How do you manage and use Consumer Complaints?

Hi all,

one question - perhaps already treated - it seems that consumers are more and more requiring, they complain much more than in the past, due to a lot of things - globalization etc...

This increasment of complaints can also involve an increasment of difficulties - eventually lawsuits.

Do you work with these complaints, is it fully agreed and lead by the top management of your company (cf. ISO 9 or 22K if certified or what about companies non certified)? Or does your management think that there isn't a real added value ? On top of that how do you work with these complaints, following the number, cpm, trend, do you reply your consumers?

Regards,

Emmanuel

Hi Emmanuel,

I agree people complain much more these days. I do for one. We expect higher standards and we are much more educated about what is good and what is acceptable, partly because we are more widely travelled and there is more choice. I heard a quote once “There are no such things as complaints…only opportunities for improvement”.

Every complaint should be treated as such. It should be acknowledged promptly, investigated thoroughly and replied to quickly with details of what went wrong and what has been done to prevent a reoccurrence. And this should all be done with a smile on the face.

Management should have a clear view of the trends and there should be resources allocated to reducing complaints. Customer complaints cost money in credit notes as well as all of the hidden costs and shrewd companies have robust Customer Complaint Management and Corrective / Preventive Action systems in place.

Motivation is a factor in getting relevant departments to take a step back from the daily work to look at causes of nonconformance and work on improvement projects. Management must make it clear that this is allowed and expected and they could even pay a staff bonus based on year on year reductions in the cost of internal / customer rejections. It might get the flywheel turning.

I hate the quote “Human Error” and if that is an answer on a corrective action I would get annoyed. If we ask Why? enough times there is nearly always another root cause.

Regards,
Simon

Simon,

Completely agree; however it seems that all the companies haven't the same point of view on the objective of continuous improvement - even though they do not always realize that they do take them into account by solving issues step by step without recording them.

That's the reason why I ask the question - I'm interested in having the feedback of factories but also restaurants catering etc... certified or not,

Regards,

Emmanuel

I have always used complaints per million units (CPMU) as the best measure of complaint levels. I analyse weekly, monthly and annual trends to take into account seasons. From this information we would target the highest rates of complaints and any adverse trends.

By nature people tend to complain more about higher value items. We also used to see greater levels of complaints on larger sizes/volumes of the same chilled products due to the fact they were in and out of the fridge more often.

My objectives would always include complaint reduction targets.

Regards,

Tony

Managing customer complaints in food service sector is difficult sometimes if the guest has food poisoning allegations or some quality issues with food or service.

We identify the outlets with more frequent complaints and the type of food alleged and every year compare the trends with the previous years to see the effectiveness of our services.

We talk to the guest to get the maximum details, investigate and then inform the guest the results of our investigation and this in turn helps to review our system. Our management considers all complaint serious and discuss it in the daily briefing and I will be required to update on the status till the case resolves to our satisfaction.

About 75% of the guests expect something in return. Some guest appreciate us for returning a call and updating them on our investigaion.

Managing customer complaints in food service sector is difficult

Hi Jean

I am not sure why you see it as difficult but you seem to have a handle on it.

Giving feedback to the customer is the most important thing for me and that's what you seem to be doing.

How do you categorise your complaints?

Regards,

Tony

Dear Simon / Tony,

I hate the quote “Human Error”

How do you categorise your complaints?

Here are three QA-friendly defences which cover a multitude of sins -

1. Nature's unavoidable error, eg raw seafood having vibrio parahaemolyticus

2. Environmental unavoidable error, eg almost all raw products having L.monocytogenes

3. Economic forced error, yes, the squid tubes are chewy because that's what the customer is paying for.

The last is obviously only for internal use. I'm sure there must be many more based on the QA axiom "Necessity is the Mother of Invention". Foreign objects can represent a significant challenge.

If only there was a natural resource for Salmonella, *sighhh*

Rgds / Charles.C

Hi Tony,

I am not sure why you see it as difficult but you seem to have a handle on it.

I find it difficult to handle the some guests, who just flare up, call bad words or abuse when you ask questions during investigations, like the different meals they had upto 72 hours, whether they travelled from abroad or allergic etc... Majority of the cases I have handled, the guest would either have not eaten good breakfast or lunch instead just munched some sandwich or tea and then come to our outlets and dine heavily on Spicy Seafoods or buffet etc..

Few cases like
-We had a guest in his 60's who travelled the day on the allegation having starting the day with just a cup of water and lime tea till nearly midnight then had come to have a very heavy dinner with meat and sea-foods, then complains of food poisoning.
-2 ladies who mentioned that they had not eaten any food for breakfast and lunch just to save for the dinner in our hotel, again the foods they had were spicy and seafoods.
-10 year old boy who had eaten Sashimi for the first time had stomach upsets and his mother complains food poisoining while the other members of her family were fine.

We classify our complaints mainly according to the type of foods and outlets used, as each outlet has different cuisines. Majority of the complaints are with seafoods, beef and spicy foods.

We had cases where the guest had asked us to pay for their medical bills and hotel stay due to their food poisoning allegation, which we didnt. They sometimes ask for free stay or free dining . Instead we ask them to let us know when they are here so that we can give them better attention.

We had cases where the guest had asked us to pay for their medical bills and hotel stay due to their food poisoning allegation, which we didnt. They sometimes ask for free stay or free dining . Instead we ask them to let us know when they are here so that we can give them better attention.

It is always a bit tricky knowing how to tackle food service complaints, after all you want to retain your customer. I used to work with glass botlling and occasionally we would get a glass complaint. You always knew which customers were looking to take you for a ride from the start.

I find that you have to judge each complaint on its merits. If someone has ended up in hospital a free meal is hardly much compensation. Is there an independent authority that deals with complaints over there?

Regards,

Tony

Is there an independent authority that deals with complaints over there?

Hi Tony,



Yes, we have the local regulatory body for food control and they will deal with the investigation. We will notify them in case the no. of people affected are 2 or more. The guest can call in the hotline number and register their complaints too.

If someone has ended up in hospital a free meal is hardly much compensation.

You are right and that is the reason why we don’t entertain such activities. We will replace a dish or entertain if the guests are having any problem with any quality or service related matters but not when one’s life is affected

Just a comment and question from me on allegations of food poisoning in food service settings.
- Some customers 'try it on' for a discount or freebie – no doubt
- Getting a full overview of customers daily eating is critical to the investigation - but getting this can probably seem like being cross-examined to the customer, so must be handled skilfully and sympathetically – no doubt

I would have thought though in a hotel or restaurant especially it would be easy to know if the problem originated there as more than one person would be affected - surely.

Could it be possible where many meals of the same recipe are served only one customer would be unlucky??

Regards,
Simon

Could it be possible where many meals of the same recipe are served only one customer would be unlucky??

Dear Simon,

I hope you are not referring to high risk population or people who are consuming some foods for the first time like sashimi / sushi / rare cooked steak or very spicy foods etc...Then it will be a different scenario and not food poisoning. The chances are very less, from my experience, if we keep aside the above mentioned cases.

Anyone has a different opinion to share?

Dear Simon,

I hope you are not referring to high risk population or people who are consuming some foods for the first time like sashimi / sushi / rare cooked steak or very spicy foods etc...Then it will be a different scenario and not food poisoning. The chances are very less, from my experience, if we keep aside the above mentioned cases.

Anyone has a different opinion to share?

Dear Jean

I don't think you have understood Simon's comment and taken it out of context:

I would have thought though in a hotel or restaurant especially it would be easy to know if the problem originated there as more than one person would be affected - surely. Could it be possible where many meals of the same recipe are served only one customer would be unlucky??

Regards,

Tony

Dear Jean

I don't think you have understood Simon's comment and taken it out of context.

I would have thought though in a hotel or restaurant especially it would be easy to know if the problem originated there as more than one person would be affected - surely. Could it be possible where many meals of the same recipe are served only one customer would be unlucky??

Regards,

Tony

Dear Tony,

I was just trying to explain that if 2 or more people are affected because of the same food at the same restaurant, then the chances of food poisoning can be considered.
If only one unlucky person had symptoms similar to food poisoning, it could be due to many other reasons, few of which I have mentioned in my previous post.

Simon, please let me know if this answers your question or not.

I think so Jean. I suppose it is a process of arriving at the answer by asking questions and gathering data and putting that together with experience.

In your experience how often does it happen that a customer complains about food poisoning caused by the hotel that is not justified and if you can tell me also how often the other way around?

Regards,
Simon

In your experience how often does it happen that a customer complains about food poisoning caused by the hotel that is not justified and if you can tell me also how often the other way around?

Regards,
Simon

Dear Simon,

The only way of confirming a case of food poisoning is by a positive stool (faeces) sample. In my experience, none of the guests have done this so far. The other way round too none.

Dear Penard,

Sorry for being , but the discussion between Jean and Simon makes me want to learn more about food poisoning.

Dear Simon,

The only way of confirming a case of food poisoning is by a positive stool (faeces) sample. In my experience, none of the guests have done this so far. The other way round too none.

@ Jean: Is it the only way of confirming the food poisoning? What about testing the suspected food? Of course, the symptoms may come a long time after the poor person eats it, and there is a big chance that the food already perished, but isn't it a necessary thing to test food too?

Or, we can get exactly what is the main cause just by analyzing the stool? Frankly speaking, I need to check our catering service. What is the most important thing that I need to worry about? What are the main complaints that usually pointed to catering service? Thank you very much.


Regards,


Arya

IMO.. thats part of food forensic science.. that science to know what and why the food can be posion... in that science as i know ( sorry if i am wrong)..we have to act as a sherlock holmes ..and the step are :
1. When the poisonning happen .. if that occur 1 day after eat the food..it caused by Micro.. not chemical or toxin...but if it happen sudennly.. taht caused by toxin or chemical..

2. What the victim did before and during eating the food.. that give us suggestion the possibility source of symptomp..

3. We can analyze the food to get the clear data..

and back to real problems... " We had cases where the guest had asked us to pay for their medical bills and hotel stay due to their food poisoning allegation, which we didnt.".. we have to make a system to identify that case, IMO we already have risk management system that give us a clear data and with that we can prove, it happened by our product or no.. so .. my suggestion is make a sytem to mannage your consumer complaint such as RISK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM..

@ Jean: Is it the only way of confirming the food poisoning? What about testing the suspected food? Of course, the symptoms may come a long time after the poor person eats it, and there is a big chance that the food already perished, but isn't it a necessary thing to test food too?

Dear Arya,



When does one suspect food poisoning?? After the symptoms appear, right!

In some cases (Food infection) the symptoms take 2 or 3 days to appear, sometimes less than an hour (food intoxication). Food poisoning can occur not only because of the last food consumed but may be due to any meals taken up to 72 hours before. By then maybe no remains of the food may remain. We send the remains or a subsequent sample, water / ice & environmental samples for testing. Any food complaints are an opportunity for us to review our system.

What is the most important thing that I need to worry about? What are the main complaints that usually pointed to catering service? Thank you very much.

IMO, you need to worry about each and every problem associated with your type of process.

we have to act as a sherlock holmes ..

I like that phrase, and agree with you.

Hi Everbody,

For this aim, whatever the number of customers is we listen to them and if our costumer says that he/she is sick related with our food, we send our food to be analysed to laboratory for preliminary investigation.
Bye.

OZLEM ACIR

Thanks Ozlem - this is a good point, the customer may have food poisoning but this does not prove it was caused by the caterer, only analysis of the food can prove this unless there is an outbreak such that there is unsurmountable evidence of the source e.g In circumstances 50 people fell ill and all of them ate at the restaurant

For batch cooked items it is quite simple to retain a sample but not practical for individual meals.

Kind regards,

Tony

Thank you for your comment Tony. :)

For batch cooked items it is quite simple to retain a sample but not practical for individual meals,

YES. I AGREE WITH YOU

on the other hand

Due to company' credibility and customer health safety we spend time,labour and money for retain any sample that we've produced.

Kind regards,

OZLEM ACIR

I agree with all of you,
Now-a-days there is an increase of consumer complaints mostly in commercial aspects compare to quality,
Trying the best level to reduce consumer complaints is by regular visiting, discussion - chatting, sharing the information - satisfaction surveys required time to time.

Please have a look on my presentation about:
customer-care