Act on all customer complaints
Customers may complain to you about any aspect of your products or services. If you respond quickly and fairly, complaints can help you understand your customers more and improve your business processes.
Sometimes the complaint will require a remedy and sometimes it won’t. In all cases, communicate clearly with your customer.
To handle a complaint, you’ll need to understand consumer laws and have fair policies in place.
Understanding these laws and policies means you can communicate, investigate, and offer the right remedy for the complaint.
Some of the consumer laws you’ll need to know about include:
- the Consumer Guarantees Act — to help consumers get what they paid for
- the Fair Trading Act — to avoid overselling or false promises
- the Privacy Act — to keep personal information secure
- the Human Rights Act — so everyone is treated fairly.
Depending on the type of business you have, you might also need to know about rules for:
- product safety
- carriage of goods
- weights and measures
- financial services
- vehicle sellers.
What you can and can’t do
It’s your right to investigate before deciding what to do when a customer complains, whether in person or online. Find out as much as you can before you decide what — if any — remedy to offer.
Consumer law says customers can get a replacement, repair or refund for:
- faulty products
- substandard services
- late deliveries
- being overcharged if the price wasn’t set beforehand.
But if customers ask to return something for another reason, for example, they accidentally broke it or don’t like the colour, you don’t have to agree.
It is against the law to:
- refuse to deal with a complaint
- fail to deal with a complaint
- take too long to deal with a complaint.
Complaints can be tricky to handle, particularly if it’s a complicated problem or discussions have become heated. It’s important to deal with all complaints though.
Know your rights and act promptly. If you seem to be avoiding or delaying responding to a complaint, customers may take this as refusing to deal with their complaint.
Give customers important information
Whether you sell online or in person, you need to give your customers clear and accurate information about your products, services, and processes.
You’ll need to explain things like:
- sales agreements
- payment security
- data collection and privacy
- refunds, repairs, or replacements
- extended warranties
- delivery costs
- how to contact you and how to complain.
Follow a fair process
Giving a refund, repair, or replacement means taking the customer seriously. To help you follow a consistent process, you’ll need a fair returns and complaints policy.
For minor problems, you can decide to replace or repair the item or service, or refund the customer. If something is seriously wrong with a product or service, you need to put it right in the way the customer chooses. For example, you may need to give a replacement or a full refund, plus any extra costs caused by the problem.
Find out as much as you can about the complaint before acting. You might need to put something right — or it might be okay to turn down the complaint.
Reduce the risk of complaints
The best way to cut down on complaints is to get good systems and processes in place.
This might mean:
- clear information for customers
- collecting and analysing data on complaints
- robust packaging and reliable delivery services.
It’s quicker in the long run to do what you can to prevent problems arising. This will make life easier for you and keep your customers happier – all of which makes your business stronger.
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