Quality System Procedure - Complaints

Most recently edited by: Paul VanderWeele
Most recent edit date: Feb 10, 2021
Edits were authorized by: Paul VanderWeele

Purpose

To define how to handle and resolve customer complaints.

Scope / Field of Application

A special corrective action request where the problem has been discovered by the customer rather than identified and rectified within the laboratory.

Responsibility

Managers and supervisors continually solicit customer feedback.

Employees receiving complaints are responsible for recording the details of the customer complaint, do what they can to resolve the immediate problem or assure the customer that their complaint will receive immediate attention, inform the customer that the laboratory will contact them by a certain time or date, and pass the details of the complaint on to their supervisor and advising them if the nature of the complaint is serious or might lead to legal action.

Managers/supervisors analyse the nature of the complaint (contacting the customer for further information if necesary), initiate action to resolve the complaint (keeping records of these actions), contact the customer to determine whether the solution is sufficient, implement long-term solutions to prevent the recurrence of this type of complaint (keeping records of these solutions), and monitor the effectiveness of the long-term solution (keeping records of follow-up verifications).

Circulate information as to the nature of the complaint to all interested personnel within the laboratory.

The Quality Manager follows up with all appropriate personnel to assure that corrective action has been implemented and demonstrated.

Materials Required

Corrective Action Request form

Procedure

Record-Keeping

Record complaint in the Complaint/Feedback Log and identify it as a customer complaint.
Record complaint on a Corrective Action Request form and identify it as a customer complaint by checking off the customer complaint check-box.
Perform whatever immediate corrections can be made and record these details.
Forward to the supervisor’s attention.
Supervisor determines whether a corrective action needs to be taken to prevent recurrence.
A root cause analysis is performed to identify what the true cause of the complaint was and records are kept.
Take corrective action to prevent recurrence and record actions.
Perform follow-up verification to ensure the appropriate corrective action was taken and effective and record verification.

Note - All records are kept on the Corrective Action Request form.

Resolving Difficult Situations

Listen actively while the customer is venting and don’t interrupt.
Control your tone of voice (calm and low) and body language.
Empathize first with a phrase that genuinely shows concern (e.g., “I appreciate that must have been very annoying for you”, “I understand how frustrating that is”, “I am sorry to hear that”). Do not start off by saying “May I have your name please”. Finally, if our laboratory did make an error, don't forget to say that we are sorry - it’s surprising how much this actually does mean to the complainant.
Show you are willing to help. Take responsibility for the situation and give your name to establish a personal bridge.
Question the customer to get the facts (i.e., who, what, where, when, how).
Summarize what you’ve heard by writing it down. If the complaint is over the phone, the employee needs to let the customer know that they are recording the complaint so that there is some assurance that the situation is being taken seriously.
Say what you can do.
Give the customer a choice to make the customer feel empowered and respected.
Follow the action through to completion.
Check that the customer is now satisfied by following up.

Written Responses

Any required written responses to customers are authored by the Technical Manager / Deputy Technical Managers.
Copies of the written response are attached to the Corrective Action Request.
Final review is conducted by the Quality Manager.