Natalie Ceeney (pictured) claimed in today’s issue of Ombudsman News that firms tend to write off customer complaints when they could use the feedback to improve the firm’s reputation and standing in the marketplace.
She wrote: “Last year the regulator reported that over five million complaints were made about financial businesses.
“That’s five million comments and observations on the service provided by banks and other financial businesses. This feedback could inform new ways of working, new products, better services, and a new relationship with customers.
“But too often, that doesn’t happen. These customers’ feedback gets subsumed by a complaints infrastructure that’s slow, bureaucratic and unlikely to ‘live the brand’ of the business concerned.”
Customers are most loyal, she claimed, when “something that’s gone wrong gets fixed”, therefore listening to their concerns was vital.
She said it was “great to hear” that firms were increasingly committed to treating customers well but warned that, though financial services providers might have moved on in terms of introducing new products, better sales approaches and clearer pricing, customers might not have.
“It’s like any relationship where trust has been broken”, she said, “it can take a long time to forget what’s happened, move on and be willing to accept promises at face value.”
She added: “If we listen carefully to what they’re saying, those customers written off as ‘complainants’ might just be the key to matching your marketing aspirations with customer reality.”
