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

A few months ago I called a mail order shoe company to order two pairs of running shoes. I was about to take off for Asia. My husband was going to be travelling with me, so there would be no one at our home to receive the order over the next two weeks. When I placed my order, I asked the order taker to delay processing my order for two weeks, to insure someone would be at our home to receive the order. At the same time, I wanted those shoes when I returned. 

He told me that they couldn't do that. I'm a curious person, so I ask, "Why not?" In the TMI business, we can take an order from someone and place it at any time. The order taker responded, "Because that's the way it is." Apparently, their computer is linked directly to order delivery which is fulfilled without regard to when the customer wants the product delivered. 

I suggest that this system is not very customer friendly, and that his company should do something about it. I tell him that I am a loyal customer (He can see from my record that I buy a lot of shoes from this mail order business.) and I have clearly uncovered something that his company should know about and improve. 

He asks me if I want to talk to the manager to relay my "complaint." I tell him that I don't want to do that. That is his job from my perspective. Why should I have to repeat my story to get the same inadequate explanation from yet another person? That's how it feels to me. 

He then does what many service people do when they don't know what to say, and at the same time they don't want to be offensive. He simply doesn't say anything. So, the two of us experience some moments of quiet on the telephone, and I am wondering if I should just hang up and not buy shoes from this company. 

Finally, he comes back on the line and tells me that the shoes I want are back ordered, so they won't be available for about a month in any case. My problem is solved from his perspective. Or is it? The real question for me is whether he will tell his manager or the company for which he is taking shoe orders. What do you think? I would be willing to bet that my suggestion/complaint never went to the manager. 

Organizations need to take a careful look at this recurring scenario. According to research, most people don't complain because they think nothing is going to happen. At least let your customers know their feedback information is going to be passed on to someone who has a chance to evaluate it and decide whether the organization will make changes as a result of this input. This is one of the most important components of forming partnerships with customers, and it is one that is missed over and over again.  

Janelle M. Barlow, Ph.D.  

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

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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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