How to handle customer complaints about your own colleagues

[NomiMalone]

I work in sales and am the most junior in my department, so when the firm’s 2 receptionists are away, I’m often the one who has to pick up calls. 


I have at times fielded calls from customers complaining about various colleagues in my team. Sometimes they go as far as asking to speak with management about the colleague.

 

Most of the time, I’ve managed to calm the person down by getting them to talk to me about their issue instead. I’ve found that most of the time, people just want to feel heard, and to know that their issues are important to us. (Complaints in our industry are rife, and unbeknownst to my colleagues, I’ve actually dealt with complaints about 50% of our team members, some more so than others.) I try to avoid putting these calls through to management as I don’t want to be involved in awkward situations with people in my own team. Especially when customers are genuinely being unreasonable with their expectations.

 

Recently I found myself in a situation where I wasn’t able to avoid giving out our manager’s contact details, as the customer was extremely frustrated, and I don’t have the right to refuse to give out management’s number to genuine customers.

 

Now things between this guy (and the other guy he works directly with) and I have become awkward and I feel they resent me for having involved management. I’ve replayed the situation over and over again in my mind and I honestly can’t say that there was anything I could’ve done differently to avoid having to give out our supervisor’s number. What this staff member also doesn’t know, is that loads of customers have complained about him, and that in the past, I’ve managed to dissuade another angry customer of his from escalating a complaint to management.

 

I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place when these situations come up. What would you guys have done?

[Maddie82]

This is not your problem. It's his. You just did your job so you have done nothing wrong. If this guy has had so many complaints then he has to face the consequences of his own behavior. This isn't down to you or for you to worry about

[amaysngrace]

It’s up to management to decide what you could’ve done if he wants things handled differently.

 

You did your job. It’s not your fault this person keeps having complaints brought against him.

[Lotsgoingon]

You did nothing wrong and you acted with integrity with the customer.

 

If these workers are upset with you ... then the company culture is at fault. Instead of addressing the complaint issue, they're covering each other's behinds ... so it seems.

 

Awkwardness does not mean you did anything wrong.

[Mr. Lucky]

Sometimes they go as far as asking to speak with management about the colleague.

 

You're not doing your company any favors by blocking this connection.

 

Managers need feedback to do their jobs, otherwise it's difficult to make informed decisions. They may also want to make a management-level concession to a good customer to repair the relationship and ensure it continues.

 

It seems strange to me you're more worried about "awkwardness" than your company's success. Which one has a greater effect on your future?

 

Mr. Lucky

[Foxhall]

Id actually commend you in one sense for trying to protect your colleague, it shows a bit of backbone and deviation from the usual only caring about ones own interests,

 

things eventually will come to a head though and you cannot indefinitely stick up for him, you've done all you can really and cannot be blamed for referring this particular incident to management,

 

It may indirectly do your colleague a favour now anyway, obviously customer service/dealing with the public is not his game and it may be the catalyst for him to discover a more suitable path.

[NomiMalone]

Thanks everyone. My rational mind knows that I’ve done nothing wrong, however I feel terrible about the situation. I didn’t feel the complaint was warranted in this instance (management pretty much just sent a token reply to that customer, then let it go.)

 

Awkwardness concerns me because I have to sit near these colleagues and work directly with them every day. The last thing I want is to have a non-workable relationship with any of them.

 

The guy who was the subject of the complaint, as pleasant and nice as he is, doesn’t really have the right kind of intellect or tenacity for his particular profession (as yet anyway). I hope this will be a wake up call for him to either put in more effort to develop himself better for the role or move onto a role that better suits his nature.

 

I’m sure we’ll all move on from this. I guess the advice I was looking for, was how to handle the situation with my colleagues once the complaint has been put through to our boss.

[NomiMalone]

Thanks @Foxhall. I hadn’t seen your reply before typing mine as I hadn’t refreshed the page on my phone.

 

Yeah it was just a crap situation. The guy is one of the few on the team who goes out of his way to help other staff (because his senior, even though far more experienced, is a self-serving high achiever who only helps others if recognition is involved.) Never spoke a bad word about anyone, would never hurt a fly. I felt terrible that it was him as he would never act in a way that wasn’t in line with the customer’s best interest.

[NomiMalone]

To add to the above post, I don’t want to come across like it’s not about me and all about the colleague.... it’s 100% about me and my self interest too. I’d hate to work in an office where my colleagues are resentful of me, all because of an event out of my control.