Complaints and the rules around complaints have been around for decades now. Have we simply reached a natural plateau point where we know all there is to know about handling complaints?

The financial services industry has made significant improvements in how it approaches customer complaints. So why aren't the number of cases going to the Ombudsman falling through the floor? And why aren't the consumer forums where people share their stories falling silent and gathering dust? It is because things have changed. People have changed. We have changed.

When I was reading the Ombudsman's plans and budget for 21/22 what really struck me is where it said: ?Our ability to bring down waiting times isn't only a factor of our own resourcing and efficiency. It depends heavily on the quality of financial businesses? own customer service, complaints?handling and engagement?? and ?? this will require us to continue to effectively prioritise complaints, identifying and resolving cases where our help is needed most urgently ? but is likely to mean that other consumers and businesses will need to wait longer for our answer.?

Waiting longer for an answer is not something any of us want; not for the ombudsman, nor for us and for our customers. With the ombudsman reporting a 40 per cent increase in the number of general casework complaints in the first half of 2020/21, what more can we do to reduce the number of complaints still going to the ombudsman that really shouldn't be getting that far?

There is so much more to satisfactorily handling complaints than simply handling the complaint itself. In the past, we used to talk about getting to the heart of the problem as being the 'silver bullet?. But that isn't enough anymore. Recent publications from the Institute of Customer Service, the Ombudsman and others point strongly to an increasing chasm between how well firms believe they?re doing when it comes to handling complaints and how well their customers feel they are doing. Even with everything that has been achieved over the last few years in financial services, something isn't quite clicking anymore.

Getting to the heart of what's happened is only part of it. Having the magic touch when it comes to handling complaints also now involves us needing to understand human behaviours more, and the psychology around complaining. People's motivations and expectations, biases and life experiences are now all firmly in the mix too.

It's a different world out there, and not just because of Covid-19. The way we look at and handle complaints needs to constantly evolve if we?re to have any chance at resolving our customers? problems ourselves and learning from what we find out.

Customer Complaints Workshops: Successfully Working with Customers
To ensure firms remain proactive around the FCA's expectations, it is critical that firms have a positive culture around the handling of complaints which extends beyond policies and procedures. In response to the challenge firms will face because of the pandemic, we have created a bitesize online learning series.

Interested? Learn more