Complaining can be tiresome – a time-consuming jungle of paperwork and unfruitful conversations. When it goes on for months without a resolution, there can come a point where it feels easier to just give up…
You’re an explorer in a new found land, thick with jungle and predators. You battle through the unfriendly foliage and, worn out from a two-month long sea voyage, you come to a sandy clearing. It’s been tough and you’re close to turning back…
You take a deep breath, step forward and come face-to-face with the island chief. He tells you that in order to continue, you will have to find another route and as he does so, he points to a dark tunnel heading yet deeper into the jungle. You have no idea where the new path will lead you. It’s deadlock, the chief won’t let you continue along his path and your only option is to take the unknown other route. What do you do, give up, or carry on?
Taking complaints to the next level
If you had a complaint with a company or organisation that reached a point of deadlock, where neither of you could agree on a resolution, what would you do? Would you know what your options were as a consumer? Would you know the different paths you could take?
I’m sure you’ve heard of Ombudsmen, but would you be likely to turn to one in a situation of deadlock? Or is this a dark unknown path you’d think twice before going down? Tell us all about it in the comments below, or get involved in our research.
Take part in our complaints research
In partnership with a research agency called The Behavioural Architects, we’re doing some online research into the complaints process, looking at alternative dispute resolution options such as Ombudsmen. We want to know how aware people are of their options and what might hold people back or encourage them to carry on.
We’re looking to speak to people who have recently used an Ombudsmen service to resolve a dispute. We also want to speak to people who have recently been through an extended complaints process with a company or organisation, that didn’t come to a resolution after eight weeks or more.
If you’re one of these people and are interested in taking part in our research at the end of August, please send an email to kat@thebearchitects.com with ‘Which? complaints research’ in the subject line to find out more. If you take part in the research, you’ll receive £90 to thank you for your time. But more importantly, you’ll be helping us make the complaints process more usable and accessible to the people that need it.
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