Handling customer complaints in a service company: a six-step procedure, with a sample reply
A customer emails the service address: the technician came twice for the same leaking water softener, and now there are two invoices. Three colleagues read the email, and each thinks someone else will reply. Two days later the customer calls the managing director, angrier than the first time.
Published by Abdelhay Rahou (opens in a new window)5 November 202611 min read
What is complaint handling?
Complaint handling is the fixed way your company receives, records, investigates, answers and follows up a customer’s complaint. A simple procedure has six steps: receive and record, acknowledge quickly, investigate, decide and reply, follow up, and learn from the cause. Every complaint gets one person responsible and a time limit.
A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction with your work, your scheduling, your invoice or the behaviour of someone in your team, even if the customer does not use the word “complaint”. A breakdown call is usually not a complaint. A breakdown that comes back shortly after your repair often is.
Where complaints go wrong in a service company
- They come in everywhere. To the technician at the door, on the phone, by email, as a reply to a payment reminder. Nobody sees them together.
- Nobody owns them. Everyone reads along, nobody replies.
- The reply comes before the investigation. Agreeing straight away sometimes promises too much. Defending yourself straight away loses the customer.
- The same cause comes back. Each complaint is solved separately, and nobody notices that it is about the same thing every time.
The complaints procedure in six steps
- Receive and record. Whoever receives the complaint notes it the same day: who, when, through which channel, about which intervention, installation or invoice, and what the customer is asking for. A technician who hears a complaint on site passes it on to the office and promises nothing they are not allowed to decide.
- Acknowledge quickly. The customer receives a short message: we have received your complaint, [name] is handling it, you will hear from us by [day].
- Investigate. Read the report, the photos, the signature, the installation’s history and the invoice. Ask the technician what they found and what they agreed with the customer.
- Decide and reply. Is the complaint justified, fully, partly or not at all? What do you propose: an explanation, a new visit, a correction to the invoice, a goodwill gesture? Reply in writing, even if you phoned first.
- Follow up. Do what you promised, on the date you gave. Then ask the customer whether it is resolved, and only then close the complaint.
- Learn. Record the cause in a fixed category, review the complaints once a month, and adjust the way you work where the same cause comes back.
Write this procedure on one page and give it to everyone who talks to customers, technicians included.
Who does what?
| Who | Does | Does not |
|---|---|---|
| Whoever receives the complaint, at the office or on site | Record it, thank the customer, pass it on | Admit fault or promise a discount |
| The person responsible for complaints, for example the office manager | Acknowledge, investigate, reply and follow up to the end | Pass the complaint on without telling anyone |
| The technician who did the work | Explain what they found, go back if needed | Argue with the customer |
| The managing director | Decide on a goodwill gesture or a credit note above an agreed amount | Handle every complaint personally |
| Accounts | Issue the credit note, follow up a disputed invoice | Change an invoice without leaving a trace |
Response times to agree internally
Agree on time limits you meet every time. An example to adapt, not a standard:
| Step | Time limit, for example |
|---|---|
| Acknowledgement of receipt | The same working day |
| First reply or progress update | Within 2 working days |
| A new visit, if one is needed | Scheduled within the week |
| Closing | As soon as the customer confirms it is resolved |
If an installation is down or there is a danger, treat it as a breakdown first: see taking a breakdown call. If your contracts or general terms and conditions set time limits, those apply. If you cannot meet a time limit, tell the customer before it runs out.
How do you write the reply to a complaint?
- Repeat the complaint in the customer’s own words, so they can see you have read it.
- Give the facts you found, without jargon, and say what you have decided.
- Say what happens now, with a date and a name.
- Write on behalf of the company, and apologise for what really went wrong.
An example to adapt:
Subject: Your complaint about [subject], intervention [number]
Dear [name], on [date] you wrote to us that [the complaint in one sentence]. Thank you for letting us know. We have checked the report, the photos and the history of your [installation], and we have spoken to our technician. [What we found, in two sentences.] Our technician will come back on [date] between [time] and [time], at no cost to you. We are sorry that [what went wrong]. After the visit, I will call you to make sure everything is in order. You can reach me on [phone number]. Kind regards, [name], [job title]
If the complaint is about a mistake on the invoice, replace the sentence about the visit with the credit note the customer will receive. If the complaint is not justified, explain what you found and offer to talk it through.
A goodwill gesture, a credit note or sending the technician back?
| Situation | What often fits |
|---|---|
| The problem is not solved after your repair | Send the technician back at no cost for that trip, and record the cause |
| A mistake on the invoice: duplicate, wrong rate, wrong customer | A credit note and, where needed, a new invoice |
| The technician came very late or without warning | An apology, possibly a commercial gesture |
| Damage in the customer’s home or building | Record it with photos and inform your insurer as your policy requires |
| The complaint is not justified | An explanation with the facts from the report, without a gesture out of habit |
A goodwill gesture is a decision about money: set in advance who may grant one and up to what amount. How to correct an invoice is explained in issuing a credit note. How to avoid a second visit is covered in first time fix.
A complaints register to find recurring causes
A spreadsheet with these columns is enough:
| Column | For example |
|---|---|
| Date and channel | By email, on the phone, on site |
| Customer and subject | The owner, the intervention or invoice with its number, the installation |
| What the customer is asking for | A new visit, a correction, an explanation |
| Cause, from a fixed list | Scheduling, communication, workmanship, part, invoice, behaviour |
| Person responsible and decision | Who follows up, and what was decided |
| Closed on | The day the customer confirmed it was resolved |
Review the register every month. Complaints about technicians arriving late need a different solution from complaints about the same appliance.
And if you cannot settle it together?
For consumers, there is the Consumer Mediation Service (Consumentenombudsdienst / Service de Médiation pour le Consommateur). According to its own website (in Dutch, consulted on 31 October 2026):
- it is an autonomous public service that mediates free of charge in disputes between a consumer and a company established in Belgium;
- only consumers can submit a case, and they must first have tried to find a solution with the company themselves;
- a case can be refused if the complaint was submitted to the company more than a year ago;
- the company is not obliged to cooperate, and the parties are not obliged to follow a recommendation.
For questions about your obligations, consult your legal adviser.
An example: a water softener that keeps leaking
At a water treatment company, a customer emails that his water softener is still leaking after the repair, and that he received an invoice for both visits. The office manager assigns the email to herself and replies the same day that she will call him back by Thursday.
The technician explains that the leak was at the same coupling: the seal fitted on the first visit was not the right size. The managing director approves a credit note for the second invoice, and the technician goes back with the right seal, at no cost. After that visit, the customer confirms that it stays dry. In the register, the cause is recorded as “part”, and the warehouse records which seal goes with that type of water softener.
Short video · 0:30
Wie antwoordt op die mail?
De mails van uw serviceadres komen in één inbox, per gesprek met een status en een verantwoordelijke. Een interne notitie gaat niet naar de klant, en een vraag wordt een interventie.
Video in Dutch, with Dutch captions
All short videos (in Dutch)How it works in Digitalnatie Service Suite
Service Suite has no separate complaints module and no complaints register. You handle a complaint with the screens that already exist, and you keep your register yourself.
- Receiving: a complaint emailed to the service address arrives in the service inbox. You assign the conversation, discuss it with your colleagues in an internal note that only the service inbox team can see, and reply from the service address, then set a status such as waiting for the customer or handled.
- Linking and following up: you link the conversation to the intervention concerned, and schedule a follow-up activity on that intervention or on the customer.
- Investigating: the intervention form shows the report, the evidence (photos and signatures) and the log, where you add an internal note. The installation’s file brings together its interventions and its breakdowns, and a health screen shows the most frequent and the repeated breakdowns.
- Sending a technician back: from the intervention form, you create a follow-up, a new intervention linked to the first one, without evidence or invoice.
- Correcting a report: you correct the report with a mandatory reason for the correction; this creates a new version, which you send to the customer again.
- The credit note: in the invoices screen, accounts create a credit note on a posted invoice, with a reason. You record a refund in Service Suite; you make the bank transfer yourself.
- The customer portal: a customer with access reports a problem on an installation or an intervention, with photos. The report reaches the office and becomes an intervention.
Good to know:
- There is no complaint status and no report on complaints. You keep your register in a spreadsheet, with the intervention number or the invoice number.
- A report in the portal is always about an installation; a free-form question or a message thread is not possible. A complaint about an invoice therefore comes in by email or by phone.
- A credit note always covers the full amount of the invoice. If only part of it has to go, you credit the full amount and issue a new invoice.
- The service inbox works as soon as your organisation’s email account is connected.
- In the automations, the check that excludes disputed invoices is shown, but it is not available: you follow up a disputed invoice yourself.
Everything about a customer is together in the customer file. How your team shares out the emails is explained in a shared inbox for service requests, and what the customer sees in the customer portal.
Frequently asked questions
What does a complaints procedure look like?
A simple complaints procedure has six steps: receive and record, acknowledge quickly, investigate, decide and reply, follow up, and learn from the cause. Every complaint gets one person responsible and a time limit. Write the procedure on one page for everyone who talks to customers.
How quickly should you reply to a complaint?
Agree internally on time limits you always meet, for example an acknowledgement the same working day and a first reply within two working days. If your contracts or general terms and conditions set time limits, those apply. If you cannot meet a time limit, tell the customer before it runs out.
When do you issue a credit note after a complaint?
When the invoice is wrong, for example a duplicate or a wrong rate, or when you decide to give an amount back. You do not change a posted invoice: you correct it with a credit note. Set in advance who decides on such a gesture.
What is the Consumer Mediation Service?
An autonomous public service that mediates free of charge in disputes between consumers and companies established in Belgium. The consumer must first have tried to find a solution with the company themselves. The company is not obliged to cooperate, and the parties do not have to follow a recommendation.
Does Service Suite have a complaints register?
No, there is no separate complaints module. You receive complaints by email in the service inbox, link them to the intervention, note them in the log and, if needed, send a technician back with a follow-up. You keep the register of causes yourself, for example in a spreadsheet.