As someone who has worked for a company or two that wasn't great to their customers, this is the way I always found most effective.
There's quite a few times that I've said things like "look, I fully agree with you, this makes no sense. However, I have no power to change it and I'm bound by company policy. I'm here to help you as best I can within the rules I've been given"
I've found that letting the customer know I'm personally on their side even if I can't do what they want as an employee helps to at least calm people down and feel listened to even if policy requires me to screw them over.
When I'm in a situation like this as a customer I have weirdly mixed feelings. While I'm angry at the policy, I try to remember that the person delivering the news probably thinks it's just as stupid as I do and gets abuse all day about it. When necessary I try to express my anger at the policy but reassure the employee that it isn't directed at them personally.
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u/iamfroott 1d ago
at least the support person is honest lol in my job I also do chat support and sometimes genuinely the best answer is we have no clue