Customer complaints are an important aspect of service. Listening to and resolving complaints can be a good way to learn about the quality of service we provide to citizens and customers. (See also Customer service standards and Listening Posts in this tool kit).

Description	Tool
Governor Locke’s Executive Order on Service Delivery (EO 03-01) requires all agencies to, “Develop procedures for tracking complaints about service delivery and resolving problems . . . (sec. 4)”	Executive Order 03-01
Example of taking complaints from the Better Business Bureau web site shows how simple capturing complaints can be. Note how a few sentences on each page describe the process and what to expect.	Better Business Bureau Online Complaint System
Example: Residents in DSHS’s Special Commitment Center (SCC) are treated as customers and have the right to a formal grievance process that explictly includes review by a quality coordinator. This document is a guide to the standard procedures that SCC staff must follow in resolving a customer’s grievance, including definitions, roles, and steps in the process. (Alice Liou, DSHS; PDF file is 299k).	DSHS Special Commitment Center Resident Grievance Policy