More news recently of fines in the banking sector points to lessons that need to be learned about complaints handling.
Did you head that the Bank of Scotland has been fined £3.5m for mishandling complaints. They have been ordered to pay £17.5m compensation. Apparently this is largest ever fine for complaints handling levied by the Financial Services Authority.
The complaints these fines relate to are now rather old. They are for complaints between 2007 and 2009. One has to wonder why it has taken so long for this to be resolved? What is happening to speed this up? We know that one of the key essentials of good complaints handling is speed.
Interestingly that the Bank of Scotland rejected 45% of complaints. It got these wrong. There is a lesson here: the best chance you get to deal with a complaint is when it is first mentioned. Rejecting it then being forced to reconsider is not going to help you. Even worse is then having to acknowledge it as a valid complaint.
We see that the Financial Service Authority puts much emphasis on discovering the root causes of complaints. That is a good idea because if something goes wrong you don’t want to keep getting it wrong. However, speed and great people skills are essential. At Reduce Complaints we wonder if enough attention is being paid to the people in the process? The customers will need effective handling from personnel skilled and trainedin complaints resolution.
The Domino Effect of complaints handling
Great news on complaints handling. You can turn complaints into more business. Learn more about a success story which did just that.
7 top complaints handling tips
For busy complaints handlers and team managers here are some quick tips from Reduce Complaints a UK based complaints training business. Why not use them at a team meeting to keep complaints handling skills up to scratch?
When to use empathy in complaints handling
For those who want to read some of the people skills that lie behind good complaint handling from a UK expert in the field.
