Responding to a complaint

On our complaints handling and investigation training, one of the areas of the training which people find most useful is preparing a response. This should not come as any surprise to those of us who work in the field.  Unless you are a natural writer, it's is hard to know where to start compiling a good response.  We provide a best practice template, which often gets incorporated into the procedure document.  Here below are some quick tips on responding to a complaint.

First ask yourself is a written response the best way to communicate?

Whilst in most cases you will have to do a written response, will the complainant find a conversation more valuable? If the complainant has language difficulties or your response is has complex / technical information, maybe a call before / after the response might help them understand.

The response

•  Thank them at the beginning to set the right tone.  For e.g., "Thank you for your complaint..." 
• Use the complainant’s words to summarise the complaint
• Tell them what you did in your investigation:
• What did you read?
• Who did you speak to?
• Do you need to make reference to policy and procedures?

Your deliberations and decision

• What happened?
• What should have happened?
• Do they match?
• Right of appeal

The essentials

• Use plain language 
• If you have to say 'No' did you use the service 'No'?
• If you were assertive, did you use the correct technique

There is so much else that could be said, but I'll leave you with these few hints!

  

The survival guide for dealing with chronic complainers

Well worth a read. 

The survival guide for dealing with chronic complainers

Energy Complaints – Which ? February 2012

Which? surveyed 8271 adults about their gas and electricity bills and experience of complaints to their energy supplier. Some of the key findings were:

40% had a problem with an energy supplier in the last 2 years

41% bottom customer score for Npower

4 million number of complaints recorded in a year by the major energy suppliers

A whopping 95% complaints upheld in favour of the customer by the Energy Ombudsman.

£125 average financial award from the Energy Ombudsman

£4 million potential compensation black hole

As the report goes onto suggest is this just the tip of the iceberg! The main problem area was billing including mistakes on bills, inaccurate meter readings or missing bills.

A quarter of those who had a problem with a supplier admitted they did nothing about the problems. Of those, 44% thought that complaining would make no difference; 28% felt the problem wasn’t serious enough; and 23% though it was too much hassle. For many of us that sounds all so familiar.

Of those who did complain, 12% abandoned their complaint and 8% switched suppliers entirely.

The Energy Ombudsman will look at complaints if the energy company has not resolved the issue within 8 weeks. Which? reveals nearly 57,000 complaints remained unresolved after 8 weeks. Given 95% of complaints are upheld and average payout is £125, that is a possible £4 million of unclaimed cash.

Another interesting and again a lesson for us all, is that 90% of unresolved complaints do not make it to the Ombudsman. This was put down to lack of communication from the energy suppliers about the existence of the Ombudsman and in the case of two energy companies, their published complaints procedure does not clearly state the ombudsman service is free.

Finally, the highest customer satisfaction rating of 84% went to Good Energy, who supplies renewable electricity, though the prices are about 25% more than the cheapest tariff on the market. Npower received the worst customer score of 41%, its complaints handling was rated 11 out of 12.

Full report in the February 2012 edition of Which?

The world of blogging and complaints training

It's time to encompass the world of blogging! 

How many organisations take seriously the issue of training?  When it comes to saving money, I'm hearing over and over again, our training budgets have been slashed.  Some say it will be two or three years before we look at training again.  And yet, a well trained workforce is sometime crucial to the very survival of the company / organisation. Staff value a company that is prepared to invest in them.

Complaints training is vital to help employees appreciate the value of complaints and give them confidence in dealing with them. In the decade I've been training in complaints, the amount of time I've seen delegates put on the feedback / evaluation form, all staff should be on the training.  This is because people value the knowledge and skills they have picked up and want others to have the same.  It's a shame that decision and budget makers don't attach the same value to training.

Comeback for more complaints training thoughts next week.