Anyone work in complaints and like it?

[Quirkyme]

Hello, wondering if anyone works in complaints and likes it?

I have an upcoming interview for complaints working for a council, and would just like to hear from those who work in complaints, and if you have any tips for the interview please?

I know working in complaints in a council may be different to working for say a bank, but all welcome. All come under customer relations

Thanks 😊

Depends which bit of the council. If you work in social services there is a lot of statutory regulation. I haven't worked in complaints but I worked closely with someone who did and it's interesting and varied, BUT to a lot of people you are not an individual, you are part of a faceless organisation.

My friend works in complaints at the council, just the usual complaints not social care, she likes it… it’s all done by email so she never actually has to talk to anyone in person so apart from the odd arsey email there is nobody shouting at her or anything. It all seems quite chilled really.
I work in social care at the council and I would much prefer her job!

Hey thanks...
I do a job linked to your field in the council too... trying to get out! Haha

I liked it but it's not a long term job imo. Constantly dealing with unhappy and often angry people sorting out mistakes etc and having to argue your position... I worked for an insurance company though. The departments mental health was quite bad, constant spates of long term sick through stress etc. But like I said, I didn't mind it.

Me too 😂

My DH works for the local council in Street Scene. So highways, bins, recycling etc. You would not believe the amount of death treats council staff receive over bins left uncollected.

I didn’t work in complaints as such but I did work in an NHS Team that had a lot of complaints that I had to try and resolve ‘informally’ (without them escalating to PALS and above)
I didn’t mind that part of the role tbh
most complaints were easily resolved. Most were based on misunderstandings.
I did a lot of listening which seemed to be the best way forward.
there were occasional ones were the complainant perhaps had underlying anger issues or were totally unrealistic so resolution wasn’t possible.

I used to work as a complaints manager for a government department. Bloody loved it! But then I’m a born problem solver, and a bit of an empath, so could handle even the most unreasonable/unrealistic people with a fair amount of positivity, however a colleague who covered for me when I was off sick for a week found it really draining, so it really depends on the person. The only reason I stopped was because the contract got culled, and I couldn’t find anything similar.
would love to do something like that again!

Tips for the interview:
you need to convey that you would be a good listener and allow the complainant to ‘vent’ initially - whilst remaining calm and polite.
you might be asked about how you deal with work stress in and out of work (e.g. in work regular supervision, support from colleagues, out of work exercising or other stress-busting measures)
be prepared with an answer if they enquire how you deal with a person who shouts, swears or threatens - how you proceed practically with the call and how you calm yourself afterwards.

I did a stint in complaints for a utility . The entitlement of people is sometimes breath taking and there demands even more unrealistic
TBH by the time they got to you they'd clam down . Loved it and you did get a sense of satisfaction sorting it .
Got a torrent of abuse on a daily basis though you have to be thick skinned

Just had to laugh there a thread on here about a woman who never booked seats on plane even though she had the option and now needs them .

One reply was ring up demand them and if not threaten to cancel your holiday ( hilarious as if that would bother them and person would of had to pay cancellation charges practically the cost of the holiday ) and then said to bill them for an hour of her time . God I miss calls like that .

I used to handle Stage Two complaints as part of my wider role and enjoyed it. One of the things it seems so many organisations don’t do when handling complaints, is ask the complainer what they think the ideal outcome would look like: and the reality is that it’s rarely outrageous and unrealistic (occasionally it is 😅) and what the individual actually wants is recognition that something bad has happened, or somebody to explain clearly why something in particular has been done, or somebody to commit to finding them an answer, or somebody just to listen to them. It’s an interesting mix of customer service, problem solving, project management, and communications.

I do, I absolutely love it. I work in food manufacturing it's super interesting and everyday has its moments of total hilarity. I used to work in housing repairs complaints and it was hell on earth people were so unreasonable. But if you don't have to see any actual people and it's all email phone and letter it'll be great but you do need the right mindset so you don't take it to heart, people can be very very cruel and seem to think that prefacing everything with 'oh I know it's not you but' excuses every kind of unpleasant behaviour.

Hello, this is essentially what I'll be doing in the new role.. I wondered how you found the interview process?

I have a case study and then an interview and there seems to be so much I need to remember (or at least I feel this way)...

Do you perhaps have any tips? Happy to msg if that's better

I work in after sales for a product that can be worth over £100K.

It can be stressful!

We don’t have an HR dept so we just have to ‘crack on’ despite often dealing with many complaints about the product (manufacturers take note) but on the flip side we can feel a sense of fulfilment when we’ve made a difference to someone’s day.

It’s tough at times but I’ve managed to be able to switch off once I leave the building, well most of the time, there are moments when you wake at 2am thinking ‘shit, I forgot to……’ but thankfully that’s not very often these days!

My friend works for council complaints.
Hates it!
Started drinking in the evening to calm themselves after a day of death threats and verbal abuse

Yeah I totally get what you mean about long-term. Is there much progression after complaints do you think, like a related field? Or does one need to go to a field completely different, and use complaints as more of an interim role?

Thank you 😊

I used to manage complaints in a previous role, not the same thing, but I often found a lot of them were based on misunderstanding, poeple thinking they should get more of something, that hey were missing out, bot being offered what thers were being offered, never having had the offers/limitations of resources explained to them. I enjoyed it. And the times when a complaint was upheld, because of bad practice or soemthing, I loved being able to help the complainant by taking the issue higher up. It can be an really fullfilling role OP. Good luck.

@Quirkyme for us, it was to move up which is why I left to go back to education etc... As the manager jobs were taken. It didn't feel to me like it was a 'profession' no offence to anyone, I worked in complaints for 10 years. Since I've left a lot of people have moved about the business though, however, that's more the company changing higher management who have created roles we could slot into... You do have loads of transferable skills but it's whether someone is more attuned to the job you're applying for, which is probably. Also 4 years ago I was on 29k, I couldn't move to a similar paid job easily all other complaint jobs were 24k max. I know people would be more than happy on the wage I was on and the age was older than younger, given it was in a call/contact centre. But like I said, it was tough mentally and everyone was always relatively drained. Not to put you off at all, I probably sound really negative. I did enjoy it! And wonder had I not went back to uni pre management change, where I'd be! Hope the interview went well

Hello...
just to update..
I had the interview on Tuesday, I didn't get the role and was told on Wednesday.

However , I received a call from one of the managers on the panel today - she said that one of her staff in corporate complaints has just handed in her notice, and she asked if I would be interested in the role or if I only wished to work in children's services (the original role was in children's services).

I said I was interested, and so she said she will talk to HR and will look to get the ball rolling, and will be back in touch with me next week...

Right now, it's tentative and hopefully comes into fruition..