Learn by Novus · Open practice pack v1

Customer-service judgment: applied practice: open practice pack: learner worksheet

20 untimed questions across 4 authored sections.

This is untimed educational practice for one applied skill. It is not a clinical, diagnostic, employment, or professionally recognized assessment, it does not produce a score or credential, and for the judgement and safety families it is not a substitute for your employer's own policies, training, or legal duties.

Learner worksheet

Each item puts you in front of a customer and offers four responses. Choose the most effective, then read the explanation. It names the principle and shows what the most tempting alternative costs, usually in expectations you cannot meet later. Nothing here is timed.

Choose one answer for each item. On a judgement item, more than one option is often defensible. Pick the one you would rate most effective, then check the worked explanation for why the runner-up is weaker.

First contact and listening

Warm up on the opening minutes. Most service failures start with resolving something before it has been understood.

1. customer-service-judgement-applied-s01-q01

A customer opens with a long, angry account of what has gone wrong. Several details are relevant and several are not.

  1. Interrupt politely to get to the facts you need more quickly
  2. Let them finish, then summarise the problem back in your own words and confirm you have it right before acting
  3. Apologise straight away and offer a refund to settle it
  4. Transfer them to a supervisor

Answer:

2. customer-service-judgement-applied-s01-q02

A customer describes a fault that does not match anything you have seen, and that you do not believe the product can do.

  1. Tell them plainly that what they are describing is not possible
  2. Offer a replacement so the call can be closed
  3. Ask specific questions about when it happens, what they were doing, and what they have already tried, and record the answers
  4. Escalate it to the technical team immediately

Answer:

3. customer-service-judgement-applied-s01-q03

A customer asks you a direct question and you genuinely do not know the answer.

  1. Say you do not know, say what you will do to find out and by when, and then do it
  2. Give your best guess, clearly flagged as a guess
  3. Transfer them to another team without explanation
  4. Direct them to the website to look it up

Answer:

4. customer-service-judgement-applied-s01-q04

A customer is upset about an outcome that was caused by something they did. They skipped a required step.

  1. Explain clearly that the problem was caused by their own error
  2. Put it right and say nothing about the cause
  3. Refer them to the relevant clause in the terms
  4. Acknowledge the frustration, put it right or explain the route to a fix, then explain without blame what caused it and how to avoid it next time

Answer:

5. customer-service-judgement-applied-s01-q05

Two customers are waiting. The first has a complicated problem that will take twenty minutes; the second, who arrived after, has a question that takes a minute.

  1. Serve them strictly in the order they arrived
  2. Take the complex problem first, because it is the more serious one
  3. Acknowledge both, deal with the one-minute question first, and tell the other customer how long they will be waiting
  4. Ask a colleague to take both

Answer:

Service recovery

Items about putting something right after it has gone wrong. Watch for options that trade a bigger second failure for a smaller first one.

6. customer-service-judgement-applied-s02-q01

Your organisation has caused a two-week delay to a customer's order.

  1. Explain in detail what went wrong internally so they understand it was unusual
  2. Open with an offer of compensation before discussing anything else
  3. Apologise repeatedly so they can see how seriously it is taken
  4. Apologise once and specifically, give the new date, and say what is being done to make it right

Answer:

7. customer-service-judgement-applied-s02-q02

A customer asks for compensation well beyond what you are authorised to approve. Their complaint is legitimate.

  1. Tell them what you can do now, say that the larger request goes to someone who can decide it, and give a time by which they will hear
  2. Explain that the amount is not possible and close the matter
  3. Say you will see what you can do and try to get it approved
  4. Approve it anyway and explain to your manager afterwards

Answer:

8. customer-service-judgement-applied-s02-q03

You have resolved a complaint and the customer sounds satisfied on the call.

  1. Close the case; the matter is finished
  2. Confirm in writing what was agreed and what happens next, then close the case
  3. Ask them to leave a positive review while they are happy
  4. Offer an additional discount to be certain they are satisfied

Answer:

9. customer-service-judgement-applied-s02-q04

You notice you have handled eleven complaints this month about the same confusing step in the sign-up flow.

  1. Continue handling each one individually and well
  2. Write a template response so each one takes less time
  3. Keep handling each one individually, and report the pattern with the numbers to whoever owns that part of the product
  4. Tell customers up front that it is a known issue

Answer:

10. customer-service-judgement-applied-s02-q05

A customer with a genuine but ordinary complaint says that if it is not resolved today they will post about it publicly.

  1. Treat the complaint on its merits and resolve it at the pace you would have anyway, without letting the threat change the outcome
  2. Escalate it ahead of others because of the reputational risk
  3. Offer more than policy allows in order to prevent the post
  4. Point out what the terms of service say about public statements

Answer:

Policy, limits, and escalation

Harder items, where the kind answer and the correct answer diverge. Look for the option that treats the next customer the same way as this one.

11. customer-service-judgement-applied-s03-q01

Policy is unambiguous: no refund after ninety days. This customer is at day ninety-five and their circumstances are genuinely sympathetic.

  1. Make an exception and refund them
  2. Decline and end the conversation there
  3. Apply the policy, explain the reason behind it, offer whatever alternative you do have, and log the case for whoever reviews the policy
  4. Decline, while telling them you think the policy is unfair

Answer:

12. customer-service-judgement-applied-s03-q02

A caller wants to discuss the details of an account held in someone else's name. They say they are the account holder's partner and clearly know a lot about the account.

  1. Help them; they plainly know the account and are trying to sort out a problem
  2. Decline, explain why the restriction exists, and tell them what the account holder can do to authorise them
  3. Ask a colleague to take the call instead
  4. Ask for additional identification, then proceed if they can provide it

Answer:

13. customer-service-judgement-applied-s03-q03

Reading the case notes, you see that a colleague gave this customer clearly incorrect information yesterday. The customer is acting on it.

  1. Tell the customer that your colleague got it wrong
  2. Go along with what they were told so the company does not contradict itself
  3. Escalate to a manager before saying anything to the customer
  4. Give the customer the correct information plainly and without assigning blame, and tell your colleague so it is not repeated

Answer:

14. customer-service-judgement-applied-s03-q04

A customer becomes personally abusive during a call.

  1. Say calmly that you want to help but will end the contact if it continues, and follow through if it does
  2. End the call immediately
  3. Raise your own tone so you are not talked over
  4. Continue the call and absorb it

Answer:

15. customer-service-judgement-applied-s03-q05

A customer's request falls between two internal teams, and each has told you it belongs to the other.

  1. Give the customer both contacts and let them pursue it
  2. Do the work yourself, outside the normal process
  3. Wait for the two teams to settle ownership between them
  4. Stay the owner of the customer's request, get both teams into one conversation with a decision deadline, and keep the customer updated

Answer:

Difficult messages and follow-up

Finish with saying no, giving dates, and what happens after the call ends. Vagueness is the recurring trap.

16. customer-service-judgement-applied-s04-q01

A customer wants something your organisation genuinely cannot provide.

  1. Say plainly that it is not possible, explain why in terms that matter to them, and offer the nearest thing that is
  2. Say it would be difficult and hope the request is not pursued
  3. Say you will look into it, and let the request go quiet
  4. Explain that the system will not allow it

Answer:

17. customer-service-judgement-applied-s04-q02

A customer asks when their issue will be fixed. The honest position is somewhere between three days and three weeks, depending on a supplier.

  1. Give the three-day date; it may well be right and it reassures them
  2. Decline to give any date until it is certain
  3. Give the three-week date so that anything earlier is good news
  4. Give the range you actually believe and what it depends on, and commit to a date by which you will update them

Answer:

18. customer-service-judgement-applied-s04-q03

A long-standing customer asks for a small concession outside policy. It would take you two minutes and nobody would notice.

  1. Do it; they have been a customer for years and it costs almost nothing
  2. Decline, since it is outside policy
  3. Check whether a defined discretion covers this and use it if so; if not, do what policy allows and log the request
  4. Do it, and leave it off the record so it does not set a precedent

Answer:

19. customer-service-judgement-applied-s04-q04

You promised a customer a callback by midday. It is now half past two and you have only just realised.

  1. Wait for them to chase; they may not have noticed
  2. Call now, acknowledge the missed callback without making excuses, and give them the update
  3. Send an email instead, which is quicker and avoids the awkwardness
  4. Apologise for it at your next scheduled contact

Answer:

20. customer-service-judgement-applied-s04-q05

You have resolved the customer's issue. They then ask a question that belongs to a completely different team.

  1. Answer as best you can from general knowledge
  2. Connect them to the right person, tell that person what has already been discussed, and confirm the handover with the customer
  3. Give them the other team's contact details
  4. Explain that it is not your area

Answer: