There may be times when customers are not happy with the services you have provided - here are some tips to help you deal with customer complaints.

Communicate with your customers

Good communication with your customers is key to resolving complaints. Good communication may also help prevent complaints from being made in the first place.

Good communication is most important around costs and pricing. Here are some tips for reducing the risk of a complaint about your charges:

• Be clear about the difference between a quote and an estimate
• Follow a ‘no surprises’ approach to quoting and invoicing
• Be clear about what you are quoting or charging for
• Itemise what is and is not included in your quote
• Communicate with your customers about how any changes to the scope of the work will be dealt with
• Be clear and upfront about your approach to travel (eg. when you are charging from, what happens if you need to go somewhere during work to get equipment or supplies)

Have a process to deal with complaints

Think about these things when coming up with a complaints process:

• How long it will take you to deal with a complaint. Ignoring a complaint will not make it go away and delays in dealing with it will probably make things worse.
• Acknowledge the complaint and the customer’s concerns. You don’t have to agree with them, but it is important to listen to what they have to say.
• Provide the customer information or assistance to help them understand the situation better. This may help stop the situation from escalating.
• Be professional when dealing with a customer complaint. The customer is not a trained and qualified practitioner, so they depend on you to explain things to them in a way they will understand.

It is important to keep good records of any complaints you receive and deal with (eg. emails, invoices, records of phone conversations, texts, photographs of the work, a description of how the matter was resolved). This will help you if the customer pursues the complaint further (eg. Disputes Tribunal or a complaint to the Board). Over time, you may also be able to review your complaint records to see if there are any areas in your business where you could make improvements.

Be open to resolve the complaint

Ask some your customer the questions in the list below to help you understand where your customer is coming from. This may help you to find a solution to the complaint.

• What matters most to you?
• What are the consequences for you?
• Why is this a problem for you?
• How do you think this can be resolved?
• What would you like to happen next?

The idea is to identify as many ways of dealing with the complaint as possible. The more options you have for dealing with the complaint, the more likely you will be able to resolve it in a way that works for both the customer and you.

How to deal with complaints made to the Board

When responding to the Board about a complaint about your work, provide as much information as possible. Include details about:

• The work you completed
• Who did what work
• The licence or authorisation status of the people involved in the work at the time the work was carried out
• What happened
• How it happened
• Steps you took to try to resolve the matter with the customer.

Be sure to include any relevant documentation (eg. job sheets, invoices) and photos. The more information you can provide the Board, the easier it will be to assess whether the complaint needs to go any further.

Information about the Board’s complaints process can be found in our complaints guide.