Complaints Handling Process

Process Overview

The following key steps must be followed for all customer complaints received by Vnnergy staff:

The requirements for each of these steps is detailed below

Summary

Ensure that all potential issues are captured by the organisation, and classified for escalation, review and action as required.

• Any complaint, issue or negative customer interaction (whether this is formally logged by the customer or not), must be logged and classified for action.
• All of these complaints must be formally logged using paper-based forms (see below)
• All complaints must be prioritised as follows:
• Priority 1 – urgent, potential high business impact. The SLA requires a response to the customer within 3 working days.
• This should be used (sparingly) for major issues where the customer may be either a large national supplier, or any customer who is considering moving their business from Vnnergy.
• Also this could be used in a situation where the customer may be in a position to influence or make public statements that would impact upon the Vnnergy brand or reputation.
• Priority 2, – non-urgent, lower business impact. The SLA requires a response to the customer within 2 working weeks.
• This should be used for most complaints with individual customers, as this allows a reasonable time to collect information and produce a balanced response.
• Discretion and flexibility should be exercised in prioritising all complaints
• The staff member logging the complaint should review the complaint and it’s priority with the Office Manager before proceeding to the next step.
• Office Managers will decide on the appropriate person(s) to carry out subsequent steps, including the investigation.
• All Priority 1 complaints must be escalated immediately to the Office and/or Operations Manager.

Summary

Ensure that every complaint receives a formal written acknowledgement, containing an expectation of when they will receive a response, and the person dealing with it.

• All complaints, regardless of priority, should receive a pro forma (see below) acknowledgement sent out within 24 hours from the day of receipt.

Summary

Follow up all aspects of the complaint, both internal and external, to ensure that the key facts are identified and clarified.

• The priority of the complaint will drive the timescale for completion (3 days for urgent or 2 weeks for non-urgent).
• All areas of interaction and communication should be established (who, what, where, when, why etc) and documented where possible.

Summary

Ensure that the final resolution is clear and fair. Also confirm the proposed action and resolution with another senior person.

• Ensure that the proposed resolution meets corporate guidelines and does not prejudice Vnnergy in any unnecessary legal or financial manner.
• Document the proposed action and discuss and agree with Office and/or Operations Manager.
• Discuss and review the solution form both the corporate and customer viewpoint to ensure fairness and clarity.
• The review should include recognition and documentation of any underlying issues that have contributed to the complaint and recommendations for actions to prevent further occurrence.
• This should then be reviewed as part of the bi-monthly SLA and CSAT reviews.

Summary

Provide the customer with the resolution within the timescales promised.

• The details of the findings and proposed resolution should be clearly explained (in written or verbal form as appropriate) to the customer- within the agreed timescales.
• If this cannot be done on time the customer should be contacted by telephone to request further time.

Summary

Ensure that complaints are followed up to confirm that customers are satisfied with the response given.

• All Priority 1 complaints and 95% of priority 2 complaints must be followed up within a reasonable timescale.
• This will be carried out by the Customer Relations team.
• The follow up should identify the following
• Is the customer satisfied with the response?
• Did they feel that their complaint was properly and fairly handled?
• Any negative responses to these questions should be referred to Operations Managers for action and direct follow up with customers.

Summary

Ensure that the organization as a whole is aware of complaints and any underlying issues. Plan actions to remove these and prevent future recurrence.

• All complaints should be reviewed monthly as part of the SLA/CSAT review meetings.
• Any complaints where action can be taken to avoid recurrent must be acted upon and raised with the appropriate managers/teams across the organization.

Complaint logging form/screen

Key Details required

A standard acknowledgement letter is sent to the complainant, followed up with the resolution process.