Dealing with complaints
People are more likely to complain now than ever before. Thanks to the internet and social media, it’s easy to send an email or worse, post a negative review online.
Off the back of a busy summer for RYA centres and instructors, Vaughan Marsh, Chief Instructor of the RYA’s Sail and Motor Cruising schemes shares his thoughts on how best to deal with customer complaints.
“Usually by the time a complaint gets to me, the opportunity to resolve it has been missed,” explains Vaughan.
“It seems that the Sail Cruising scheme gets a higher quantity of complaints than some of the other schemes. I would imagine most of this stems from living on board a boat for five days with strangers.
“In most cases their experience is fantastic, but a difficult customer, an instructor who is on another back-to-back course without a day off, bad weather or equipment failure can quickly turn things sour and prompt someone to complain.
“There’s all sorts of guidance online, a quick search will show some excellent thoughts. But here are some tips I’ve picked up over the years.”
It’s inevitable
Even if you have the best centre, with the best instructors and the best equipment, at some stage someone will complain about you, the school or your instructors.
How you deal with the complaint will either win back that customer or make the situation worse.
Make the most of it
For every customer that complains, there are likely to be several more silent customers who are also dissatisfied. Think about it, how often do you make a complaint when you’re unhappy about a poor product or a bad experience?
Make the most of the feedback by taking the opportunity to get to the root of the problem and resolve it, avoiding disappointing and losing future customers.
So what should you do?
By taking some simple steps and making sure your team is prepared for when the inevitable happens, complaints can be dealt with quickly and effectively:
1. Acknowledge receipt of the complaint
Complaints should always be acknowledged promptly.
Pick up the phone and talk to them or write an email the day you receive the complaint. Say something along the lines of:
“Thank you for your email, I am sorry you did not enjoy [name of course] with [name of instructor] on [date/s]. I will carry out a full investigation and respond to you by [date].”
Put this date in your diary and set a reminder two days before it!
As part of the reply ask if you can share the complaint with the instructor.
2. Read the whole complaint
Try not to be offended and take a step back. This is never easy when someone is unhappy with your boats, your instructor, your food etc. and it’s easy to be defensive. Really read it, take note and write down any areas that they are specifically unhappy with.
3. Investigate to identify what went wrong
Complaints generally have at least an element of truth. Your customer will be unhappy for a reason.
Your investigation should at the very least involve the instructor. If you have permission then ask them to read the complaint in full. But always ensure the instructor only responds to you, not the complainant.
If you are unable to share the complaint, then use your notes to talk to the instructor. They should identify areas that were true.
The instructor should feel supported by you during this conversation. We all get it wrong sometimes and this is an opportunity for you to support them and to ask that vital question:
“If you were in the same position again, what would you do differently?”
This includes freelance instructors. Don’t just elect not to use them again and leave them to it.
If the instructor denies everything (unlikely), then you are going to have to contact the students. If this is necessary, say something like:
“I hope you enjoyed your [name of course] with us on [date/s]. I know you completed feedback at the time, but now that you have had time to reflect I wondered if you would be able to feedback on what we did well and what we could have done better. We value all feedback and strive to deliver the best customer service we possibly can.”
Generally some will reply and some won’t. Any replies will help to shape your overall impression of the complaint.
4. Focus on the known errors
Ignore anything your investigation suggests was not true and make sure to focus on the known errors. Complaints will often have an element of exaggeration.
This is where not being offended really comes in. There isn’t much to gain by telling them what your investigation did not agree with.
5. Keep them updated
Respond to them before your deadline. Even if it is just an email letting them know that you are still investigating and waiting for some of the people involved to reply.
Update them with a date you will respond to them in full and again note it in your diary with a reminder a few days before.
6. Say sorry
Apologise for the areas that your investigation has identified went wrong.
7. If appropriate offer some form of goodwill gesture
Money will often make them go away but they will still talk about you negatively. Unfortunately, sometimes it is the only option.
Getting them to come back for some more training at a reduced/no cost may regain them as a future customer and get their friends to come too. It’s less outlay for you and an opportunity to show how good you really are.
If you’re stuck…
Often someone outside the complaint will have the ability to look at both sides objectively.
Pick up the phone and talk to the relevant RYA Chief Instructor before it all goes wrong.
And finally, if despite your best efforts to resolve you think it is heading towards the RYA, contact us and give us a heads up. We can mediate if it helps.
Find out more about who’s who in the RYA Training team and relevant contacts here.
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