Dealing With Cleaning Customer Complaints

A cleaning business owner wrote the following in response to a Tip of the Week article called "Do You Dread Cleaning Customer Phone Calls?"

We have a little over 100 customers in our company and I dread those complaint calls. We fortunately get very few and there is a reason for this. We deal with the same employee problems and quality problems as other companies.

While this info may not be profound it may help some of you. Here's what we do to prevent these calls:

1. We start with good training.

2. New employees require a lot of initial supervision until they are capable of working on their own. Additionally, a supervisor just visiting a site, unannounced, while the employee is working, tells the employee that a supervisor is liable to stop by any night at any time. This goes a long way in not only "keeping them on their toes" but also letting them know we care about them and are available as support for them at any time.

3. We use a checklist/communication log at every site. The employee puts her initials next to every task performed on the list. There is also a communications section for the employee to leave messages for the client and, more importantly, for the client to communicate with the employee and our supervisors. Many minor issues are addressed and resolved right here before they become complaints.

4. Our office Administrator calls our clients on a regular basis, usually about once per month, and solicits their feedback. The most important question we ask our clients is "Are we meeting your expectations?". We also make ourselves available for walk-through evaluations with our clients at their request or convenience.

5. Of course, our supervisors perform periodic written evaluations on each site as well. Typically, once per month. Each site is different; some require more evaluating than others.

6. All feedback is documented and discrepancies are addressed. Discrepancies are addressed IMMEDIATELY, not the next time we service the client; even if it means going to the site immediately.

7. Quarterly we send and email survey of our performance to each client. Again, the most important question on the survey is "Are we meeting your expectations?". 

What do YOU do to deal with customer complaints? Post your comments by clicking on the Comments link below.

Comments

[HomeMaid Domestic Cleaning]

Its vital you listen to your customers and always deal with issues promptly.

Staff also need to briefed on whats expected and as you rightly highlight convey to them client needs on a site by site basis.

Its rare we get complaints to be honest, its usually feedback about tweaking the service rather than a wholesale failure. I put that down to a comprehensive training and support program.

When we do uphold a complaint, I always offer to remedy the problem there and then - its rarely accepted, however it shows your commitment to the client.

Occasionally I'll give a small refund or a discounted service.

Its important to convey to the client you care and your obvious concern, but also that you positively give feedback to your clean team.

[Jerry Sheehan]

How do you deal with a customer who has made false accusations about your cleaning service and refuses to pay? Then he threatens your company if you take legal action by stating that they will say bad things about your company all over the internet? How do you guard against this type of customer?

[Jean Hanson]

Jerry,
This does not sound like a good situation. What kind of false accusations are we talking about? Theft? Damage? In the case of theft, you always want to tell them to file it with the police. This stops some people in their tracks if they were just fishing.

How much do they owe you? If it's not a huge amount you might want to just write it off and get out of that situation asap, as it may not be worth the damage they could do online. I assume you've stopped cleaning for them? With a little more information we could give better advice.

[Linda Jansen]

After a customer complaint has been resolved I think it’s important to understand why the problem happened so that it can be avoided in the future. Make a note of lessons learned and see what you can do to change your processes to ensure it doesn’t happen again.