Is a Nonconformance Report required for every Customer Complaint?

[Coury Ferguson]

Re: Nonconformance for every customer complaint?

In punctual - by definition Nonconformance is when requirements are not met. Customer complaint is actualy when customer requirements are not met.
So...

I agree and disagree here. Because, a Non-conformance could be something that didn't meet drawing requirements, like dimensional, finish or something like that, which the customer received from your organization. The complaint has to be received and investigated, at receipt. Then at that point, the determination of initiating a nonconformace report would be determined. But, this is my opinion and may not agree with other people definition or action.

 

[somashekar]

Re: Nonconformance for every customer complaint?

I agree and disagree here. Because, a Non-conformance could be something that didn't meet drawing requirements, like dimensional, finish or something like that, which the customer received from your organization. The complaint has to be received and investigated, at receipt. Then at that point, the determination of initiating a nonconformace report would be determined. But, this is my opinion and may not agree with other people definition or action.

Customer requirement not being met per specification leading to customer complaint is more valid in business to business transaction. However when it comes to consumer goods it has a vast dimension. Take an example from my end.
I buy a costly skin moisturizer regularly for my family use. I realized that I am not able to get the complete contents for use due to its present packaging design. I resorted to cutting the pack to make use of the last 10% (approximately) quantity of the contents, and reported this to the company as a complaint with pictures. While they promised to look into the design of packaging to avoid this, the offered me free packs of their product and thanked me for bringing this to their notice.
So

Customer complaint is actualy when customer requirements are not met.

is not true entirely.

 

[adickerson]

The major piece of caution I see in categorizing large numbers of complaints is that customers may feel like when they have a problem the company just fills out a form and forgets it.

For example, I had a problem with a really nice ($100) screw driver set I purchased from an major American tool retailer. The product showed up at my house and was great except that two of the drivers in the set were the wrong style and size. Since this was a drop shipment, of a special order, things good needlessly complicated. It took me 4 calls and about 10 emails to get past the wall of "customer service" untill I could get somone to help me with the problem. All I wanted to do was return something that was not "damaged" but was obviously wrong. I came very close to just having a credit card charge back issued.

As a consumer, I was very unsatisfied with the categorization model. It was very simple for the company to fall back on standard procedure and a "check the problem on the sheet" type quality program. This never addressed the subtleties of my situation the problems I was having. I just kept getting form letters that said "returns of undamaged special order product requires a 15% restocking fee."

Make sure the checklist or categorization model at your organization does not lead to complacent customer service. And, make sure your customer support people are empowered with the ability to actually solve issues and make judgements.

 

[JaneB]

Re: Nonconformance for every customer complaint?

by definition Nonconformance is when requirements are not met. Customer complaint is actualy when customer requirements are not met.

Agree with what you say about nonconformance.

But not with what you say about a complaint.

A customer complaint is when a customer complains. That's it.

There can be instances of when a company has met the specific requirements, but the customer isn't 'happy' or 'satisfied'. It's about customer perception of satisfaction, remember, not about the supplier's.

In such cases, the customer wouldn't return or recommend you.

Any company that doesn't consider or treat a complaint in such instance as a complaint (because as far as YOU are concerned, YOU met their requirements), is treading a misguided path. And misunderstanding the Standard's requirements.

Strongly suggest you do some more research. Do read the guidelines recommended elsewhere in this thread.

 

[vanputten]

From ISO 10002:2004:

complaint
expression of dissatisfaction made to an organization, related to its products, or the complaints-handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected

 

[mallen92705]

A customer complaining is just that, a customer complaint.
Complaints should be logged somehow.
Registrar auditors love to see these, and then follow them from there.

It's the from there point that should take it through a documented investigation where the end would either be a noted complaint with no necesary action to prevent recurrence implemented, or implemented. (CAR)

How you document the investigation is up to you. (NCMR, Customer Complaint Investigation, ICAR, or CAR)

The QMS that I have instituted takes a complaint through an investigation where it either ends, or gets pushed through the Corrective Action System to eliminate the root cause and go towards goodness.

Product or Service nonconformances that are found by a customer incur more pain, and should always be taken through the Corrective Action system.

 

[Jim Wynne]

A customer complaining is just that, a customer complaint.
Complaints should be logged somehow.
Registrar auditors love to see these, and then follow them from there.

It's the from there point that should take it through a documented investigation where the end would either be a noted complaint with no necesary action to prevent recurrence implemented, or implemented. (CAR)

How you document the investigation is up to you. (NCMR, Customer Complaint Investigation, ICAR, or CAR)

The QMS that I have instituted takes a complaint through an investigation where it either ends, or gets pushed through the Corrective Action System to eliminate the root cause and go towards goodness.

Product or Service nonconformances that are found by a customer incur more pain, and should always be taken through the Corrective Action system.

I was with you up until the last sentence. I think the initial investigation, if there is one, should determine whether CA is necessary or not, regardless of the source of the nonconformity. If a particular customer requires CA and won't listen to reason in the event that CA has been determined to be unnecessary, it has to be done. Nonetheless, the belief that all nonconformities discovered by customers must be the objects of full-blown CA often results in wasted effort.

 

[JustADude]

Re: Nonconformance for every customer complaint?

In punctual - by definition Nonconformance is when requirements are not met. Customer complaint is actualy when customer requirements are not met.
So...

I don't agree. I have certainly seen customers complain when every requirement was met.

 

[samsung]

Re: Nonconformance for every customer complaint?

I don't agree. I have certainly seen customers complain when every requirement was met.

Perhaps except the one for which the complaint was made.