After you apologize, tell the customer what happened. Stick to the facts. Keep emotion out of it. Be truthful, even when your company made a mistake. The customer may not like the answer, but your honesty will be appreciated. In the end, a customer is going to respect an employee who is frank and honest over one who evades, covers up, or lies.
- Renee Evenson, Customer Service Training 101
In work and personal life, no one likes to admit that they made a mistake. But doing so is a crucial component of problem resolution. As ReneeEvenson points out, trying to be evasive or cover up your mistakes (or oversights) will not help your situation, whereas honesty can often build greater rapport. Openly explain how the situation occurred, but keep in mind - your description should generally be short. Unless you can tell your customer is intensely interested in the elaborate inner workings of your business, he or she doesn't need (or want) a lengthy description of the long list of tiny failures that lead to your service failure. He or she only wants a simple, straightforward explanation, and then reassurances that you are working to prevent the issue from happening again. This last part is just as important as the explanation or the apology - your customer wants to know that he or she can comfortably continue doing business with you because you are continually trying to improve.