[dustdees]

Hi all,

I am drafting together a complaint process where my husband will play the part of a cleaning assesser, basically a trouble shooter. He will do spot checks and stuff like that/

If we have any complaints then one of us will gi and see the client. We are looking at putting together a complaint form where a copy will be kept on clients file and on the offending clients file.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly recieved from our experianced buddies out there.

Or if anyone uses an method like this what are you tips and how much difference has it made to "keeping the girls on their toes!!)

All comments are greatfully recieved!!


Cheers
Denise

[AJCleaningServices]

Denise,
Try to build a good relationship with your clients and then all you will have to deal with is customer’s wishes…
Kind regards,
Arthur

[CMS]

The first thing that will happen when you introduce a Customer 'Complaints' system is that they will feel obliged to find something wrong.

The second thing that will happen is that your staff will become completely and utterly demoralised. You are showing them that you 'expect' them to fail.

By all means, have a system of feedback but don't call it a 'Complaints' system.

A Customer Comments' system sounds so much better and will invite good as well as bad comments.

[D woods]

We call our's a quality audit system

[dustdees]

Yep CMS,

That sounds a much better idea!!!

How ever should we recievd a complaint then obviously it need to be recorded on the customers file and the offending cleaner.

I am sort of think ahead, just in case cleaners standards drop etc, etc.

Monitoring quality seems to be lacking and I really need to do something about it.

As some may have experianced, some start off fantastic but over a period of time effort  to please seems to be lacking etc etc. I have some good girls, and they love to please but some times I feel that they could do better.

[Simon H]

Hi Denise

All of our customers get a "Happy Sheet" once a month on which they are invited to grade the service the receive as in Delighted
                                       Happy
                                       So so
                                       Unhappy

I feel this way bacause.....................................................
To make me happier you could...........................................

This is sent out with a franked addressed envelope for the reply

We tend to get about 50% back

Not perfect but they do make for interesting reading sometimes

We also telephone audit all our clients monthly as well as visiting the larger contracts

I hope this is of some help

Best regards

Simon
                                       

[CMS]

Dustdees

This is more for commercial than domestic.....................

.........but an auditing system should not just be about cleaning standards.

We have a monthly 'Health Check' on all of our contracts. This will include things like :

Cleaning standards
Cleaners cupboard - is COSHH info available?
Risk assessments - are they available?
Equipment - is it clean and PAT tested?
PPE - is it required? Is it available? Is it being worn?
Staff - are they presentable? ID cards? Uniforms?
Training - is it up to date? Is everyone inducted?
Client - what is their perception of us?

There is a lot to look at..........

[AJCleaningServices]

Let me just say that in domestic cleaning business you are in a constant contact with you customer, it is very personal relationship.  We try to keep things simple, less formal and straight forward.  Getting complaint for us means losing a good relationship with our client…

[andrew chrysler]

A formal complaints process is a useful business tool. It can ensure that all problems are dealt with to the same standard and that useful management information is kept.

Having a seperate person like your husband playing this role is a good idea, but it must be borne in mind that the customer may think that your husband is biased in your favour.

A complaints process needs to be seen as a seperate tool to a customer satisfaction survey, which is also valuable.

My survey is simple:

1) What do you like most about what we do?
2) What do you like least about what we do?
3) What improvements would you like to see?
4) What service would you like to see that we do not do?

Carried out once a year, the results are very interesting...........

[Tim Downer]

Andrew

I like the point about what service would you like to see that we do not do!!

If ok with you, think i will pinch that one for my sheet??

Tim

[andrew chrysler]

Tim, you are more than welcome to pinch anything apart from my b*m!