Handling Complaints

Handling Complaints www.vannj.wordpress.com

Special Types of Complainants Repeat Complainants Multiple Complainants Grumblers  Choose even the slightest cause for detailed complaint articulations  Take a marginal problem as the occasion to criticize many aspect of the firm’s range of products and services  Make realistic solutions difficult or impossible by objecting to every alternative  Derive obvious satisfaction from the continuation of the conflict

Special Types of Complainants Grousers  Invent problems  Falsify facts and considerably dramatize  Present demands that are not related in any conceivable way to the damage suffered  Makes serious threats that go beyond the acceptable forms of action (switching, bringing in attorneys and the media  Complaints to Top Management  Complaints about Employees 

Checklist for Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers Understand complaint as a normal part of

your job. Look for a quiet location for the complaint conversation. Do not let the other customers listen to the conversation. Offer the customer a seat, and address the customer by name. Signal willingness to talk.

Checklist for Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers Use your gestures, eye contact and body

language to convey that you are paying close attention. Offer an apology or at least regret that the customer has had a bad experience. Listen carefully. Do not interrupt the complainant. Let him or her speak first without interruption even though he or she may bring up unfounded statements.

Checklist for Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers Conduct the conversation in a calm

and courteous manner. Respond calmly to exaggerations and personal accusations. Respond to insults calmly and bring the conversation back to the factual level. Do not argue with the customer and do not engage in a power struggle.

Checklist for Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers Take Notes. The activity of writing down what

she/he says demonstrates to the customer that you are taking the complaint seriously and encourages him or her to explain circumstances more accurately. Avoid immediate diagnoses and listen to all the information without confessing that you were at fault.

Checklist for Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers Ask questions regarding the contents

until the situation becomes completely clear. Pose questions in a courteous manner. Put yourself in the customer’s place. Avoid wordings that would increase the level of annoyance If a mistake actually happened, do not blame a colleague, other departments or the firm in general.

Checklist for Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers Ask questions regarding the contents until the

situation becomes completely clear. Pose questions in a courteous manner. Put yourself in the customer’s place. Avoid wordings that would increase the level of annoyance If a mistake actually happened, do not blame a colleague, other departments or the firm in general.

Checklist for Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers If you are not responsible or you cannot do anything,

forward the complaint and see to it that the receipt and handling process is continued according to the customer’s wishes. Conclude the conversation positively. Analyse the complaint case and notify the responsible manager so the error can be quickly eliminated. Brymer, 1991: Zemke 1993