Draft a policy and procedure which a community services organisation could use to manage client complaints.

 

Every complaint is different but the steps of dealing with all of them is the same. A complaint handling procedure ensures complaints are dealt with the same way every time.A sample procedure of dealing with customer complaints are;

Listening to the complaint-One should accept the ownership of the problem, apologise and not blaming the others. One should also thank the customer for bringing the problem to attention.

Be understanding- One should understand that the person who is complaining its about your business and not about personal issue. So one should be calm, cheerful and helpful to the customers and where possible you should let the customers know that you will resolve the problem.

Record the complaint-The details of a complaint should be recorded so that you and other staff will know exactly what the problem is. One should place all the complaints and actions taken to solve them in one record and it helps one to see any emerging issue.

Make sure you have all the facts-One should understand the details a person is making the complaint and if necessary should ask questions. Through this it will help the customers know that you are taking their complaint seriously.

Keep your promise- One should not promise things that they cant deliver. In handling complaints its better to under-promise and over-deliver.

Be quick-One should be quick in solving the person complaints.

Follow up-Record the customer's contact details and follow up to see if they were happy with how their complaint was handled. Let them know what you are doing to avoid the problem in the future.

Reward your staff- Encourage and reward your staff for dealing with unhappy customers and handling their complaints well.