Complaint Desk...
I was in multi-tasking mode today. Lots of interruptions. More than any normal Monday.Working hard to close a deal, I sent revised drawings and prices to a client Friday so she and her husband can review. The call came early with 4 important requests... something that would take an hour or so got started several times, but I had to resolve a few emergency complaint requests. I got back on it around 7pm and worked a few more complaints until 7:50pm when my wife summoned me to head home. Here it is 10:50pm and I'm taking a few minutes to digest dinner, do a blog and get back to work to finish what I planned to do this morning.
I'm getting good at resolving complaints but not good at getting any of my work done.
A bad one I want to keep distance on is an order that took 2 weeks to process and the factory acknowledged 8 weeks to complete. Their acknowledgement isn't accurate as they are running 2 weeks behind, so that makes a total of (counts on fingers and toes) 12 weeks when the salesman told the customer 8 weeks.
They (the clients) are 'freaking out' as they sold their previous unit and won't have a working kitchen or bath when they move into the new place. The client is angry and doesn't want to talk to the salesman... he want's a 'higher-up' to call (clears throat) and that would be me, but since I know nothing about the order I'm expecting the factory to make some changes and complete the order on the acknowledgement date.
I thought by going home the complaint desk would be closed. My boss texted me to complain about something else that needs to be resolved tonight.
That said... The complaint desk is now open!
Comments (8)
I hope it all works out well for you and your clients.
7 years ago I was hired on as a project manager to a salesman who lied more than telling the truth. Management bounced him out and put me in sales. I sold and managed only my jobs for a few years. Custom work doesn't pay very much but things went smoothly for me. Because of this, I was asked to manage the entire custom sales department. That's when my troubles got bad. The other guys don't watch their jobs and things go wrong I have to find solutions to the problems. My office has been the dumping ground for all of their problems.
Example:
We did a kitchen installation last week and the client says the dishwasher doesn't fit the space provided. Normally, we install a 24" piece of wood temporarily to hold the opening. I know the installers protocol. I sent someone to troubleshoot and he comes back with photos angle finder measurements that shows the cabinets to one side of the dishwasher are skewed. We say the client's granite guy accidentally bumped the cabinets out of alignment and glued their tops to the crooked cabinets. The client says different. I say the top overhang doesn't match the cabinets. It's uneven. They never should have glued the tops down If the cabinets weren't straight. They should have called it to the client's attention. Instead, they did their job and got paid and left. Now, the homeowner blames us for the problems.
"You have reached the complaint desk... how may I help you?"