The British are known for their "stiff upper lips" and their disdain at their American cousins who seem to be very willing to speak up when things go wrong.

Actually neither stereotype is quite accurate, particularly as the British themselves seem to be getting better at voicing their dissatisfaction. And Americans generally don't voice their complaints all that easily, either.

Professor Paul Gamble, director of the European Management School at the University of Surrey, points out that the British have developed a customer-oriented culture, encouraged by the charter movement of the 1990s. The more official feel of charters have encouraged the British to speak up about housing matters, medical care, and schooling. And this be spilling over into other areas. The internet also make it easier for the relucant-to-offend British to write their complaints anonymously.

Gamble correctly points out that just because complaints have gone up doesn't mean that service is necessarily worse in the UK. As he points out, "Power has moved away from suppliers to clients."

At TMI, we personally approve of any indicators of this type. We are a globally linked society, and only when the whole world gets better at providing constructive feedback will everyone feel more comfortable about complaining.
 
 
 
 
 

Janelle Barlow, Coauthor
A Complaint Is a Gift
Emotional Value
 
 
 

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?

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

tel: 702 939-1800

fax: 702 939-1804

email: 

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