Complaints: Managing and resolving

Complaints: Managing & Resolving

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Created by the Skills Academy

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Managing your complaint

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Acknowledge

Acknowledge

Progress

Next steps

CHP/ 56 day letter if needed update complaint review date

Can you resolve today? If not what do you need ffrom the customer or other support.

Understand

Acknowledge ands say sorry Listen and question toIdentify next steps.

keeping in touch

Regular contact at least every 10 day or when you customer would prefer

Effective management

Hover over each point to find out more

Once you raise a complaint you are the only one responsible for resolving it! It’s your job to manage the complaint until the customer is 100% happy

Take ownership

Plan of action

Say sorry

Resolution

Sounds obvious, but an apology can go a long way. Customers are just like me and you, they have lots going on in their lives and an energy complaint is the last thing they want to be dealing with. Say sorry! Make them feel like someone is genuinely sorry for what they’ve experienced.

How better to show you're taking ownership than a plan of action. Outline to the customer what you are going to do and what they can expect from you. Keeping your word and sticking to a plan is key to rebuilding that trust.

We need to build our trust back up with the customer. The most effective way to do this is by taking ownership.Understanding the customer and not disregarding their problem, no matter how big or small. Provide meaningful updates, keeping the customer in the loop knowing you haven't forgotten about them. Even if there has been no change on the account, let's say your waiting for another team to get back to you...still contact the customer letting them know.

What would the customer like as a resolution?Never assume you know what will make the customer happy. The customer may tell you exactly what they want! You can create a POA which ensures you resolve the complaint keeping their wants in mind.

Effective management: Saying sorry

Be sincere & understanding

Show empathy

Effective management: Taking ownership

Build trust

Provide reassurance

Be in control

How do you take ownership of a complaint?

Tell them!

“I’m going to take responsibility of this complaint, I’ll do everything I can to help”

“I’m really sorry to hear that this has happened. I’m taking care of this from now on, we’ll find a way to fix it”

“I will be managing your complaint, we’ll get things sorted together. What would you like as a resolution?”

Effective management: Plan of action

Listen to what the customer is actually complaining about and make an efficient plan to resolve the complaint. To be safe always ask “What would you like as a resolution” Check out this example;

What do we mean when we say “Make a plan of action” for a complaint?

Example response

If you can’t resolve this complaint on the first interaction, set actions and tell your customer the next steps

All of this builds trust and reassurance! YOU are accountable!

Example complaint

POA

Effective management: Detailed notes

Ensure you have clearly set out your POA with in your complaint notes.Not only will this help you, it will help your colleagues too.Remember...if it's not in the complaint notes then it never happened!

The review date matching your actions

‘note..update’

Your POA presented clearly!

Managing complaints: Best practice

Be clear with the customer about how long it will take to resolve the complaint. If things are taking longer than expected...tell the customer this. Honesty and transparency are key to rebuilding that trust

Every single time you contact the customer you must update the complaint notes

Take ownership of the complaint and make the customer feel reassured you have it under control

Resolving a complaint

Complaints: Debt

If there is live debt on an account, raising a complaint will automatically pause the debt chasing journey (dunning)

The dunning journey is designed to retrieve debt whilst putting affordable plans and support in place for vulnerable customers

If we pause this journey, we’re essentially pulling that customer away from that specified support which comes from our affordability and vulnerability specialists

We don’t retrieve debt & the customer is put in a potentially vulnerable position

Even if the complaint is disputing the bill, where the customer is still using energy we should try to set up an affordable payment arrangement

What can you do?

Resolving: Checklist

A complaint must not be resolved until everything on this checklist has been done

Checklist

Click the checklist for more tips

The best thing you can do is explain to your customer what has gone wrong. Something as simple as "I'm sorry your name was spelt incorrect this was human error when it was entered or maybe it was incorrect from a landlord or person who provided the information" will go a long way

Resolving: Providing the customer with a resolution

If you’ve completed all the actions agreed by you and the customer, you’ll need to provide the customer with a summary & resolution! It should sound something like this:

“Hi Maria, I’m just calling you to provide you with an update on your complaint. You raised a complaint because the name on your account was spelled incorrectly and you were unhappy about this. You asked me to change the name and provide you with a new bill. As you know, I’ve done both of those things. Are you happy to close the complaint, or is there anything else I can do to help resolve this?”

That's fine, close my complaint

You must complete all actions before providing the customer with a resolution Once you have completed all actions, approach the customer You must provide the customer with a summary of the complaint and then give them your resolution Ask if the customer is happy to resolve or is there anything else the customer would like to resolve the issue If the customer is happy, close the complaint

Resolving: unhappy

Sometimes, a customer won’t be happy with your resolution

“Hi Maria, I’m just calling you to provide you with an update on your complaint. You raised a complaint because the name on your account was spelled incorrectly and you were unhappy about this. You asked me to change the name and provide you with a new bill. As you know, I’ve done both of those things. Are you happy to close the complaint, or is there anything else I can do to help resolve this?”

No actually, I’m not happy with that. It’s caused me a lot of stress

Resolving: unhappy

No actually, I’m not happy with that. It’s caused me a lot of stress

Provide a second resolution

Ask what they want as a resolution?

Ask for advice from colleagues.

Think of alternative solutions

Resolving: Escalation

If you’ve got to the stage where you have offered the customer what you believe to be a fair and reasonable resolution to the complaint but the customer does not accept this resolution:

Review the complaint

Reach out to a trusted team member or TL

I'm confident the problem is fixed

Hover over each point to find out more

Let the customer know you’re going to review the complaint and be clear with them about how long this may take.Analyse everything they were unhappy with...are they all fixed?Have you explained clearly how this is fixed with the customer, building on that trust.Have you future proofed the account - ensuring this wont happen againIs your resolution fair. Have a look at their journey, how long have they had this problem?

Your TL and team members will be able to guide you on anything you may have missed. Thinking outside of the box for alternative resolutions.

Establish with that customer that you have done everything possible to try to resolve, if you have let the customer know you’re confident you’ve provided them with a fair and reasonable resolution but you’re now going to deadlock the complaint

Summary: Things to remember

Top tips

Notes

Recording

Management

Notes should be clear and easy to readYour notes should include a summary of the complaint and your plan of action If the customer tells us they raised a complaint before but you can’t find it in Kraken, you must open a new complaint and put in the notes that the customer mentioned a previous complaint but that there was not one on the account

For phone complaints, record the complaint for that date For email/social/letter complaints, record them from the day we received the complaint (not when you picked it up)If the customer complains about something which was previously a complaint, re-open the complaint immediately as the issue has not been resolved.

Take full ownership of the complaint and see it through until the customer is 100% happyKeep them in the loop, even if nothing has changed yet. Set review dates for your actions. Communicate and keep your promises

Remember still raise a complaint even if you have resolved things on the call - This is known as a raise and resolve. Understand your customers complaint! What do you need to do to resolve things? What support do you need - refer to your TL or team! Update your complaint notes with any action or contact. CHP and the 56day letter are sent automatically now! Let them know so they are expecting it We must follow these guidelines, as set out by the regulator (ofgem) If you’re ever unsure, you can find out what you need to know on the wiki. There is an entire complaints section. There is also several complaints e-learnings on Workday.

Thank you

Leave us a comment on WorkDay if you have any thoughts or feedback!

POA: Say sorry!Immediately correct the nameProvide the customer with a new billEnsure the customer gets the bill and is happy with the change

Customers are just like you & me, they have lives, jobs, stress and difficulty.They do not want to call their energy supplier and complain!Show empathy, listen to them and care about that individual customers needs. You have no idea what's going on in that customers life!

If the customer is not happy with the resolution provided, you must provide a second one Ask the customer what they would like to resolve the complaint If the customer tells you what they want and we can provide them with that solution, go ahead and resolve it!

Make your apology sincere.It can be hard when you have a lot on at work - this may be the 15th customer of the day for you but You’re representing E.ON Next as a company, show them how helpful and amazing we are

Ask for advice from colleagues It may be useful to have a colleague take a second look - they might have an idea on how to resolve this problemSpeak to your team / TL’s.

• The customer knows you opened a complaint

• All actions agreed have been completed

• You’ve said sorry and shown empathy

• Offered a fair resolution

• You’ve provided a summary

• The customer has agreed to close the complaint as they’re happy & satisfied

Customer email“I’ve just received a letter from you and you’ve got my name wrong. My Name is Maria smithbourne, you’ve addressed the letter to ‘Maria mithourne’. I checked the last 3 letters and they are all the same, I just hadn’t noticed. I’m trying to move home currently and needed a utility bill for my application but they won't accept this. Please open a complaint and rectify the mistake immediately so I can provide my landlord with a new application”

Ok thank you for telling me everything. Firstly, I’m really sorry this has happened. I’m going to raise a complaint for you and do everything I can to fix this. I’m going to correct the name and send you a new bill, however this will take roughly 2 days. I will ring you to confirm all of this has been done in 2 days time and hopefully we can close the complaint then. What time is best for me to give you a call on Wednesday? Perfect, I’ll give you a call on Wednesday at 3pm. If I can't get through, I’ll leave a voicemail but can I also confirm an email address so I can follow up with you via email too?.”