Smb Handle Complaint

Handle a Complaint

When to use

Use this when a customer raises a complaint and the owner wants to respond well, keep the relationship, and stop the same problem recurring — not just fire off an apology.

Not for: aggregating many complaints into themes (use smb-customer-pulse) or drafting reusable templates across issues (use smb-customer-pulse-check). This handles one case, deeply.

Method

1. Capture the complaint. State what the customer said, the channel, the order/account, and the outcome they want.
2. Pull context. Note the customer's history — tenure, spend, prior issues — and what actually happened on your side.
3. Diagnose root cause. Separate the symptom from the underlying cause (process gap, product defect, miscommunication, one-off).
4. Decide the remedy. Propose the resolution — apology, fix, refund, replacement, credit, or goodwill gesture. Decision point: size it to both the severity and the customer's lifetime value; a loyal high-spender warrants more than a first-time buyer with a minor gripe.
5. Draft the response. Write a message that acknowledges, takes responsibility where due, states the remedy and timeline, and stays warm and specific.
6. Prescribe the operational fix. Recommend the change that prevents recurrence, with an owner.

Any refund, credit, compensation, or customer-facing reply requires owner approval before it goes out or money moves — present them as proposals.

Example

Complaint (email): "My monthly delivery arrived broken again." Context: 3-year customer, ~$1,200/yr, second breakage in two months. Root cause: new packaging insert too thin. Proposed remedy: replace free + one month credit ($40) — pending approval. Draft response opens: "You've been with us three years and this is twice now — that's on us." Operational fix: revert to the thicker insert; owner = ops lead.

Pitfalls

• Apology without a fix. "Sorry for the inconvenience" with no remedy or root cause loses the customer anyway.
• One-size remedy. Over-compensating a minor issue trains bad behavior; under-compensating a loyal customer loses them.
• Sending before approval. Every reply and any money movement waits for the owner's yes.
• Skipping prevention. If you don't name the operational fix, the same complaint returns.

Output format

Complaint: <what> | channel <..> | desired outcome <..>
Customer context: tenure, value, history
Root cause: ___
Proposed remedy: <action> — cost/credit $__ (pending owner approval)
Draft response: "<ready to send on approval>"
Operational fix: <change> — owner <who> — prevents <what>

Reference

Severity × loyalty remedy matrix

Size the remedy to two axes: how badly the customer was hurt (severity) and how much the relationship is worth (tenure + annual spend + margin). Use this as a starting grid, then let the owner adjust.

Rule of thumb: a goodwill gesture should cost less than one month of that customer's margin for minor/moderate cases. Anything above that, or any cash refund, is an owner decision. Second occurrence of the same issue jumps one severity row — repeat failure is itself the injury.

Response template by complaint type

Every draft follows the same spine — Acknowledge → Own → Remedy + timeline → Prevent → Warm close — but the emphasis shifts:

• Product defect / breakage. Lead with the fix, not the apology. "You shouldn't have received a broken {item} — a replacement ships {date}, and I've credited {amount}. We've also changed {root cause} so it stops here."
• Billing / double-charge. Money back first, explanation second. "You were charged twice; the duplicate ${amount} is refunded and will clear in {2-5 days}. Here's exactly what happened and the guardrail we added."
• Late / missed delivery. Concrete new commitment, no vague "soon." "Your order is now {status}, arriving {date/time}. For the delay, {remedy}."
• Rude / poor service. Own the behavior without blaming the staffer publicly. "That's not how we treat customers, and I'm sorry. I've spoken with the team and {change}."
• Expectation gap (worked as designed but felt wrong). Validate the feeling, clarify gently, offer a bridge. Don't over-refund a non-error, but don't win the argument and lose the customer.

Escalation ladder

1. Frontline resolve — within remedy authority, same day. Target first-response < 4 business hours, resolution < 24-48 hours.
2. Owner review — any refund, credit above the goodwill threshold, public reply, or legally/safety-sensitive issue. Always for top-20% customers.
3. Formal / external — threats of legal action, regulator/chargeback, or media/viral review. Stop drafting casual replies; loop in the owner (and counsel if named) before any response.

Tone and timing rules

• Respond fast even before you can resolve — a same-day "I've got this, here's when you'll hear back" beats a perfect reply two days late.
• Never use "policy," "unfortunately," or "as per" in a recovery message; they read as defensive.
• Match the channel: public review → brief, warm public reply + a private channel to make it right (never negotiate money in public).
• One remedy, stated once. Re-negotiating erodes trust and invites gaming.

Metrics worth tracking

Recovery rate (retained / total complained), repeat-complaint rate on the same root cause (should trend to zero after the fix), average first-response and resolution time, and goodwill cost as a % of complaint value. A rising repeat-complaint rate means the operational fix didn't stick — reopen it.