It is TMI's intention that each one of these examples will increase your personal understanding of how to improve your own complaint handling. 

Just recently, I flew from San Francisco to Chicago. I had checked my luggage with the luggage handlers outside the terminal, so I was at the gate in a long line waiting to confirm my seat. I, along with a number of other passengers, observed a most unfortunate customer service incident. It would have been bad enough for one passenger to endure what the gate agent put that customer through, but it was even worse that several dozen other customers watched the entire experience. 

The man standing just to the front of me, turned and commented, "That woman (referring to the gate agent) needs to take some Exlax." Several of us laughed, and you can be sure where our sympathies layand they weren't with the airline. None of us in the line spoke up, even though I was sorely tempted to do so. None of us wanted that wrath visited upon us. 

As I watched this incident play itself out in front of my eyes, I wondered about the two other gate agents who stood next to this woman and surely were aware of everything that was going on as well. After all, they were only a few inches away from the nasty tone of voice, the demands, and the put downs that this gate agent was visiting upon the hapless family, only one of which spoke English. 

Did they say anything to their colleague about the inappropriateness of her behavior, especially in public view where other people could easily observe what was happening? Of course, I don't know any of the details of what happened after I left the boarding area. Perhaps, after the flight was securely boarded, all three went to share cups of coffee and discussed how they might have handled that boarding better. I rather doubt it. Instead, I suspect the two colleagues were fully aware of what was happening, and made no effort to help the customer, or to say anything to their colleaguethen, or later. 

Effective complaint handling for an organization occurs when EVERYONE gets better at complaint handling. One person, especially someone who doesn't monitor his or her behavior in public, can ruin the positive results of several people who are doing an effective job. All of us standing in line were focusing on the employee doing the poor jobnot on the two beside her who were performing beautifully. 

When you see a colleague handling complaints poorly, why not have a talk with them? Or at least alert someone in the organization that there is a particular individual who can use some help with their complaint handling skills. Don't count on your customers saying anything. Remember, most customers never speak up to complain, let alone doing it for someone they don't know. 

Janelle M. Barlow, Ph.D. 

Coauthor, A Complaint Is a Gift, Using Customer Feedback as a Strategic Tool
 

Previous "Complaint Is A Gift Corner" pages:  
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We invite you to submit your "best" examples by fax or e-mail. We won't print any company names with the "poor" examples, because we believe that every organization fails from time to time. We will give credit to companies delighting their customers. In the case of the "poor" examples, we'll comment on how we think this situation could have been handled better. If you want us to list your name, please tell us that is what you want to do.

 

A Complaint Is a Gift, The Training Program  

  A Complaint Is a Gift, The Book  

Note: We have been getting e-mail from our readers asking us to list the names of the companies who get complaints. Our policy is to never list names. The reason for this is because every company fails from time to time, and we wouldn't want to tar some company's name just because of one bad example. Furthermore, we are dependant upon the writer's side of the story. We don't know for sure what happened, and in the name of fairness, we will not post names. Furthermore, the purpose of this corner is not to pass complaints along to corporations. This Complaint Is a Gift corner is designed to look at examples of good and bad complaint handling so we can learn from these experiences. Please, if you have a direct complaint you want a company to learn about, contact them directly. In many cases, we have never heard of the company in question and have no idea how to reach them. Janelle Barlow

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