Customer is not Always Right (and Why That is Okay)

There’s an old business cliché that says, “The customer is always right.”

It sounds great on a poster. It feels nice in a townhall. But like many nice-sounding ideas, it falls apart under real-world pressure.

If you’re building anything real, anything complex, anything that scales, you know the truth: The customer is not the king. The problem is.

Some truths are uncomfortable to say out loud. Here are some of them: 

There’s a Difference Between Feedback and Harassment

We listen to every complaint.

We log every escalation the first time it is raised.

We work through each case, whether it’s easy to solve or takes months of painful legal follow-ups.

But there is a clear line between feedback and harassment. Between holding a company accountable and attempting to wear down its people.

When someone sends the same message across 10 platforms, every single day, despite being updated repeatedly, that’s not feedback. That’s not constructive. That’s weaponising frustration. And it comes at a cost.

It drains the energy of the very people trying to fix the issue.

In these moments, repeating the same question louder doesn’t make the answer arrive faster. It only makes the environment more toxic for the people on the other side who are still showing up, still working on the problem.

Rule of the game: Respect works both ways.

A Mistake Companies Make: Confusing Loudness with Truth

The easiest way to lose focus in any business is to start solving for noise instead of solving for signal. The loudest person in the room is not always the person with the right problem.

• Not every negative review points to failure.
• Not every angry email deserves a refund.
• Not every demand should be met.

Steve Jobs didn’t design the iPhone by asking people what they wanted. He solved for what they needed.

The problem at hand matters, not the decibel level produced.

Accountability Goes Both Ways

Yes, we owe our customers honest responses.

Yes, we owe them protection.

Yes, we owe them action.

But here’s what we’ve learned: Trust is a two-way street. Ownership has to be shared.

If a buyer disappears and the seller doesn’t respond when our legal team reaches out, progress halts. If the system requires cooperation and one party refuses, the timeline breaks. 

We will never weaponise that against a customer. But we will not allow that to be weaponised against our people either.

Behaviour Shapes Outcomes, Incentives Shape Behaviour

Munger’s wisdom holds true here: “Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome.”

If you build a system where screaming gets rewarded, guess what behaviour you create?

More screaming.

If abuse escalates faster than cooperation, guess what happens?

People learn that being unreasonable is the fastest way to get attention.

The result?

• The respectful customer waits longer.
• The abusive one jumps the line.
• Your best teams burn out while your worst customers win.

Incentives aren’t just about money. They’re about what behaviour you allow, reward and tolerate.

The Hardest Thing About Customer Service? Saying No.

Sometimes the right answer is “No, this cannot be done faster.”

Sometimes it is “This is not the company’s failure, this is a broken ecosystem.”

Sometimes it is “We are still on it but shouting won’t solve it any sooner.”

The easiest companies give in to every demand.

The best companies hold the line.

Good Friction is Not the Enemy

We live in a world obsessed with removing friction.

But not all friction is bad.

Some friction protects quality.

Some friction protects legality.

Some friction protects fairness.

If we remove all friction just to avoid conflict, we’re not simplifying the process. We’re breaking it.

The Customer is Not the Only Stakeholder in the Room

Here’s what often gets missed:

• The customer is important.
• The employee is important.
• The partner is important.
• The system’s health is important.

If you only serve the loudest customer and ignore the system’s health, you erode trust across all stakeholders.

A single customer is part of a bigger ecosystem. When that ecosystem breaks, everyone loses, including the customer.

There’s a Reason Airlines Don’t Let You into the Cockpit Just Because You’re Angry

Good systems are designed to be fair, not to soothe feelings.

Imagine if the loudest passenger on a flight got to decide the route because they were upset. That’s not customer service. That’s systemic failure.

Now apply that to RC transfers, car ownership, or any other long-chain transaction that involves regulation, law, and human behavior.

You can’t and won’t let outrage bypass the process.

What This Means for You (and for Us)

We owe you:

• Clear communication.
• Honest timelines.
• Real accountability.

We don’t owe anyone:

• Special treatment for shouting louder.
• Bypassing the legal process because patience ran out.
• Harassment disguised as feedback.

We will always bet on solving the right thing, not reacting to the wrong behaviour.

Because in the end: The customer is not the king. The problem is. And we serve the king.