Steps in the complaint resolution process

1. Listen, without interrupting, to the customer's entire spiel.  He may have spent days thinking about all he wants to say, so let him get it all out.

2.  Thank the customer for giving you an opportunity to improve your products and services.

3.  Apologize for whatever mistake your company made.  Be specific so the customer knows you listened to him.  For example, don't say, "I'm sorry you had trouble."  Do say, "I'm sorry your vacuum cleaner didn't pick up the cat hair as well as you expected it to."

4.  If possible, tell the customer what you will do to make sure the problem doesn't happen again.  At the very least, tell the customer you will fully investigate the situation and get back to him.

5.  Ask the customer how you can make it up to him.  He may say he wants nothing more than a coupon off his next purchase, or he may demand that you give him the whole store, but at least you then have a starting point for negotiation.  Very few customers will try to take advantage of you if they sense you are being straightforward and sincere in your attempt to resolve the complaint.

6.  Follow-up.  Ask the customer for contact information at the conclusion of the call, and follow-up with a postcard or phone call about a week after the resolution has been reached.  Your follow-up should ask if the problem was handled to the customer's satisfaction, and if the customer would feel comfortable referring your company to friends and family.  This again is an indication that the customer is happy with you and feels safe in sending his friends and family to you.  In addition, it gives you an opportunity to ask for contact information, allowing you to continue to build your database of potential customers.

Written complaint letters are a special category

In the hustle and bustle of our lives, it's sometimes hard to find time to send birthday cards to friends, let alone sit down and write an entire letter to a company.  When your customer takes the time to do that, the letters become your most valuable resource for improvement.  You know the customer is upset when he takes the time to correspond with you rather than simply posting on a website or calling your toll-free number. 

According to Barlow and Moller, "by the time customers get around to writing a letter, companies can be sure that at least one of the following things is going on.  The customer:

• is upset

• is dissatisfied with the outcome of their verbal complaint

• is trying to build a paper trail that will result in legal action

• was not able to find anyone to complain to in person

• feels uncomfortable with face-to-face complaining

• may have some personal reason why they could not or did not want to complain at the time

• may have been encouraged to write a letter of complaint".[i]

Given the importance of the written letter, it is vital that you respond quickly.  A quick response sends a non-verbal message that you are truly concerned about the problem.  No matter what you actually say when you call or write back, the fact that you were concerned enough to do it quickly speaks volumes to the customer. 

Remember that any reply you send in writing could become evidence if litigation is planned.  It is both quicker and more personal to call the customer if he has given you his phone number.  And unless he records the call, there will be no discoverable evidence as there would have been with a letter or e-mail. 

Your actual response to a written complaint letter will be the same as for any other complaint:  gratitude, apology, plan for doing better in the future, individual resolution, and follow-up.  You should be able to give a written complainer a much better explanation of what went wrong, because you will likely have time to investigate the incident before you contact the customer.

Look for patterns

The last part of service recovery involves keeping a log or a database of the types of complaints you are receiving.  Each complaint, when taken alone, may not tell you much about your process, but when looked at in the context of other complaints, you may see a pattern begin to emerge.  You might find that one of your machines is malfunctioning, or maybe you'll see that one particular store has a problem with rude employees (which probably means a rude manager, too).  Analyzing the root causes of your complaints can help you make both broad and specific improvements which should benefit your entire organization.

Looking for patterns also keeps you from having knee-jerk reactions to minor issues.  For example, if you have one customer complain that your delivery truck backed up and hit her mailbox, you might be tempted to make a policy that no delivery drivers are allowed to back out of driveways.  According to the law of unintended consequences, this may mean you would need to hire more delivery drivers because their routes now include so much walking in from the curb that one person cannot finish any of the delivery routes.  If there is no pattern of backed over mailboxes, a better approach might be to have the involved delivery driver take a remedial driving course.