Customer Complaints Summary

Do Not Forget!

No matter how bad a problem is, no employee should be subjected to any personal insults or threats from a complaining customer.

Encourage complaints rather than silence, but customers must not be allowed to threaten your employees in any way.

Below are key pints taken from the article:

Even well run businesses will receive complaints at some point.
Letters of complaint are generally used for bigger companies, particularly where there is a serious problem.
Spoken word complaints are common, especially in retail businesses, and can be used for all types of complaint.
Phone and email complaints are generally used for less serious complaints, but generally need to be dealt with more quickly than letter complaints.
Complaints allow you to see the faults in your business and fix them.
Customer who have a problem solved successfully are often more loyal than those who never had a problem in the first place!
Customers who complain are much (up to 10 times) more likely to stay with your business than those who say nothing.
Winning a new customer costs up to 5 times more than keeping an old one.
Complaints can point to weaknesses in your staffing and systems, allowing you to help make improvements.
Always listen politely to complaint, and offer as much help as possible. Always offer some form of solution, even if it is not exactly what the customer asked for.
Keep your details open, allowing customers to contact you quickly and easily, consider offering comment slips to keep up to date with how they feel your business is running.
No matter how badly a customer has been treated, never allow your employees to feel threatened by them.