CIP- Center for Innovation for the Poor

Complaint Management System

Title: Complaint Management System

Case Study no: 22

Initiated in: 2013

Key terms: Complaints, customer support, rural, after sales, service, monitoring

This case study captures a complaint handling system in SELCO designed to resolve issues raised by customers in a timely and

cost effective way that provides information that can lead to improvements in services offered to customers particularly in

rural areas and to put a system in place to enable complaints and create accountability in the organisations administrative

process.

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Need

Continuous Monitoring of complaints

Recognition within the organization for faster resolution for complaint management

Setting up processes which encourages compliance

Problem Statement

Process not automated

No reminders for pending Complaints

The current process of CMS is suitable only for small to medium scale operations

With the increase in customer base, a more comprehensive system of monitoring is required as it becomes inefficient to manage manually. migration of the process to another platform will be necessary

A need to upgrade an after sales service and make the process more

efficient was recognized as growth of the organization lead to wider

geographical reach, diversity in types of products deployed and larger

customer base. Thus upon analysis it was determined to combine a

centralized complaint management system to complement the existing

decentralized service network. It was set up in October 2013, to address

following issues:

- Monitoring complaints were earlier maintained manually,

though hard copies, which at times went unattended after the

complaint was lodged

- The standard process was built into daily service routines

allocated to personnel based on complaints registered by the

office administrator.

- The present system made it at times difficult for customers to

easily access service personnel via phone (a preferable route for

lodging complaints by SELCO customers).

In SELCO there are two main departments that look into after sales service-

The Complaint Service Department: maintains records and tracks registered complaints

The Customer Support Department: attends to technical support on the ground

Operation of Complaint Management System (CMS):

A main feature of the CMS is an All-India toll free number with main advantages of:

It adds credibility to the company as customers associate a Toll free number with higher quality

It is easily accessible to customers across the country even if in rural areas.

It makes management of grievances and complaints efficient by central monitoring

Key aspects:

Community Mobilization: To ensure the success of the joint awareness program, Mahesh Foundation ensured

Our funding partners

1. The complaints are lodged through the all-India toll free number or complaints are registered directly to SELCO

Branches via phone calls /emails. The complaint is then updated by the Complaint Service Department (CSD) in the

“SELCO Master Complain Register (SMCR)”, an online google document. The CSD is given sole authority to edit,

modify and update the SMCR, to ensure the complaints are closed only when they are resolved and ensuring the

database is not compromised by too many handlers from different departments.

2. Every complaint is allocated a unique “complaint number”. Once the complaint is lodged, it will be communicated to

the respective Branches within that geographic area for further actions.

3. Once the complaint is addressed, the respective branch updates the same in the “Open Complaint Register (OCR)”,

an online google document. The OCR can be edited by the branches (through an online data base) to input the

details of the lodged complaints. CSD verifies the information provided by the branch in the OCR and dates the

same in the SMCR.

4. The SMCR is managed by the CSD and the SELCO Branches have access to view it and obtain the current status of any

registered complaint

5. A complaint is considered rectified only when indicated as “closed” in the SMCR.

Escalation process:

The complaints lodged are to be resolved by the branch within 3 days, in contrary to which the complaint is put forth to

an escalation process, one that ensures a complaint is not left unattended. Below is a matrix to summarize the

hierarchical level of complaint management:

Type Timeline Escalation Level

Standard 3 days OA, CSE/Sr CSE

Tier 1 5 days RCSE, BM

Tier 2 7 days CSD - Head, AM’s

Exceptional* Open AGM-Operations

*In terms of exceptional cases which does not have an easy resolution due to severity of the case like unavailability of

spare parts etc. the complaint is termed ‘Exceptional’ and will be directly escalated to AGM-Operations. These cases

need special handling and can be indicative of staffing and other logistical issues.

OA - Office Administrative; CSE - Customer Service Executive; Sr CSE- Senior Customer Service Executive; RCSE–

Regional Customer Service Executive; BM— Branch Manager; AM—Area Manager; AGM—Area General Manager

Complaint recieved from Toll Free Number or Branch

Standard : OA/CSE - In charge of handling complaints for the Branch

Tier 1 : RCSE -appointed for specific regions to administer complaints / BM of the complaint specific region

Tier 2 : CSD Head - Incharge of customer service and complaint management of all branches/ AM's - Branch level

Exceptional: AGM Operations - Regional level

Impact

Better monitoring of customer complaints

Better understanding of nature of problems

Increased Customer confidence to reach out to a toll free number, as it is only a phone call away and there is

no need to wait till the time of the next service

Able to measure efficiency and technological capabilities of various branches , by examining the time taken

to resolve the complaint registered

As of 2014, 516 complaints have been registered out of which 442 complaints have been resolved