Improvements and difficulties in implementing customer complaints procedure

Big Jim

Admin
Re: customer complaints procedure

The company should be tracking the customer complaints as nonconformances. I'm suggesting that you don't want to make the customer fill out the forms. The employee that resolved the problem could fill out a brief form to track it.
 
J

JaneB

‎ ‎‎1-‎ Should we use specific form for documenting complains? If not, are there ‎alternatives?‎
‎2-‎ Should we change the procedure? ‎
‎3-‎ What is the best way to document the customer complaints ‎‎

I sometimes think 'complaints' forms are deliberately designed to make sure that NO ONE ever fills them in! (because it's too much work, they're too long, too confusing, too hard to do, etc etc).

Forms aren't necessarily the best way. In fact, there isn't a single 'best way' - you have to find a way that will work for you. Doesn't sound as though the current method is doing so well.

I was discussing methods with an auditor recently who told me of auditing a call centre, who had a central register for complaints. The procedure was that whenever a complaint was received, the operator was supposed to go & record all the details in the register. Problem was: no one ever did this.

Guess why? It took too long - by the time they'd got out of their chair, gone to the register and written in all the details, at least 5 mins went past. And they couldn't afford the time, because they needed to 'make their call quotas'.

So management brainstormed and came up with a better idea. Replaced it with a quick 'tick the box' kind of electronic form, with the top 10 causes of complaints. Took <30 secs to fill in. Then managers analysed these weekly/daily/whatever, and worked on reducing the ones with the most numbers. And so on...

This worked MUCH better - and led to them making some real improvements.

Which is what it's all about. Hope this helps.
 
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