Complaint system

Abstract: The emergence of the Internet and its communication capabilities has given rise to a number of complaint sites that function as central forums for consumers to share their bad experiences with other consumers. Companies are reacting by adopting anti‐domain sites in an attempt to prevent the creation of such complaint forums. Data from one complaint forum are analyzed to identify the nature of the complaints, whether the complaints were initially voiced to contact personnel, what other attempts were made to resolve the problem, whether the Internet consumer complaint forum was the initial method used for complaining, the responsiveness of the company to non‐Internet complaints as well as Internet complaints, and the demographics of complainers using the Internet complaint forum. The suggestion is made that companies should embrace consumer complaints, and compete with the independent complaint forums (rather than try to block them) on the basis of ease of the complaint process and the likelihood of response. Recommendations are offered that are specific to Internet use and benefits to the company are described.

Abstract: Given the large investments required for high-quality complaint handling design, managers need practical guidance in understanding its actual importance for their particular company. However, while prior research emphasizes the general relevance of complaint handling design, it fails to provide a more differentiated perspective on this interesting issue. This study, which is based on an integrative multi-level framework and a dyadic dataset, addresses this important gap in research. Results indicate that the impact of a company’s complaint handling design varies significantly depending on the characteristics of the complaining customers with which the firm has to deal. Further, this paper shows that, contingent on these characteristics, a company’s complaint handling design can shape complainants’ fairness perceptions either considerably or only slightly. Overall, findings suggest that companies should apply an adaptive approach to complaint handling to avoid misallocation of attention, energy, and resources.

Abstract: Most literature on consumer services recognizes the importance of input from customers in producing the service (cf., Solomon et al. 1985; Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman 1988); few discuss how input from customers and customer contact personnel is communicated from customer contact personnel at the organizational boundaries to managers who can make decisions regarding policies and procedures. The importance of communication in the delivery of services has been noted by Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman (1988) who examined the gap between consumer expectations and management perceptions of consumer expectations and identified upward communication within the organization as a factor which tends to close this gap. An important potential input from customer contact personnel to management is consumer complaints. Many researchers and consumer affairs personnel would agree that consumer complaints provide organizations with the opportunity to satisfy unhappy customers and prevent brand switching and unfavorable word-of-mouth communications. While effective handling of customer complaints is obviously in the consumer interest, consumer complaints can also offer benefits far beyond the individual complainant. If the organization disseminates information about complaints to decision makers who can take steps to eliminate or reduce the cause of the dissatisfaction, consumer interests will also be served. Dissemination of information for the purpose of finding and correcting the causes of consumer dissatisfaction can be characterized as "complaint management" (Fornell and Westbrook 1979), as opposed to the traditional complaint handling involved in placating unhappy customers. An important component of complaint management is understanding how information from customers flows through the organization to relevant decision makers. This understanding becomes particularly important in some service organizations in which, due to intangibility and simultaneous production and consumption of the service (Bateson 1979), the customer may have repeated contacts with many different employees. Thus, marketers in service organizations have the opportunity to supplement information obtained from marketing research with marketing intelligence provided by customer contact personnel. In the case of consumer complaints, customer contact personnel may be particularly averse to passing important information up the organizational hierarchy. Fornell and Westbrook (1984) cited research from organizational behavior which "suggests that there may be significant impediments to the intrafirm communication of unfavorable or negatively valued messages" (69). The authors noted that consumer complaints may imply inadequacies of previous marketing policies and may be taken as criticism of policy-makers, thus inhibiting communication. Andreasen (1988) also discussed the aversion managers have to consumer complaints because they do not want to hear about weaknesses. To understand the dynamics of complaint management, a number of issues must be addressed. Organizational members who facilitate the successful passing of consumer information to those who can take action on complaints must be identified. Second, barriers and facilitators to communication about consumer dissatisfaction need to be determined. Third, it is important to determine who is likely to engage in complaint handling and complaint management. Finally, the type of complaint may have effects on how it is managed in the organization. As a first step in understanding these issues, a study of complaint management in a hospital was undertaken. Complaints were traced through this service organization from complaint to resolution and beyond, to recommendations for policy or procedural changes that could be enacted to minimize future consumer dissatisfaction. HANDLING AND MANAGING CONSUMER COMPLAINTS The focus of the vast majority of research on consumer complaints has been the dissatisfied consumer. …

Abstract: This paper explores the nature of complaint satisfaction with a particular emphasis on the qualities and behaviours that affect customers during the personal complaint handling encounter. The paper reviews the literature on complaint satisfaction and the role of the contact employee in the complaint encounter. An empirical study using the means-end approach and the paper-and-pencil version of the laddering technique provides a deeper understanding of attributes of effective customer contact employees and reveals the underlying benefits that complainants look for. The research indicates that complainants want contact employees to give positive nonverbal signals, to have sufficient product (service) knowledge and the authority to handle their problems adequately. They also want employees to be willing to try hard and spare no effort. Customers think that if employees take them seriously, this will lead to a problem solution and feelings of satisfaction. The paper concludes with suggestions to managers to in...