Customer Support · Intermediate
Say No Without Losing the Customer
Refuse a request clearly and offer the nearest real thing
When to use it
Requests you have to turn down: a refund outside the window, a custom feature, an exception to a rule. Use it when the no is final but you still want the customer to stay.
A customer asked for something we cannot do. Their request: {{customer_message}} Why we cannot: {{policy}} Nearest thing we can do: {{resolution}} Rules: - The no comes in the first two sentences. Burying it wastes their time and reads as evasion. - Give the real reason in one sentence. "Policy" alone is not a reason. - Offer the nearest workable alternative, or say plainly that there is none - No apology loop, no "unfortunately at this time" - Under 120 words
Try it: fill the variables
Example
Inputs
- {{customer_message}} What the customer wrote
- We'd like to pay annually but split it into four quarterly invoices. Our finance team requires it. Can you set that up?
- {{policy}} Rule you must stay inside
- Annual plans are billed once; the billing system can't split an annual price into instalments.
- {{resolution}} What you can actually offer
- Quarterly billing on the monthly price, or a single annual invoice dated to their fiscal year start.
Output
We can't split an annual plan into four invoices. Our billing system charges the annual price in one payment and has no instalment option. Two things we can do: - Bill you quarterly at the monthly price. That's about 15% more over the year, but it matches your finance team's cycle. - Issue one annual invoice dated to the start of your fiscal year, so it lands in the right budget period. Tell me which one works and I'll set it up today.
Why it works
Putting the no in the first two sentences respects the customer's time and removes the evasive feel of a buried refusal. Requiring a one-sentence real reason and the nearest alternative turns a dead end into a choice, and the 120-word cap keeps it from becoming a justification.
More from this pack
- Reply to a TicketA straight answer to a support message, no service-desk theatre
- Apology for a Real FailureOwn a mistake without corporate fog
- Bug Report From a Vague TicketTurn a frustrated message into something engineering can act on
- Angry Customer, Real AnswerRespond to hostility by resolving, not by soothing
From the Global Prompt Library (TextDeck Community License 1.0), version 53723a8. GitHub
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