BS 8543:2015 Complaint handling in organizations

BS 8543 sets out good practice for a complaint-handling process, including planning, design, operation, maintenance and improvement.

No organization wants to receive complaints. In today’s world making a complaint, however small, is easier than ever, particularly through social media. A research survey published by BSI in 2014 showed that over 20% of people had used social media to complain about service and around one third (33.1%) of respondents had changed service provider due to poor handling of complaints. 

BS 8543 provides you with guidelines for putting in place your own complaints management system helping you to identify complaints, their cause and also how to deal with them efficiently and effectively in order to benefit your organization, your customers and the complainants.

How can BS 8543 help my organization?

In recent years the spotlight has been on the mishandling of customer complaints and the fines levied, particularly in the energy and banking sectors. As such, any customer-facing organization can benefit from having an effective and efficient procedure in place reflecting the needs of both the organizations supplying products and services, and the recipients of those products and services.

BS 8543 provides a specification for the design and implementation of an effective and efficient complaint-handling process for all types of commercial or non-commercial activities.

Using BS 8543 can:

  • Create a customer-focused approach to resolving complaints
  • Encourage personnel to improve their skills in working with customers
  • Improve an organization's reputation
  • Build customer loyalty
  • Enhance customer satisfaction
  • Enable customer retention

For those already working within the framework of ISO 10002 Customer Satisfaction: Complaints Handling, BS 8543 provides an opportunity for businesses to develop their complaints handling process and show that they meet the full ‘requirements’ rather than the ‘guidelines’ of best practice complaint management.