Settling complaints early · CONSTRUCTION AND HOME SERVICES
Settling complaints early · DENTAL AND VETERINARY CLINICS
Settling complaints early · ESTATE AND LETTING AGENTS
Settling complaints early · GARAGES AND CAR SERVICING
Settling complaints early · PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Small complaints turn into big ones.
‘Someone’s unhappy with a job, it drags on, and it ends up all over the internet.’
‘A patient complains, it gets lost between reception and the dentist, and then it’s a formal case.’
‘A complaint sits in someone’s inbox, and the next we hear is from the ombudsman.’
‘One unhappy customer turns into a one-star review and an ombudsman case.’
‘By the time a complaint reaches me, the client has already decided we don’t care.’
What Changes
The journey for settling complaints early in a construction and home services business. Today: 2 steps you do and 3 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Construction and Home Services: review; “goes online”.
The journey for settling complaints early in a dental and veterinary clinics business. Today: 2 steps you do and 3 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Dental and Veterinary Clinics: patient; Dental Complaints Service.
The journey for settling complaints early in a estate and letting agents business. Today: 2 steps you do and 3 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Estate and Letting Agents: The Property Ombudsman or Property Redress.
The journey for settling complaints early in a garages and car servicing business. Today: 2 steps you do and 3 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Garages and Car Servicing: The Motor Ombudsman; review.
The journey for settling complaints early in a professional services business. Today: 2 steps you do and 3 times it waits. With the fix: 1 and 0.
Professional Services: Legal Ombudsman, client.
Today
- Waiting: A complaint lands in someone’s inbox.
- Waiting: It’s forwarded and nobody owns it.
- You: The customer chases and you find out.
- You: You write a reply from memory, late.
- Waiting: The customer goes to the ombudsman.
- Steps You Do
- 2
- Times It Waits
- 3
With the Fix
- Runs on its own: Complaint logged, from any channel.
- Runs on its own: Acknowledged that day or the next, with a named person.
- Runs on its own: Deadlines from your own procedure set.
- Runs on its own: Reply drafted from the full history.
- You: You approve the final reply.
- Runs on its own: Each month, the causes that keep coming back are listed.
- Steps You Do
- 1
- Times It Waits
- 0
- Every complaint is logged in one place, including ones that never use the word.
- The customer gets an acknowledgement the same or next working day, with a named person.
- Each complaint carries the deadlines from your procedure and your scheme.
- You see every open complaint, how old it is and what’s due next.
- A draft response is prepared from the full history for you to approve.
- Each month, closed complaints are reviewed for the causes that keep coming back.
Illustrative example. Today: [Customer]’s third text about [problem], [n] days after the first. A review threatened. After the fix: “Open complaints: [n]. [Customer], [job]: acknowledged [date], visit booked [date], response due [date]. Draft ready. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
Of home-repair customers who acted on a problem, 16% said the trader ignored them and 20% said it took a long time to resolve.
Source: Citizens Advice, Built to fail, July 2026
What You Do
Approves every final response and decides when to go back to site.
Illustrative example. Today: A note at reception: “[Patient] unhappy with [treatment], wants to speak to someone.” Dated [date]. No reply sent. After the fix: “Open complaints: [n]. [Patient], [treatment]: acknowledged [date] by [Name], response due [date], [n] working days left. Draft ready. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
Private dental complaints led to £670,500 in remedies in 2024, and the Dental Complaints Service steps in when a patient has had no response within 10 working days.
Source: GDC Dental Complaints Service
What You Do
Approves every final response. Clinical judgements stay with the clinician.
Illustrative example. Today: A complaint from [Tenant] in [Name]’s inbox, [n] days old, forwarded twice. No acknowledgement sent. After the fix: “Open complaints: [n]. [Tenant], [property]: acknowledged [date], response due [date]. Draft ready. [Approve]” “[Landlord]: [n] days open, next step due [date].”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
The Property Ombudsman awarded £1.3m against agents in 2024, and agents’ own complaint handling was a dispute category in its own right.
Source: TPO Annual Review 2024
What You Do
Approves every final response. Nothing final goes out without them.
Illustrative example. Today: A one-star review: “[Complaint]. Nobody called me back.” Posted [date]. No reply. After the fix: “Open complaints: [n]. [Customer], [Reg]: logged from a review on [date], acknowledged [date], response due [date]. Draft ready. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
The Motor Ombudsman received 1,586 new service and repair cases in Q3 2024, 18% more than a year earlier and its highest quarter on record.
Source: The Motor Ombudsman
What You Do
Approves every final response and every public reply.
Illustrative example. Today: An unhappy email from [Client] about [matter], read and left for the fee earner, who is away until [date]. After the fix: “Open complaints: [n]. [Client], [matter]: acknowledged [date], named contact [Name], response due [date]. Draft ready from the file history. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
What It Costs You
The Legal Ombudsman found poor complaint handling by the firm in 49% of its investigated outcomes in 2024/25.
Source: Legal Ombudsman
What You Do
Approves every final response and checks the timetable against the firm’s complaints procedure.
What It Runs On
Your email, phone notes, review accounts and your complaints procedure.
Agreed Before We Start
Time to acknowledge, time to close, and complaints that reach an ombudsman or mediator, before and after.
What We Agree Before We Start
| Measure | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Time to acknowledge | ||
| Time to close | ||
| Complaints that reach an ombudsman or mediator |
We fill this in with you before any work starts.
Questions Owners Ask
- Does anything go out without my approval?
- The acknowledgement uses wording you approve once. Every final response is approved by you.
- Which complaint schemes does it work with?
- Deadlines are set from your own complaints procedure and the scheme you belong to, such as The Property Ombudsman, the Legal Ombudsman, The Motor Ombudsman or the Dental Complaints Service.
- Does it pick up complaints in online reviews?
- Yes, where the review site lets us read them.
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