This policy procedure sets out how problems and complaints are logged, reviewed and closed, how root causes and trends are analysed, and how staff treat customers.

Effective Policy Templates

This policy template is supplied in fully editable MS Word format and can be easily customised and edited. The document uses pre-defined style formatting throughout, with all text in Calibri font for improved readability.
The following document labelling is included in the footer:

• Policy number and title
• Information-classification
• Version
• Page number / total pages

alphaZ documents - beautifully designed, tried and tested policy templates. No junk, jargon or unnecessary content. Simple and usable policy templates developed over 25 years through practical use in the real world.

Further Reading

Further guidance on problems, complaints and corrective action:

• ISO 9001 Clause 10.2 - Nonconformity and Corrective Action
• Consumer Rights and Product Safety
• Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)
• Management Systems knowledge base

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Problems, Complaints and Customer Care Policy Procedure Template

The Problems, Complaints and Customer Care Policy Procedure is a Word template that sets out how a business deals with problems, complaints and other issues and learns from them. It covers a statement of intent, deciding which issues are significant, the stages of review from containment to closure, trend and root cause analysis, complaint handling and customer care standards for staff.

It supplements IMS1 section 5.2 on nonconforming outputs, problems and complaints in an IMS1 management system. Title, File Location, Issue No, Issue Date, Controlled By and Approved By fields, an Amendment Record and a Business Use classification in the footer support document control.

What the Policy Covers

• Amendment record, summary, scope and applicability - the purpose of the policy, its scope of all company activities at all locations, and who it applies to
• Statement of intent - the commitment to continual improvement by learning from issues, logging significant issues and finding the root cause to prevent recurrence
• Problems and complaints procedure - judging the significance of an issue, examples of significant issues, and when to use the issues register alone or the problems form as well
• Reviewing and documenting issues - guidance on the stages from summary and containment through corrective action, verification and root cause to closure, and how to complete the problems form
• Review of problems and complaints - trend analysis of the issues register, root cause analysis by physical, human and organisational causes, links to the risk register and logging every complaint
• Customer care - customer care training for staff, the standards all representatives follow when dealing with customers, and collecting and reviewing customer feedback

Built for Learning from Issues

• A clear test of significance, so trivial issues can be dismissed and real problems are logged
• Review stages from containment and corrective action through to verification, root cause and closure
• Root cause analysis grouped by physical, human and organisational causes
• Every customer complaint logged, even if it seems spurious, and assigned to a responsible person
• Standards for anyone dealing with customers, from giving accurate information to keeping them informed of delays

Who Needs a Problems, Complaints and Customer Care Policy Procedure?

Any business that wants a consistent way to deal with problems, nonconformances and customer complaints and to learn from them. It is used by the managers who review issues and by staff who deal directly with customers.

How the Policy Fits Together

Significant issues are logged on the ER1 Issues Actions Register, with the F-Q10 Significant Problem, Incident and Complaint Form used where several people are involved or further review is needed. Logged issues are then considered when the F-IMS23 Opportunities Risks Register is reviewed and at management review.

Using the Policy

Edit the arrangements to match your own, such as the examples of significant issues, who reviews complaints and how customer feedback is collected. Name the person responsible in the Controlled By field, give it top level approval and brief staff, with customer care training for those who deal directly with customers.

Related Documents

The GG-1-04 Problems, Complaints and Customer Care Guidance and TT-1-04 Problems, Complaints and Customer Care Training Talk help brief staff on handling problems, complaints and customer care.