Taking the complaint

• Take a step back when you first get a complaint. It can be difficult to keep things in check when you’re being criticised, but an emotional response can irritate the customer further.
• Give them your full attention. Maintain eye contact and keep your body language open as they talk. Listen to the whole story before responding. If you had a problem, you would want someone to listen to you. If you look preoccupied or argue back before they have finished, you can make things worse. Take notes to make sure you have captured everything.
• Don’t rush in. Even if you’ve handled a similar situation before, for the customer their complaint is unique to them. They are more likely to feel listened to if they can describe their problem to you in full. Thank them for raising their concern. Check your understanding by recapping the situation as you heard it.
• Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Try to understand their point of view. It’s easy to be defensive in the face of a complaint, particularly if you don’t believe you’re at fault.
• If a particular member of staff is the subject of the complaint, remove the customer from their presence. This can defuse tension and help the customer to re-evaluate their anger. It might be appropriate to discuss the issue in the privacy of the consultation room.
• Ideally, the complaint should be handled by one staff member. That person should be someone with the authority to deal with the situation. Passing the customer from person to person is never a good idea. Think about when that happens to you, and how it feels to have to repeat information over and over.
• If a patient wants to speak to the pharmacist or manager who is unavailable, let them know why they are waiting and ask if they can be given any assistance while waiting.

Every pharmacy should have a standard operating procedure (SOP) for dealing with complaints