Mulder
21st October 2008, 10:04 AM
Brits were, until recently, notoriously loath to complain. They'd bore their mates in the pub with everything that went wrong with their holiday but wouldn't dream of telling the tour company.
Nowadays, we complain officially a lot more. Like an evolutionary arms race, companies and official bodies have changed tactics too. I have two on-going complaints. In one, I was first offered an irrelevant FAQ which showed no one had read the conmplaint. Then I was asked to check something that had no bearing on the case. After doing that, I was then passed to another department who, after a long interval, said it wasn't there responsibility. When I pointed out that it self evidently was, they redefined their responsibilities more narrowly until I had to agree it wasn't. So, I went back to the first department who have yet to reply.
In the other complaint, it took them nearly a week to request additional information that they could have asked for straight away, had anyone read what I'd written. They would, no doubt, say they were snowed under with work and I had to take my turn. This implies either poor management (eg insufficient staff) or lots of people complaining about their lousy service (which is also poor management). Neither reflects terribly well.
The 'management of complaints' (sorry, customer services) is all about getting people so bored or frustrated that they give up. This is where 'learning to complain' has got us! Just as in evolution, you never really get ahead of the opposition.
Nowadays, we complain officially a lot more. Like an evolutionary arms race, companies and official bodies have changed tactics too. I have two on-going complaints. In one, I was first offered an irrelevant FAQ which showed no one had read the conmplaint. Then I was asked to check something that had no bearing on the case. After doing that, I was then passed to another department who, after a long interval, said it wasn't there responsibility. When I pointed out that it self evidently was, they redefined their responsibilities more narrowly until I had to agree it wasn't. So, I went back to the first department who have yet to reply.
In the other complaint, it took them nearly a week to request additional information that they could have asked for straight away, had anyone read what I'd written. They would, no doubt, say they were snowed under with work and I had to take my turn. This implies either poor management (eg insufficient staff) or lots of people complaining about their lousy service (which is also poor management). Neither reflects terribly well.
The 'management of complaints' (sorry, customer services) is all about getting people so bored or frustrated that they give up. This is where 'learning to complain' has got us! Just as in evolution, you never really get ahead of the opposition.