Summary

To provide excellent services and products organisations need to assess the information they obtain from customer complaints. Although most people do not like complaints, this information provides invaluable insight into customer's requirements, opinions, and viewpoints. Such information can be used to reach an effective solution for the complaining customer but also to improve processes and products/services to prevent the same grievance from arising with future customers. A customer complaints resolution process is a formal procedure to log, investigate, and resolve any customer dissatisfaction or problems.

To most effectively manage and learn from customer complaints:

• Actively seek and encourage complaints;

• Make the process of complaining easy for the customer;

• Understand that complaints may be about anything to do with your organisation;

• Respond quickly and personally

• Assume that the complaint is bonafide

• Listen, ask questions and probe to insure that all information and facts have been gathered;

• Try to avoid jargon and other organisational specific language;

• Take notes and keep records;

• Paraphrase your understanding of the complaint;

• Accept blame where appropriate and apologise;

• Respond promptly;

• Never promise what is unable to be delivered;

• Refer the customer to someone who can provide satisfaction or a solution if you are unable to.

• Keep the customer informed of time frames;

• Try to give the customer a number of solutions;

• Implement remedies quickly;

• Where possible do more than what the customer expects;

• Thank the customer for their feedback and for taking the time and energy to raise their complaint with you;

• Follow up;

• Use the tools of quality management to find the root cause of complaints;

• Implement training for staff;

• Adhere to legislated complaint management requirements;

• Develop Service Level Agreements or 'duties and obligations of the provider' and 'rights and responsibilities of consumers' if appropriate;

• Develop a complaint management feedback loop.

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