A complaint is an opportunity to turn a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied one. It’s a fact of life that dissatisfied customers tend to be very vocal. They often tell their friends and family about their bad experiences, putting off potential customers. Every member of the team should know how to handle complaints, as a badly handled complaint can escalate into an argument or ‘verbal conflict’. The dos and don’ts below give the basics.

DO
• Listen to the customers without interrupting
• Try to acknowledge their point of view
• You don’t have to agree with them, just try to show that you understand, e.g. I can see how that has upset you
• Show you’re taking the complaint seriously by listening and questioning them to clarify matters
• Paraphrase or repeat the complaint back to the person ‘So, you’re saying that… which shows you have understood the issue
• Take action. Tell them what you intend to do, i.e. pass the complaint to your manager. Better still write it down.

DON'T
• Take the complaint personally
• Let yourself become angry
• Get into arguments with customers
• Blame the management
• Blame your colleagues which looks unprofessional and shows a weakness in the staff team
• Try to justify your actions or make complicated excuses they don’t want to know why the problem happened, just what you are going to do about it
• Make jokes at the customers’ expense. 

You may need to apologize even if it is not your fault, e.g. I’m sorry that there’s been a misunderstanding here. Let the customer have the last word.