While I accept responsibility for any errors or omissions in this guide, whatever usefulness it has is attributable to our British and Australian counterparts. Informed clients know how your services should work and, if things are not working, they are the first to know. The best organizations use information from complaints and the investigations they trigger to root out problems and improve services. Make it easy for your clients to complain, and your clients will make it easy for you to improve. An effective complaint system draws attention to areas that need improvement within an agency.
Complaint systems promote client satisfaction.
A good complaint system will save an agency money by resolving problems internally, close to the source. It can prevent complaints from escalating and multiplying, swallowing time and resources. Complaint systems that allow clients to voice dissatisfaction and seek remedy from agency actions are fundamental to good public administration. Back to Contents Why People Complain Complaints arise most often because of poor communication between an agency, its staff, and the public. Others arise because information about an agency s services is not clearly and widely publicized.