SESS 8

CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS

Complaints are an important information gathering tool. It should be understood that a

customer who is not satisfied with the product / service offered by an organisation
usually turnsout to be a lost customer (i.e., the organisation loses this customer for
ever).
Around 80% of the dissatisfied customers donot come out with any kind of complaint. Only
around 20% of the dissatisfied customers complain to front-line personnel (in large
concerns). Only around 1.5% dissatisfied customers complain directly to the
management. This shows how little firsthand information reaches management to deal
with directly.

Hence it is clear that most of the complaints are to be dealt by front-line personnal.
Hence, these people should be:
trained in problem solving techniques to enable them to handle a variety
of problems.
give responsibility and authority to provide service to customers quickly
and effectively.
Ex: A salesperson in a sales outlet given
authority to replace a faulty component in a product without getting
management approval
trained in communication and human relations to properly deal with
customers. Training should include front-line personnel to develop
listening skills and have customer focus.

It is important to note that

> 50% of customers will still buy the product / services offered by the
concern if their complaints are properly dealt with (heard) and taken
care of (solved).
only 20 % of customers will still buy the products / services offered by
the concern if their complaints are heard but not solved.
Hence, complaints are an opportunity for a concern. It is to be taken as a second chance
that is made available to serve and satisfy customers.
[Note: In small companies, the top management has ample opportunity to directly
receive complaints from customers. Hence, these concerns have an added advantage
when compared to large concerns]

In TQM, as said earlier, there are two types of customers (internal and external). Till
now, we focussed on external customers. It is very important to focus on complaints of
internal customers (employees of the concern) also. Hence, organisations should focus
on the complaints of internal customers and keep them satisfied.

 Some other additional points to be noted are:

To satisfy customers who have complained, many companies provide
some special or reduced price on another product. This is done to
retain the customer.
While fixing the price of a product, it should include the cost of servicing
a certain percentage of defective products or complaints.
Complaints are to be seen as blessing in disguise. Many problems can
be corrected before they cause serious negative feedback or even legal
problems.
Companies that donot take complaints seriously will pay the price of lost
business and degraded reputation in the long-run.
The act of responding to the customer and apologising leads to good
business. Care should be taken to solve the problem, otherwise it will
back fire.
Many-a-times the price of the product is high inorder to take care of
the nuisance law suits filed by todays litigation crazy society.
[NOTE: Even if customers donot complain, customer feedback is to be obtained and
acted upon. Customer voice can be obtained by the following information collecting
tools.
Comment cards

Focus groups

Surveys

Report cards

Toll-free telephone lines

Internet

Customer visits

Employee feed back]

For better customer satisfaction, the following is suggested to handle complaints.

Regularly feedback from customers is to be obtained.
Analyse each and every complaint / feedback carefully.
Take necessary corrective action to eliminate the root cause.

When required, senior managers should strive to resolve the

concerns of the customers.
Bring into effect customer satisfaction measures, and have a proper
followup.
Inform all in the organisation about the complaints, the results of
investigations and the solutions provided.
Complaint resolution procedures are to be developed. The front line
employees of the organisation should be given responsibility with
authority to act fast on complaints.

A monthly report on complaints and other relevant details are to be

submitted to the quality council for further action. This will help the
quality council for the assignment of process improvement teams