Complaint Cause Correction

In the following posts, we lay out why using the Complaint, Cause, and Correction framework is so critical to effective repair and maintenance–that goes for heavy duty and light duty repair.

• Complaint: “A statement that a situation is unsatisfactory or unacceptable. Usually comes from the customer. If the complaint is not fully understood, communicated correctly or in enough detail, the technician is destined to a path of failure (a comeback).”
• Cause: “The cause is what originally made the complaint happen (the “true cause”). The cause is complex because it can have one or many layers. Not finding the true cause will result in the shop losing money, reputation, or both.”
• Correction: “The correction is easy if the complaint was communicated properly and the true cause was found. The correction is just a report of what procedures were taken to correct the complaint and a confirmation that the complaint is satisfied.”

While a properly-written complaint is key–and you do your best to educate the customer on giving you a thorough complaint–how you identify and record the cause gets to the heart of an effective repair.  Because without identifying and then correcting the true cause, you’re going to see complaints again for the same problem.

Striking at the Roots of a Complaint

In his book Walden, Henry David Thoreau described the ills of his day this way: “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

The branches are the complaint; the root is the cause. Just like in medical care, it is vital that you get to the very heart of the problem and eliminate the cause of it, rather than focuses too much attention on the symptoms.

So if you run your shop constantly hacking at the branches, instead of getting to the roots, you’ll end up with consistently unhappy customers. But if you can get a thorough description of the complaint, then get to the heart of it with a properly-identified cause, you’ll be correcting the root of their problem.

Fullbay helps you properly document complaints, find the cause, and perform the correction. Schedule a demo today.