Hi - I have just finished implementing a Customer Complaint Process and Policy into a company. This was for its internal customers only.

Whilst carrying out this contract, I have to say that I was extremly surprised by the lack of complaint management not only within this company but in other companies as well.

I am now considering adding the complaint element to my freelancing business .
My recent research (which was limited) highlights that there is a need for complaint management.

I would like to know how many of you work in companies that do not currently have a complaint process / policy. Further more, how many of you have tried to complain about something and was successful and how many of you were unsuccessful.

I personally think that complaints (if perceived correctly) can assit a company in improving its service.

What are your views.

thanks

Bukola (cheekybea@hotmail.com)

Speaking for regulated industries (financial services, banking, etc) the regulating body(F.S.A)sets out clear requirements for complaint handling, and to understand them you will need to be fully versed in compliance legislation (ever changing). In other words, you cant become an "overnight expert" in the complaints (or any) aspect of a regulated industry.
Having said that, there is a need for genuine experst in this area, as the ever changing FSA requirements are open to varying degrees of interpretation, and a lot of the industry is struggling to implement the necessary policies.

Speaking for other industries the usual 'standard' is often set out by guidelines laid out by the relevant trade body/association. ie. Direct Marketing Authority (DMA),reatil trade association, Gvnt watchdog etc etc both at a UK level and European level. Then you've got the GISC for insurance as well as all sorts of other trade bodies dependant on each industry.

Typically these 'standards' are merely guidelines or codes of conduct and members frequently choose not to adhere to them for fiscal or operational reasons. What I am trying to say is even the trade association cant enforce them if they are only guidelines, few members will ever vote to make them madatory, that would tie them up too much as well as admitting they have a problem that they arent able to solve.

Then there is the level of Government intervention and standards ISO9001 etc as well as international standards and bodies, America having recently legislated on predictive diallers I think. The Telephone Preference Service, Mailing Preference Service etc etc.

The whole area is so diverse although companies, talk the talk on this subject is the reality is (as trade associations will testify) they wont enforce standards unless they are made to.

That said, if you can find your niche, dig in.

As I see it, the issue here is not neccessarily one of what your regulatory requirements may or may not be or even whether you want to follow a voluntary code of practice.

This is about making sure that an organisation has a framework for dealing with unhappy customers that makes the customer feel that their views are taken seriously and that the organisation act properly when things go wrong.

Complaints can be good for the business. They can highlight blockages and processes that just are not working. A well handled and resolved complaint can even help to build customer satisfaction and loyalty. To my mind a customer is more likely to give repeat business to an organisation who handled their complaint well than to go to an organisation who they perceive treated them poorly even after things went wrong...

>>>>As I see it, the issue here is not neccessarily one of what your regulatory requirements may or may not be

With all due respect, this statement is **c**** ******(not very clever)!
When you are dealing in a heavily regulated envbironment, the whole infrastructure must be driven by the regulations. These regulations define competent complaint handlers, they define the response cycle, they define the definition of complaints, the severity, accountability, authorised persons, etc.

If you attempt to define complaints handling in a regulated environment without very specific knowledge and understanding of that environment, you will fail spectacularly, and probably take a few with you!

That's a bit harsh Dylan imho!

I understand your point about regualtory requirements, but not all businesses have these.

I agree that regardless of whether regulated (and obviously definitetly if you are!) there should be a framework, as Peter said in his second para.

Z

Zoe, I'm always grotty on a Monday, point taken, sorry Peter!

BUT the bit in green (sorry thought i had made it blue) states that the framework is more important than the regulatory environment. My point is that in a regulated environment it is the regulations that determin that framework, often in very specifc detail.
We have a departmenty of 4 people whose sole job is to understand the regulatory compliance issues. We have another team of 3 dedicated to supporting the (local) complaints teams in understanding their obligations within the FSA framework. We have 4 or 5 involved in ensuring that the people handling complaints at each level are deemed competent in accordance with the regulators criteria. This means we are in double FTE figures just to understand the regulatory requirements for complaint handling!
As to the other comments from Peter, I agree and did not mean my comments to suggest otherwise (apologies Peter). I am merely chalenging the asertion around regulatary requirements.

OK, so maybe the first sentence could have been phrased better!!

I guess that what I am trying to say here is that we should all be managing our complaints in such a way that our customers believe that the organisation genuinely cares about the problem they are having.

This does, of course include working within whatever regulatory requirements your business has. If it doesn't you are clearly going to get yourself in all sorts of trouble!

"what I am trying to say here is that we should all be managing our complaints in such a way that our customers believe that the organisation genuinely cares about the problem they are having."

Amen to that. How we perceive customer service as customers depends on it. If the organisation doesn't give a damn, we remember it. We tell our friends, neighbours, colleagues. If the service is good, sometimes we as individuals aren't so good at spreading the word (bad news generally travels faster than good when it comes to oru industry) but invariably word gets about.

John

Hi,

can you please formulate and send a questionaire on Csat.

Regards,