Deadlocking complaints

Deadlocking complaints

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Created by the Skills Academy

Why

When

How

When you've fixed all issues your customer has raised and there's nothing outstanding on the account. Should your customer still remain unhappy with the resolution and you cannot reach a fair agreement then you can issue a deadlock letter. This informs the customer of their rights to take their complaint to the Energy Ombudsman within 12 months of the complaint being deadlocked

When you should...

When you shouldn't...

When we have not fixed the issue - We need to set the customer's expectations around our timeframes. This means managing the complaint within that time frame.We can't offer a gesture of goodwill or anything to secure that resolution - We need to fix the issue and then discuss gestures of goodwill if appropriate.Just because your customer asks - Issuing a deadlock because the customer asks for one. We have 56 days to resolve the complaint, after this, the customer has a right to go to the Ombudsman without a deadlock letter.

Fix Fix Fix - When everything on the account is fixed and you cannot reach an agreed resolution with the customer we can issue a deadlock letter. The right for your customer to go to the Ombudsman. Repeat no contact - In some instances we may deadlock a complaint if we can see our customer is repeatedly in our 'no contact' journey. Speak to your TL if you think this is the case as these will be rare.

Step 3

Step 4

Step 2

Step 1

Deadlock letters

When you are deadlocking a complaint, a ‘letter of deadlock’ needs to be issued to the customer via their preferred contact method.

Step 1 - Write the deadlock letter

Make a copy of the template letter and fill it in to suit your customer and what has happened. The letter templates are found here: https://sites.google.com/eonnext.com/base/base Under ‘useful resources’ > ‘Communications & Templates’ > ‘Letterhead Templates’

Alternatively pop to wiki:https://eonnext.knowledgeowl.com/help/deadlock-letter

Proof read and Save as a PDF - Remember to check the grammar. Include everything you have done to try resolve the complaint, and don't keep that font red.

Click below for a great exmaple of a deadlock letter

Step 2 - Save the deadlock letter

Click on the letter to find out more

• Name/address/account number
• What the complaint was about in as much detail as possible
• Our resolution that will consist of the following
• An apology
• Any gesture of good will we have offered or think that is reasonable based on what has happened
• A suitable payment arrangement taking into account ability to pay.
• Any additional resolution offers? Maybe details of step change, pay link referral Eon energy fund, maybe a smart meter to help with the no further estimated bills REMEMBER TO REMOVE THE RED FROM THE TEMPLATE BEFORE SHARING WITH YOUR CUSTOMER

Step 3 - Communicate with your customer

Now we need to send our letter off to our customer so they are kept in the loop. They need to have written correspondence from us on our full and final resolution.

We would do this by attaching the letter to a customer email or by sending this via the post (using the normal letter sending process). Don't forget to save as a PDF.

This lets the customer know our final resolution to their complaint, and how to approach the ombudsman if they wish to approach.

Once we've issued the deadlock letter and shared this with the customer we need Kraken to reflect that this has happened. The status of our complaint can be changed to ‘a deadlock letter has been issued’

Step 4 - Updating kraken

There's more

Click the images to find out more

Now what...

Updating kraken

Add your deadlock to the complaint as a PDF - Add through related files so this can be viewed by anyone that communicates with the customer. By selecting 'choose file' your customer letter from your Google Drive will be submitted to the complaint.

Now what I hear you ask?

Click on our friends to find out more

As you've updated the complaint as deadlocked this will still show under your name in your ownership though won't show as an open complaint! No further action required.

Please do not close the complaint. As the customer has 12 months to take their complaint to the Ombudsman, it can remain in a deadlocked status for this duration of time.

The customer has the right to go to the Ombudsman for 12 months!

Thank you

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