Complaints play an important role in improving service, unfortunately some organizations are afraid to communicate with people who complain; In fact, they try to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Complaints are hidden opportunities.

A well-managed complaint turns dissatisfied customers into well-informed and satisfied customers. When a customer is dissatisfied with a service or product, there should be an Dr. Martin Batliner internal process to handle the complaint effectively.

But before I continue, it’s important to note that a complaint should not be confused with a request for service, a request for information, or a clarification of a problem.

Just because a customer says; “I would like to complain about… ” does not mean it is a complaint.

So what is a complaint?

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction. The customer usually reports a complaint regarding the standards of service; a product or behavior of an employee. Another thing to consider is that the complaint is divided into specific categories. This makes it easier to identify reports and process improvements. Collecting complaints data provides the information needed to identify issues with a process, policy, culture, or employee behavior. If you keep getting similar complaints about a department or employee, you’re better equipped to monitor and improve that area

For example, you may need to know how many complaints relate to:

• The attitude of the staff
• The quality of a product
• service standard
• A policy, procedure, or guidelines

All organizations should have a formal grievance procedure where the grievance is made;

• Recorded in a registry or electronic records database
• methods in the investigation
• methods in the assessment
• methods in resolution

A formal grievance process shows your customer that their opinion is valued, that they are taken seriously and that the grievance is being handled by the most appropriate agent. A centralized complaint management process is the best model. A person is appointed to manage the complaint and the relationship; There’s nothing worse than being passed around with different people and departments. This process also provides valuable data that can be used to improve performance and reputation.

It is ideal to assign one person to manage the complaint. The customer journey is less frustrating and there is a better chance of salvaging the relationship. This person initiates investigations and determines the best course of action.

Responding to a Civil Complaint in California

The subject of this ex- zine article is a brief discussion of filing a response to a civil suit in California.

There are two general types of civil claims in California, unverified and verified. Most complaints are not reviewed unless a specific law or code provides otherwise, although any complaint may be reviewed at the complainant’s option. The rules discussed here also apply to counter-complaints.

If a complaint is verified, the response must be verified. And any response to a complaint from a government agency must be verified. See Section 446 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Note that this rule only applies to indefinite civil cases where the complaint’s claim exceeds $25,000.00.

A Verified Response must allow or deny each and every paragraph of the Complaint and must also include an acknowledgment signed by the Respondent or Respondents that they have read the Response and that to the best of their knowledge everything contained therein is true and correct. The confirmation must be signed under penalty of perjury. Note that failure to submit a Dr. Martin Batliner verified response when one is required will subject the response to a strike request on the grounds that it is unverified.

As previously mentioned, the Respondent must admit or deny each and every paragraph of the Verified Complaint.

Approvals or denials generally consist of the following, which are just examples:

• The defendant denies the allegations of paragraph 1.
• The defendant admits the allegations of paragraph 2.
• The Defendant has no information or does not believe that the allegations in Paragraph 3 are true, so the Defendant denies them.

All allegations of a verified complaint that are not expressly disputed will be deemed admitted.

An unacknowledged complaint may be answered with a general denial, in which the respondent(s) generally dispute all of the allegations of the complaint.

A response should also include specific affirmative defenses tailored to the individual case. A response that contains nothing but “canned” affirmative defenses is susceptible to a general objection on the grounds that the response does not contain sufficient facts to defend the complaint.

The various positive defenses must be stated separately; and must relate to the causes of actions to which they relate “in a manner by which they may be intelligently distinguished”. Section 431.30(g) of the Code of Civil Procedure.

The failure to identify separately the various affirmative defenses and to refer to the pleas in law to which they relate could give rise to a special defense of uncertainty.

A California Court of Appeals has ruled that affirmative defenses presented in a response to a complaint must be presented in the same manner and with the same rigor as a cause of action in a complaint. Because conclusive allegations are not admitted by the objection, and because conclusive allegations have no probative value, conclusive and “ready-made” affirmative defenses are insufficient.

Section 430.10 of the Code of Civil Procedure states in the relevant part: “The party against whom a complaint or counterclaim has been filed may object or respond to the brief pursuant to Section 430.30 on one or more of the following grounds… (e) the Brief contains no facts sufficient to establish a cause of action. (f) the brief is uncertain. As used in this subdivision, “uncertain” includes ambiguous and incomprehensible. (g) established in an action for a contract, it cannot be determined from the written record whether the contract was written, oral, or implied by the conduct. Thus, the the other party in its response to the complaint raise the same objections that can also be raised in the objection of the complaint.

A Response should contain any denials or affirmative defenses necessary to refute the main allegations of the Complaint. Its function is to “question” the case in relation to any important matter alleged in the Complaint that the Defendant refuses to admit. A Response cannot be used to claim an affirmative remedy; a cross-complaint must be filed. See Section 431.30 of the Code of Civil Procedure.