Complaint Acceptance

Abstract

Within the framework of complaint acceptance, two fundamental tasks must be accomplished: the organization of the receipt of the complaint and the documentation of complaint information.

With respect to the organization of the receipt of the complaint, clear structures of responsibility must be established. This includes the principle of complaint ownership stating that the first employee to be confronted with a customer problem is responsible for the recording and processing of the complaint. All employees must also be prepared for the situations they will encounter, as the initial contact often determines whether it is possible to satisfy a complainant.

In the initial contact phase it is also important to document all relevant information about the complaint case completely, quickly and in a structured way. This concerns information about the complainant, the type of problem and the product in question (complaint-content information) and information about the internal process of dealing with the complaint (complaint-handling information). The documentation of complaint information requires a category scheme that is characterized by action orientation, clear-cut demarcation, completeness, customer orientation and easy manageability. For specific complaint information—in particular complaint objects and complaint problems—a hierarchical structuring of categories is needed.

Complaint information can be recorded by employees with the help of standardized forms or templates in complaint-management software systems as well as by customers using opinion cards and web forms. The completeness and accuracy of complaint information collected must be checked regularly.