Complaint-Recovery Process
Jason Paster
The Pennsylvania State University
What will be covered today?
• Improvements of the complaint-recovery
process for your business
• Classifying customer complaints
• Responding to the customer
• The complaint-recovery process in action
• A self evaluation of your business
What is the Complaint-Recovery
Process?
• The process where companies receive
complaints, process them, and
communicate back to the customer.
What is the goal?
• 100% customer satisfaction
• Documentation of customers
problems/concerns for future reference
• To fix the customers problem/concern
wherever feasible, as soon as possible
How does your organization
measure up?
• What has your office done to makes sure it listens
to the voice of the customer?
• How do the leaders in your organization view
complaints?
• How does your organization make it easy for
customers to complain?
• What does your organization do to make it easy
for employees to solve problems?
Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet.
[Link] . (2/16/01)
How does your organization
measure up?
• How does your organization track and analyze
complaints?
• How does your organization use information about
complaints to fix easy problems fast?
• How does your organization use information about
complaints to identify and address underlying
problems?
Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet. [Link]
[Link]/library/papers/benchmrk/[Link]. (2/16/01)
How does your organization
measure up?
• How is customer service incorporated in your
organization’s vision, plans and actions?
• How do you get complaint information to the CEO or
top management?
• How does your organization measure customer
satisfaction for your overall service?
Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet.
[Link] [Link]/library/papers/ benchmrk /bstprac .html. (2/16/01)
Classifying Complaints
• Develop a system within your organization
to rank complaints on urgency.
• What is the magnitude of the complaint?
• EVERY COMPLAINT IS IMPORTANT!
Complaint-Free Customer
Service?
• No one is perfect, everyone makes
mistakes!
• Sounds nice, but it will be
counterproductive in the long run.
“A good service accepts that things are wrong and fixes it.”
-Ken Birkby, head of customer service for Marks & Spencer
Complaint-Friendly Customer
Service
• It should be easy for customers to get in
touch with your company.
• Customers should always be treated with
respect and courtesy.
• The customer is ALWAYS right, even when
they’re wrong.
Communicating to the Customer
• Organization
• Patience
• Understanding
• Assurance
• Honesty
Getting Customer Feedback
Passively Solicited Customer Feedback
Waiting for the customer to come to you
about grievances/gratitude's.
Actively Solicited Customer Feedback
Asking the customer if he/she has any
grievances/gratitude’s regarding his/her
experience with your business.
Foster, S. Thomas. Managing Quality, an Interactive Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001.
Implementation of a New System
• Issue a policy statement
• Establish an implementation team
• Establish a tracking system
• Develop recommendations for
improvement
• Implement
Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet.
[Link] (2/16/01)
Some Suggestions for
Improvement…
• Make it easy for your customers to complain and
your customers will make it easy for you to
improve.
• Respond to complaints quickly and courteously
with common sense and you will improve
customer loyalty.
Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet.
[Link] (2/16/01)
Key to Success
Doing the job right the first time
+ Effective complaint management
Maximum customer satisfaction/loyalty
- Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. has adopted this formula for
customer satisfaction
More Suggestions for
Improvement…
• Using technology is very important in a complaint
handling system.
• Recruit and hire the best for customer service
jobs.
• Resolve complaints on the first contact.
Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet.
[Link] (2/16/01)
Electronic Controls Company
(ECCO) -THE PROBLEM
• Started receiving an unusually large
number of complaints
• No way to keep track of complaints
• Management sensed they were getting the
same complaints repetitively
Finegan, Jay. “The rigorous customer-complaint form.” ABI Inform. March 1994. V16 n3. P. 101-103
Electronic Controls Company
(ECCO) -THE SOLUTION
• The customers information, complaint, and
corrective action were all stored into a database.
• Hard copies of complaints were filed in two
binders
• Open - complaints which are pending
• Closed- complaints which have been solved
• Management was able to track the common
problems to figure out the source of the problem,
which yielded a fix.
Finegan, Jay. “The rigorous customer-complaint form.” ABI Inform. March 1994. V16 n3. P. 101-103
Activity
Write down 4 ways to improve your
company’s complaint-recovery process.
Do your improvements include:
• Less Red-Tape
• Better use of Technology
• More Knowledgeable Customer Service
Employees
• Faster Response Times
Summary
• The complaint-recovery process is key to
surviving in business.
• The process should be constantly reviewed for
improvements.
• The customer should play an active role in
evaluating your process.
• With a winning process your customers will be
happier, which in turn will make your business
more successful.
Bibliography
Brown, Stephen W. “Service recovery through IT: Complaint handling will
differentiate firms in the future.” Marketing Management. v6 n3. Fall 1997. p.25-
27.
“Complaint handling can increase customer loyalty.” Management Today.
December 1998. p. 11
Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer
Complaints,” Internet. [Link]
.html. (2/16/01)
Finegan, Jay. “The rigorous customer-complaint form.” ABI Inform. March 1994. V16
n3. p. 101-103
Foster, S. Thomas. Managing Quality, an Interactive Approach. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001.
McClendon, Bruce. “Complaint-free customer service.” Public Management. V79 n3.
March 1997. p. 21-23.
S, Stephen. “Customer evaluations of service complaint experiences: Impliceations
of relationship marketing.” Journal of Marketing. v62 n 2. April 1998. p. 60-76.