Complaints
Content
Customer complaints
Dealing with complaints Recording complaints Following up a complaint Keeping track of complaints
Key skills in hospitality and catering
A complaint can be costly for the business – but it can have a positive outcome. This all depends on how it is dealt with by members of staff. If a customer is unhappy and given bad customer service, then they may never return. Worse still, they are likely to tell others about the bad service they were given, and so put off potential customers. If a complaint is dealt with in a positive manner and the customer feels they have received very good customer service, then they may forget about their bad experience and may even promote the business because of the excellent service they have received. This is known as a ‘win–win’ situation: the customer is happy and so is the business. Keeping track of complaints can also provide you with useful information concerning levels of customer satisfaction.
customer is happy, so is the business!
‘
If the
’
Dealing with complaints
At some stage during the course of your work, you may have to deal with unhappy or even angry customers. Your first priority is to listen to the customer and decide on your best course of action. You may well need to pass it on to your manager, but you may not have the chance to do so straight away. You need to be able to look beyond their anger to stay focused on the problem. Try not to take personally what the customer says. The person is not necessarily angry or upset with you; they are complaining about a service that you provide and they feel you are responsible for solving their problem or complaint.
Procedure for handling complaints
When a customer first complains, they may well be upset or angry. Your objective is to calm them down by the end of the conversation, by following these steps: 1 Let the customer have his or her say and remain polite and friendly.
2 Ask questions to clarify any points: ‘Can I just clarify how long it was before your meal arrived?’ 3 Summarise the problem: ‘So you waited half an hour for your meal.’ 4 Resolve the situation if possible: ‘I will speak to the chef straight away.’ 5 If you cannot meet the demands of the customer, pass the complaint on to the appropriate manager or supervisor, giving them all the details you have gained from the customer. 6 Record the complaint.
2 | Key skills in hospitality and catering | Customer complaints
Find out about your company’s complaints policy or procedure and ask your manager to discuss it with you. Use the table below to complete a checklist for handling problems or complaints. The first two have been filled in to give you some ideas.
‘
Keeping track
of complaints can provide you
Handling complaints checklist Do Take notes Stay calm Don’t Interrupt Shout
with useful information concerning levels of customer satisfaction
’
How might you handle each of the following complaints? 1 A customer complains about the beer being cloudy due to the fact that you were near the end of a barrel.
2 A customer had completed a dietary requirement form when making the booking. Despite pre-booking, their meal took a lot longer than their colleagues’ meals and they were still eating long after everyone else had finished.
3 A customer complains that they have been overcharged for their food bill.
4 A customer complains that their room is not to the standard expected.
Customer complaints | Key skills in hospitality and catering | 3
Recording complaints
‘
It is useful to
It is useful to keep details of the problems or complaints you deal with as they will help you to pinpoint any solutions or improvements. Here is an example of the headings you might use:
keep details of the problems or complaints you deal with as they will help you to pinpoint any solutions or improvements
• Any action you took – for example, ‘Offered a free coffee.’ Using the following headings, describe the last problem or complaint you dealt with. • • The date. Details of the problem or complaint – for example, ‘Meal did not arrive on time.’
’
•
Any costs involved in resolving the complaint – for example, ‘Free coffees cost us £2.50.’
It is useful to have a form for recording complaints. Here is one example: DATE 1/4/04 REPORT NO. 52 CUSTOMER DETAILS Name: Mr Daniel Brookes Address: Castle House, Castle Way, Windsor Postcode: SL2 6LN Telephone: (Home) 01753 876543 (Mobile) 0987654321 Email address: [email protected] CUSTOMER COMMENTS TAKEN BY: Sue Roberts TIME OF COMPLAINT: 9.01pm SITUATION (Identify the complaint and comments made by the customer) The customer had to wait over an hour for their food to arrive. The customer ordered at approx. 7.15pm. They were very angry about the service they had received. I apologised for the delay. Food arrived at 8.20pm. Food when arrived was satisfactory. Informed Jo (Manager) of the situation. ACTION TAKEN (Detail actions taken on the day of complaint and customer reaction. If not resolved, what is the customer expecting?) Food arrived and satisfactory. Coffees were given complimentary. Was customer happy? YES NO FOLLOW-UP TAKEN Was situation resolved on day? YES/NO Letter sent/Telephone call (Attach copy/record to this form) BUSINESS IMPACT £2.50 (£1.25 x 2 coffees)
4 | Key skills in hospitality and catering | Customer complaints
Following up a complaint
Whenever possible, you should follow up complaints to see what you can learn from them and so prevent them happening again. • • Investigate the complaint – check with the members of staff involved. Analyse the problem – was this a one-off mistake caused by exceptional circumstances, or is it evidence of a failure in your system? How can you avoid it happening again? Write the customer a follow-up letter to outline the results of your investigation and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Decide whether to offer compensation.
‘
Whenever
possible, you should follow up complaints to see what you can learn from them and so
•
You receive the following letter from a customer: • • Draft a reply. What steps might you consider to help prevent this happening again?
prevent them happening again
’
The Manager t The Restauran High Street Windsor 02 April 2004 , staurant Dear Sir/Madam rtner to your re pa y m ith w t si we my vi ppointing and you regarding d was very disa I am writing to ha I e to ic g rv in se ppoint ening. The as severely disa w ch last Tuesday ev hi w , od wait for our fo anniversary. had a very long l occasion, our ia ec sp a as w owever, we me as this for my food, H t ai w e ut in m hen I mind a 10–15 until 8.20pm. W ve ri ar ’t I don’t generally dn di e d it plained that th od at 7.15pm an minutes, she ex ordered our fo 40 r te ld af ou f w af r st r orde ember of out how long ou questioned a m nd fi to t fr en w away om ry busy and is does not take th t bu kitchen was ve l, fu lp he very polite and take. She was r 5 minutes. e food took 1h gree of good the fact that th I expected a de ), 00 0. £4 r ve that we spent (o d. For the money we experience t the wait that any of my service, and no is restaurant to th ng di en m m co I will not be re Unfortunately, ting again. si vi be will not d an s ue ag lle co se. to your respon I look forward s e k o o r DB Daniel Brookes
Customer complaints | Key skills in hospitality and catering | 5
Keeping track of complaints
you can carry out concerning complaints provides your company with valuable information that they can use to make improvements
‘
Any research
Complaints often follow trends that may differ in certain areas or at different times of the year. Any research you can carry out concerning complaints provides your company with valuable information that they can use to make improvements, such as changing a system or procedure, or introducing some staff training. Here’s how one hotel kept a log of complaints over one year: First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter Total for year
Bar Poor quality Overcharging 2 4 1 1 5 1 3 3 1 2 1 2 8 13 5
’
Staff-related Restaurant Poor quality Overcharging Staff-related Time Housekeeping Room service Cleanliness Quality Total
9 2 1 5
11 3 0 8
9 3 0 9
15 0 2 8
44 8 3 30
2 1 0 27
7 1 1 38
5 2 1 36
5 1 0 36
19 5 2 137
It’s easier to see where most complaints are being made if you can present your data visually.
6 | Key skills in hospitality and catering | Customer complaints
Here is a pie chart for the bar data:
Poor quality 31%
To turn your data into a pie chart, you first need to work out the size of each segment. To do this, you need to work out what percentage of the whole pie each total represents.
‘
Look for
patterns in complaints
’
Here’s how you carry out the calculation using the total bar complaints for the year as an example: There is a total of 26 bar complaints over the 12-month period. Eight of these are about poor quality. We can show this as a fraction: 8 – – – – – 26 You can convert this to a percentage as follows: 8 x 100 – – – – – 26 You can simplify the calculation by dividing 8 and 26 by 2, like this: 4 x 100 = – – – – – 13 400 = 30.76% – – – – – – – – – – – – 13
If you round up 30.76 to the nearest whole number, you get 31. The number of complaints concerning quality therefore represents 31% of the total.
Now work out the percentages of bar complaints from ‘overcharging’ and ‘staff-related’ and write them on the pie chart. Overcharging:
Staff-related:
Try showing the restaurant and/or housekeeping complaints in a similar way.
Customer complaints | Key skills in hospitality and catering | 7
Analyse complaints records
Look for patterns in complaints, such as: • • • • • recurring causes of complaints – in our example, poor quality was a significant cause of complaint in the restaurant system problems – for example, staff handover at a busy period costs of dealing with the complaints staff issues and any additional staff training required reputation of the business.
If you get the opportunity, it is also useful to keep a record of complaints after introducing any changes to your service. You can then compare pie charts and note whether or not the level of complaints has reduced, i.e. whether or not your changes have been effective.
Links to qualifications
This workbook will help with the following parts of your qualifications: NVQ level 3 units HS2 Establish and develop positive working relationships in hospitality HS19 Monitor and solve customer service problems (ICS imported unit) HS23 Work with others to improve customer service (ICS imported unit) NVQ level 2 units 2GEN2 Customer care skills Key skills Communication: C2.1a, 2.3 Application of number: N2.1, 2.2, 2.3 Technical certificates Hospitality Customer Relations
© Crown copyright 2005
Dealing with complaints Recording complaints Following up a complaint Keeping track of complaints
Key skills in hospitality and catering
A complaint can be costly for the business – but it can have a positive outcome. This all depends on how it is dealt with by members of staff. If a customer is unhappy and given bad customer service, then they may never return. Worse still, they are likely to tell others about the bad service they were given, and so put off potential customers. If a complaint is dealt with in a positive manner and the customer feels they have received very good customer service, then they may forget about their bad experience and may even promote the business because of the excellent service they have received. This is known as a ‘win–win’ situation: the customer is happy and so is the business. Keeping track of complaints can also provide you with useful information concerning levels of customer satisfaction.
customer is happy, so is the business!
‘
If the
’
Dealing with complaints
At some stage during the course of your work, you may have to deal with unhappy or even angry customers. Your first priority is to listen to the customer and decide on your best course of action. You may well need to pass it on to your manager, but you may not have the chance to do so straight away. You need to be able to look beyond their anger to stay focused on the problem. Try not to take personally what the customer says. The person is not necessarily angry or upset with you; they are complaining about a service that you provide and they feel you are responsible for solving their problem or complaint.
Procedure for handling complaints
When a customer first complains, they may well be upset or angry. Your objective is to calm them down by the end of the conversation, by following these steps: 1 Let the customer have his or her say and remain polite and friendly.
2 Ask questions to clarify any points: ‘Can I just clarify how long it was before your meal arrived?’ 3 Summarise the problem: ‘So you waited half an hour for your meal.’ 4 Resolve the situation if possible: ‘I will speak to the chef straight away.’ 5 If you cannot meet the demands of the customer, pass the complaint on to the appropriate manager or supervisor, giving them all the details you have gained from the customer. 6 Record the complaint.
2 | Key skills in hospitality and catering | Customer complaints
Find out about your company’s complaints policy or procedure and ask your manager to discuss it with you. Use the table below to complete a checklist for handling problems or complaints. The first two have been filled in to give you some ideas.
‘
Keeping track
of complaints can provide you
Handling complaints checklist Do Take notes Stay calm Don’t Interrupt Shout
with useful information concerning levels of customer satisfaction
’
How might you handle each of the following complaints? 1 A customer complains about the beer being cloudy due to the fact that you were near the end of a barrel.
2 A customer had completed a dietary requirement form when making the booking. Despite pre-booking, their meal took a lot longer than their colleagues’ meals and they were still eating long after everyone else had finished.
3 A customer complains that they have been overcharged for their food bill.
4 A customer complains that their room is not to the standard expected.
Customer complaints | Key skills in hospitality and catering | 3
Recording complaints
‘
It is useful to
It is useful to keep details of the problems or complaints you deal with as they will help you to pinpoint any solutions or improvements. Here is an example of the headings you might use:
keep details of the problems or complaints you deal with as they will help you to pinpoint any solutions or improvements
• Any action you took – for example, ‘Offered a free coffee.’ Using the following headings, describe the last problem or complaint you dealt with. • • The date. Details of the problem or complaint – for example, ‘Meal did not arrive on time.’
’
•
Any costs involved in resolving the complaint – for example, ‘Free coffees cost us £2.50.’
It is useful to have a form for recording complaints. Here is one example: DATE 1/4/04 REPORT NO. 52 CUSTOMER DETAILS Name: Mr Daniel Brookes Address: Castle House, Castle Way, Windsor Postcode: SL2 6LN Telephone: (Home) 01753 876543 (Mobile) 0987654321 Email address: [email protected] CUSTOMER COMMENTS TAKEN BY: Sue Roberts TIME OF COMPLAINT: 9.01pm SITUATION (Identify the complaint and comments made by the customer) The customer had to wait over an hour for their food to arrive. The customer ordered at approx. 7.15pm. They were very angry about the service they had received. I apologised for the delay. Food arrived at 8.20pm. Food when arrived was satisfactory. Informed Jo (Manager) of the situation. ACTION TAKEN (Detail actions taken on the day of complaint and customer reaction. If not resolved, what is the customer expecting?) Food arrived and satisfactory. Coffees were given complimentary. Was customer happy? YES NO FOLLOW-UP TAKEN Was situation resolved on day? YES/NO Letter sent/Telephone call (Attach copy/record to this form) BUSINESS IMPACT £2.50 (£1.25 x 2 coffees)
4 | Key skills in hospitality and catering | Customer complaints
Following up a complaint
Whenever possible, you should follow up complaints to see what you can learn from them and so prevent them happening again. • • Investigate the complaint – check with the members of staff involved. Analyse the problem – was this a one-off mistake caused by exceptional circumstances, or is it evidence of a failure in your system? How can you avoid it happening again? Write the customer a follow-up letter to outline the results of your investigation and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Decide whether to offer compensation.
‘
Whenever
possible, you should follow up complaints to see what you can learn from them and so
•
You receive the following letter from a customer: • • Draft a reply. What steps might you consider to help prevent this happening again?
prevent them happening again
’
The Manager t The Restauran High Street Windsor 02 April 2004 , staurant Dear Sir/Madam rtner to your re pa y m ith w t si we my vi ppointing and you regarding d was very disa I am writing to ha I e to ic g rv in se ppoint ening. The as severely disa w ch last Tuesday ev hi w , od wait for our fo anniversary. had a very long l occasion, our ia ec sp a as w owever, we me as this for my food, H t ai w e ut in m hen I mind a 10–15 until 8.20pm. W ve ri ar ’t I don’t generally dn di e d it plained that th od at 7.15pm an minutes, she ex ordered our fo 40 r te ld af ou f w af r st r orde ember of out how long ou questioned a m nd fi to t fr en w away om ry busy and is does not take th t bu kitchen was ve l, fu lp he very polite and take. She was r 5 minutes. e food took 1h gree of good the fact that th I expected a de ), 00 0. £4 r ve that we spent (o d. For the money we experience t the wait that any of my service, and no is restaurant to th ng di en m m co I will not be re Unfortunately, ting again. si vi be will not d an s ue ag lle co se. to your respon I look forward s e k o o r DB Daniel Brookes
Customer complaints | Key skills in hospitality and catering | 5
Keeping track of complaints
you can carry out concerning complaints provides your company with valuable information that they can use to make improvements
‘
Any research
Complaints often follow trends that may differ in certain areas or at different times of the year. Any research you can carry out concerning complaints provides your company with valuable information that they can use to make improvements, such as changing a system or procedure, or introducing some staff training. Here’s how one hotel kept a log of complaints over one year: First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter Total for year
Bar Poor quality Overcharging 2 4 1 1 5 1 3 3 1 2 1 2 8 13 5
’
Staff-related Restaurant Poor quality Overcharging Staff-related Time Housekeeping Room service Cleanliness Quality Total
9 2 1 5
11 3 0 8
9 3 0 9
15 0 2 8
44 8 3 30
2 1 0 27
7 1 1 38
5 2 1 36
5 1 0 36
19 5 2 137
It’s easier to see where most complaints are being made if you can present your data visually.
6 | Key skills in hospitality and catering | Customer complaints
Here is a pie chart for the bar data:
Poor quality 31%
To turn your data into a pie chart, you first need to work out the size of each segment. To do this, you need to work out what percentage of the whole pie each total represents.
‘
Look for
patterns in complaints
’
Here’s how you carry out the calculation using the total bar complaints for the year as an example: There is a total of 26 bar complaints over the 12-month period. Eight of these are about poor quality. We can show this as a fraction: 8 – – – – – 26 You can convert this to a percentage as follows: 8 x 100 – – – – – 26 You can simplify the calculation by dividing 8 and 26 by 2, like this: 4 x 100 = – – – – – 13 400 = 30.76% – – – – – – – – – – – – 13
If you round up 30.76 to the nearest whole number, you get 31. The number of complaints concerning quality therefore represents 31% of the total.
Now work out the percentages of bar complaints from ‘overcharging’ and ‘staff-related’ and write them on the pie chart. Overcharging:
Staff-related:
Try showing the restaurant and/or housekeeping complaints in a similar way.
Customer complaints | Key skills in hospitality and catering | 7
Analyse complaints records
Look for patterns in complaints, such as: • • • • • recurring causes of complaints – in our example, poor quality was a significant cause of complaint in the restaurant system problems – for example, staff handover at a busy period costs of dealing with the complaints staff issues and any additional staff training required reputation of the business.
If you get the opportunity, it is also useful to keep a record of complaints after introducing any changes to your service. You can then compare pie charts and note whether or not the level of complaints has reduced, i.e. whether or not your changes have been effective.
Links to qualifications
This workbook will help with the following parts of your qualifications: NVQ level 3 units HS2 Establish and develop positive working relationships in hospitality HS19 Monitor and solve customer service problems (ICS imported unit) HS23 Work with others to improve customer service (ICS imported unit) NVQ level 2 units 2GEN2 Customer care skills Key skills Communication: C2.1a, 2.3 Application of number: N2.1, 2.2, 2.3 Technical certificates Hospitality Customer Relations
© Crown copyright 2005
