How to Deal With Customer Complaints Effectively

You should try to reduce customer complaints through excellent customer service, first and foremost. Address complaints quickly and fairly, and deal with customer complaints directly, rather than avoiding the issue.

Develop an effective customer complaint policy by:

• considering how effectively you currently handle complaints
• involving your staff in developing a complaint handling system
• deciding who will handle complaints
• writing down your complaint handling procedure
• making a standard complaint form
• making sure all staff are trained in the procedure and complaints resolution
• displaying a sign saying you welcome genuine complaints about product quality or service
• clearly advising customers where and how they can report problems
• making sure your customers can report problems to you at any time
• recording all problems and complaints
• trialling the system and using customer and staff feedback to improve it over time.

When a customer has a genuine complaint, you may:

• thank them for raising the matter with you
• treat them with genuine empathy, courtesy, patience, honesty and fairness
• try to respond to the complaint quickly
• tell the customer how you will handle it and when to expect a response
• speak to the customer in person. Do not rely on written complaints or records of conversations.

When you speak to the customer, ensure that you:

• listen carefully
• don’t jump to conclusions, lay blame or become defensive
• ask questions to clarify the situation
• summarise back to the customer your understanding of the problem
• tell the customer what will happen next.

Where possible, nominate one staff member to manage the complaint until it is resolved. Give this staff member authority to organise solutions that the customer will accept. This could be refunds, replacements or free services.

Adopt a solution-focused approach, actively involving the customer in the process. Make sure you take all promised action as quickly as possible. When you find a solution, tell the customer and check they are happy with the resolution.

Vocabulary:

first and foremost – (idiom) most importantly; more than anything else, “First and foremost, you must wear a helmet when riding a bicycle.”

Address complaints – to deal with, handle, or fix statements of dissatisfaction or problems raised by people, “The manager sat down to address complaints from the unhappy guests.”

avoiding the issue – purposely ignoring a problem instead of dealing with it directly, “Shifting the conversation to a new topic is just a way of avoiding the issue.”

effective – successful at producing the intended or desired result, “Washing your hands with soap is an effective way to stop germs from spreading.”

involving your staff – including your workers or team members in an activity, decision, or plan, “The boss is involving his staff in choosing the new office furniture.”

procedure – an official, step-by-step way of doing a task or activity correctly, “The fire drill procedure tells students exactly where to walk during an emergency.”

resolution – the act of finding a successful solution to a problem, argument, or conflict, “The two neighbors reached a peaceful resolution over their shared fence dispute.”

genuine – real, honest, and sincere; not fake, “She showed genuine concern when her friend fell off the swing.”

trialling – testing a system, product, or process to see how well it works before making it permanent, “The school is trialling a new online homework system this month.”

feedback – helpful information, opinions, or criticism given to someone to improve their work or performance, “The teacher gave me positive feedback on my science essay.”

raising the matter – bringing up a specific problem, question, or topic so that it can be discussed by others, “Thank you for raising the matter of the broken light bulb in the hallway.”

empathy – the ability to understand, share, and care about the feelings of another person, “He showed great empathy by listening closely to his crying classmate.”

courtesy – polite, respectful, and well-mannered behavior toward others, “Saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ is a basic sign of courtesy.”

rely on – to depend on or trust someone or something to work correctly, “We rely on the school bus to get us to class on time every morning.”

jump to conclusions – (idiom) to judge or make a decision about something too quickly before knowing all the facts, “Don’t jump to conclusions and think he stole your pen; it might just be in your backpack.”

lay blame – to say that someone else is responsible for a mistake, accident, or bad situation, “Instead of trying to lay blame on others, let’s work together to fix the broken vase.”

defensive – behaving in a protective or angry way because you feel people are criticizing or attacking you, “She became defensive when the teacher asked why her homework was late.”

clarify – to make something clear, plain, and easy to understand by explaining it simply, “Could you please clarify which math question we need to solve for tomorrow?”

nominate – to officially choose, suggest, or appoint someone for a specific role, task, or award, “The team decided to nominate Sarah to be the group leader.”

resolved – cleared up, settled, or successfully fixed, “Once the two friends talked out their misunderstanding, the problem was completely resolved.”

authority – the official power, right, or permission to give orders, make big decisions, and enforce rules, “The school principal has the authority to change the dress code.”

solution-focused approach – a method or way of thinking that concentrates entirely on finding answers and fixes rather than dwelling on the problems, “By adopting a solution-focused approach, the technical team quickly repaired the broken website.”