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: 
 
 

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