Create a free account, or log in

Chef stabs man after complaint about service: Five lessons in customer service

3. Empower staff to deal with complaints According to Ucukalo the best way to deal with a complaint is to empower your staff. “Try to resolve the situation before it escalates,” she says. “What that might mean to a business is giving staff a value that they can automatically assign as a goodwill gesture. In […]
Fallback Image
Cara Waters

3. Empower staff to deal with complaints

According to Ucukalo the best way to deal with a complaint is to empower your staff.

“Try to resolve the situation before it escalates,” she says.

“What that might mean to a business is giving staff a value that they can automatically assign as a goodwill gesture. In a restaurant it might be a dessert or wine or in another business it might be some sort of product or discount.”

Complaints should be handled quickly so customers know they are valued customers and that you are a professional business.

To go over and above the assigned value, Ucukalo recommends staff are required to seek management approval.

4. Acknowledge the complaint
Ucukalo says customers want to be acknowledged and heard when they complain.

“So you have to be conscious of allowing the person to vent or rant or to email,” she says.

“Acknowledging their emotion or complaint doesn’t mean accepting responsibility, it just means telling that person that you appreciate the situation they are in.”

She recommends acknowledging the complaint but then quickly coming up with a result and outcome.

“That means asking the person ‘What do you want to make you happy?’ or ‘How can we switch this situation into a positive one for you’. Just have a few key phrases about moving them into the resolution.”

5. Make something happen from the complaint

Finally, Ucukalo says you need to make something happen.

If staff are authorised to resolve the complaint it should happen quickly, and if they have to escalate to management, then try to do it quickly.
“If there is a shortcoming in your business, admit you have made a mistake and tell the person who has complained the outcomes you have applied to your business,” she says.

“Perhaps even consider thanking them for the complaint. If they are a highly valued customer or important then consider an apology gesture like a bottle of wine or something that will mean something to them.”

Ucukalo recommends recording the details of the complaint so you can spot trends as to whether something is reoccurring or is a one-off.

“Make refinements to your business and find those opportunities to improve your business. The best way to do that is making the changes to your business that your customers want,” she says.