How to handle complaints

Aside from it being a regulatory requirement, having an accessible complaints procedure in place can help to increase customer confidence in your service. It shows you are committed to providing a good level of service and will mean you are ready if/when a complaint is made.

Your complaints procedure should ensure your customer is aware of:

• Their right to complain to you about your services and your charges;
• How they can make their complaint and who it should be addressed to; and
• What options they have if they remain unhappy after you have completed your review of the complaint, including details of the Legal Ombudsman and when they can make a complaint to us.

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An effective complaints process should:

• Have a named point of contact - Having a point of contact for complaints will avoid complaints going unanswered due to lack of ownership. If you don’t have a dedicated point of contact, consider involving someone else early in the process. This will allow the complaint to be moderated and gives you the benefit of a more objective viewpoint. You should also make sure all staff know who a complaint should be forwarded to, if they are made aware of it in the first instance.
• Use simple language that is easy to follow - You want people to feel comfortable raising their complaints with you and complex or overly legalistic language can be a barrier. Remember, this is also an opportunity for you to learn from the complaints you receive so removing barriers is vital.
• Be accessible - Your complaints process should be accessible to all, including vulnerable customers and those with special needs or requirements. You should be contactable by email, phone and letter and have the process available on your website. If a customer makes you aware that they are having difficulties bringing their complaint to you, ask how you can assist them.
• Be as straightforward as possible - Don’t over complicate the process. Make sure it gives individuals an opportunity for review, but you don’t need too many hoops for them to jump through. Again, looking at an overly complicated complaints process can put people off raising their concerns. In turn, this means you miss the opportunity to learn and improve your service.
• Be clear about what will happen at each stage and how long each stage should take - Make sure a customer could identify where they are in the process and what should be happening next.
• Fit within the eight-week timeframe - make sure the timeframes you set out mean you can complete the process within eight weeks of the date that the complaint was first raised. If you haven’t completed your process by eight weeks, you may miss the opportunity to do so. At this point the person complaining can bring the matter to the Legal Ombudsman and does not need to wait for your process to finish. Double check the timeframes you have set out in your procedures to make sure you have complied with this requirement.
• Signpost - Early on and at the end of your process – if you are unable to resolve the complaint, inform your customer that they can bring their complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

Avoid jargon and emotive or provocative language

The type of language and tone used in the complaints process can affect customer decisions. Use of jargon and legalistic language can also be a barrier to resolving issues.

It is best practice to use clear, comprehensible language and a neutral tone. Clarity in any communication is vital to a considered and effective complaints procedure.

Complex and legalistic terminology may be second nature to you; however, it is best avoided when writing responses to complaints. In addition to this, it is important to give careful thought to the tone used in your complaint responses.

Identifying a complaint

It is unlikely that you will ever be able to avoid complaints entirely. So, it’s important to be able to recognise when a complaint is being made and to deal with it appropriately.

Our Scheme Rules define a complaint as an ‘expression of dissatisfaction’. We will always encourage people who contact us before making their complaint, to put it in writing; however, this isn’t a requirement and we will investigate complaints where the complaint has been made in person or over the phone.?

Sometimes customers will simply be raising queries about their case, however, sometimes these queries become concerns and the customer may be expressing their dissatisfaction about the service they are receiving. It is important that you can identify when these queries have become concerns that need to be addressed more formally.

A customer may also feel intimidated or concerned that making a complaint may affect their ongoing case. Or they may have special needs or requirements, which need accommodating in order to make your complaints process fair and accessible. It is important that you are able to identify when this is happening and to act on it appropriately.

If in doubt about whether a complaint is being raised – ask! Speak to the customer, acknowledge their concerns and ask them if they would like them to be addressed under your complaint’s procedure.

Understand the reason for the complaint?

A key part of your process needs to be really understanding the complaint that is being made. This will help to approach the complaint in the best way possible to reach a resolution. If you don’t get to the heart of the complaint being raised, you won’t be able to fully resolve it.

It may also be helpful to think about any underlying reasons for the complaint. Perhaps a customer is anxious about the progress of their case, hasn’t fully understood the legal process or is working to a limited budget.

Some customers may also be dealing with very stressful events in their life and may need more support than others. Take these things into account as the complaint progresses.

We sometimes receive complaint letters which are very long and detailed and it can be difficult to identify the key issues being raised. If you receive a complaint like this, it can be useful to phone the customer and talk it through, identify with them what the real issues are and what is important to them.

Once you have a good understanding of the main issues, you can start to address them.

Acknowledge the complaint within two working days of receipt

Good communication is going to be vital to ensuring that you handle the complaint in an appropriate way. Good practice requires a timely acknowledgement of a complaint. The experience of customers in other sectors shows that a response within two working days increases their confidence in a complaint handling process.

Provide a map of options to resolve the issue/s

It is important to be flexible and tailor your approach to your customer, provide options and consider what approach would best suit the situation. If the issue relates to greater clarity over costs, you might simply need to provide the customer with a more detailed breakdown of their bill. In this way, the complaint could be dealt with quickly and informally.

On the other hand, if the complaint is about whether you have followed their instructions regarding the work it may require a more formal route in which both parties provide written evidence to support their argument.

You may have a procedure in place but if circumstances mean it would be better to deviate from this and try something new, suggest that to the customer and see how they feel about it. It is about recognising that one size won’t always fit all.

Manage expectations

Reassure the customer that they won’t be charged for complaining. Be clear and up front about how long it will take to investigate the complaint. Don’t set yourself unrealistic timeframes but remember after eight weeks from the date the complaint is raised, the customer can refer their complaint to the Legal Ombudsman whether you have concluded your process or not.

Share your findings

When responding to the complaint, you should set out what you have investigated and what you have found. You need to include as much detail as is required to ensure the customer understands how you have reached your conclusion. Again, your communication here needs to be clear, with a neutral tone that avoids emotive or provocative language. Keep your communication jargon free.

Here it can be useful to bullet point the complaint areas and respond to each point, providing evidence where possible.

Remember your service does not have to be perfect. The Legal Ombudsman will look to determine if the service provided was reasonable.

Putting things right if there has been unreasonable service

It is important to be honest. If you have found the service to be unreasonable, be clear about this and explain what will be done as a result. Remember an early apology can go a long way to resolving issues.

When offering an apology, where you have concluded that the service was unreasonable, really listen to what the customer is saying and construct your apology based upon what they say they are unhappy with.

A well-meaning apology will:

• Recognise poor service or recognise the customer’s dissatisfaction;
• Take responsibility where appropriate
• Provide reasons for service failings
• Offer regret for a service that has fallen below the expected standard
• Offer redress where appropriate

Acknowledge what went wrong and offer the customer a suitable remedy, along with a full explanation of what happened. The remedy should be proportionate to the level of poor service. For example, if there was a small administrative error that didn’t adversely impact their case, but which caused minor inconvenience, an apology might be more appropriate. If, on the other hand, they’ve been overcharged, it would be sensible to apologise, refund the amount and perhaps pay a small amount of compensation.

Putting things right when the service has been reasonable

An apology doesn’t have to mean you have provided poor service; it is possible to apologise even when the service has been reasonable. It can be a way of expressing empathy and understanding and as defined in our Scheme Rules, ‘an apology will not of itself be treated as an admission of liability’ by the Legal Ombudsman.

If you found that the service provided was reasonable, be clear about this and explain why you’ve formed this view, sharing evidence where possible.

Conclude your own complaints procedure

If you are unable to resolve your customer’s complaint, and they remain unhappy, you should provide them with a final response and signpost them to the Legal Ombudsman. Signposting them is a regulatory requirement.

Think:

• Have you made it clear that you have come to the end of your complaints procedure and that this is your final response?
• Have you included all of the Legal Ombudsman’s contact details within your final response?
• Have you confirmed that a complaint needs to be raised with the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the date of your final response?

Learn

Finally, the process doesn’t end with the final response. Is there anything you can learn from or improve on, going forward? If you routinely see a lot of complaints in similar areas, a small change may make all the difference.

Good complaints handling can be positive for service providers – dealing with complaints effectively gives customers confidence that a service provider is customer focused. An effective complaints procedure can also help you learn from mistakes and identify ways to improve the services you are providing, which can only be good for business.

Further support

In response to a recent complaint, the Ombudsman has highlighted the importance of having a complaints process clearly visible on your website. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has guidance to support providers, including templates, how to handle complaints and FAQs. To support handling of future complaints please ensure your process is easily accessible.

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