Anyone who has ridden MARTA (the public train and bus system in Atlanta), has probably experienced some delays. They have been intense in the past few years. 

Many of these issues are totally out of the control of the bus drivers, but the frequency of complaints has inspired public officials to begin to address the issues.

As a result, customers will now get information on the buses to let them know what is happening with traffic in other parts of the city. This will also help drivers adjust their speeds. The public can now look at signs telling them when the next bus will arrive. Somehow that makes waiting a bit more tolerable.

The authorities are also looking at changing local regulations so that buses will enjoy greater rights of way, and traffic lights will be set to turn green when a bus approaches.

All this will help, and without complaints you can be sure that nothing would happen. So, complaints are definitely helpful in inspiring change.

One of the interesting things about the MARTA system is that  is that on the routes where the bus drivers get to repeat their schedules, they get praise from the public. That should tell us something about complaints as well.

When people form personal relationships with their service providers—and they like them—they will tolerate all kinds of service problems. 

While we believe it is a good idea for MARTA to improve its timeliness, cleanliness and whatever else needs improving, it might also be a good idea for them to adjust driver schedules so riders have a chance to form "neighborly" relationships with the drivers.

Janelle Barlow, Co-author
A Complaint Is a Gift
 
 
 

Previous "Complaint Is A Gift Corner" pages: 
 
 

#1Oct 97	Overselling Service
#2 Nov 97	Not Listening to Complaints
#3 Dec 97	Plastic Chicken
#4 Jan 98	Complaints You Can Do Nothing About
#5 Feb 98	A+ Complaint Handling
#6 Mar 98	Beware! Others are Watching You
#7 Apr 98	At Least Keep Talking!
#8 May 98	Let Customers Know You'll Tell Someone
#9 Jun 98	If You're Going to Apologize, Then Mean It
#10 Jul 98	Keep Front-life Staff Well Informed
#11 Aug 98	Don't Set Goals to Reduce Complaints
#12 Sep 98	Products Used During Special Events
#13 Oct 98	Best Practices of Complaint-friendly Organizations
#14 Nov 98	Complaints About Mother Nature!
#15 Dec 98	Socially Offensive Situations
#16 Jan 99	A Complaint Is a Gift in Action
#17 Feb 99	Information Systems  Users' Complaints, I
#18 Mar 99	Information Systems  Users' Complaints, II
#19 Apr 99	Creating an Internal Service Culture
#20 May 99	When Your Customers are Industrial Buyers
#21 June 99	Customers Who are Poor Complainers
#22 July 99	Complaints That are Difficult to Talk About
#23 Aug 99	Do You Mistreat Your Customers?
#24 Sep 99	Fairness: Treatment of Staff
#25 Oct 99	Expectations and Complaints
#26 Nov 99	Successful Toll-free Experiences
#27 Dec 99	Small Companies and Service
#28 Jan 00	A Banking Customer Strikes Back
#29 Feb 00	Complaints in the Hospitality Business
#30 Mar 00	Customers May Be More Cynical
#31 Apr 00	Above All, Communicate When Things Go Wrong!
_#32 May 00	Eliminating Blame
_#33 Jun 00	Friendliness Keeps Them Coming Back!
_#34 Jul 00	Seeking Out Complaints
_#35 Aug 00	If They Complain, Why Not Sue Them!
_#36 Sept 00	"Sorry for Any Inconvenience Caused"
_#37 Oct 00	Don't Back Away When Someone Complains To You
_#38 Nov 00	The Right Person
_#39 Dec 00	Complaining is Becoming Popular in Japan
_#40 Jan 01	Complaining Over the Holidays
_#41 Feb 01	Can Tracking Your Complaints Help Reduce Them?
_#42 Mar 01	Are the British Getting Better at Complaining?
_#43 Apr 01	The Danger of Being a Monopoloy
_#44 May 01	Complaints Within Complaint Call Centers
_#45 June 01	Why Not Take Complaints From Everyone?
_#46 July 01	British Airways Gains a Competitive Advantage
_#47 Aug 01	Corporate Complaints Inside Organizations
_#48 Sept 01	The Power of the Complaining Public
_#49 Oct 01	It Would Have Been Cheaper...
_#50 Nov 01	When It's a Good Idea to Reduce the Complaints Your Receive
_#51 Dec 01	Reductions in Complaints Can be the Tip of the Iceberg
_#52 Jan 02	Complaints Within Organizations
_#53 Feb 02	Complaining Is Really Difficult to Do!
_#54 Mar 02	Complaints in Slovenia
_#55 Apr 02	You Are Empowered to Help the Customer!
_#56 May 02	It Just Doesn't Pay
_#57 Jun 02	Oracle Doesn't Always Stand for Wise
_#58 Jul 02	After-Sales Service
_#59 Aug 02	When Saving Money Results in More Customer Complaints
_#60 Sep 02	Complaints in Government Institutions
_#61 Oct 02	Be Careful How You Interpret Complaint Statistics
_#62 Nov 02	The Problem with No-Exceptions Policies
_#63 Dec 02	After Sales Service Representatives are Complaint Handlers
_#64 Jan 03	An A+ Complaint Response!
_#65 Feb 03	Complaint Handling in Korea
_#66 Mar 03	Complaints Are Definitely Not Seen as Gifts!

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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