serving a customer who could potentially be writing bad reviews on Yelp!? Good question.