Top Tips for Resolving Complaints
Complaints can happen anywhere, anytime, especially so in the financial industry where we deal with peoples’ finances and futures. If there is one thing you can guarantee someone will complain about, it’s anything money related.
That is why it is so important that financial providers are prepared and have a good internal complaints process in place. Being able to reach an early resolution is very important as it saves you time, money and stress as well as protecting your reputation and client relationships.
Often, when I chat to advisers they will tell me about their own experiences and ask ‘what should I have done’ or ‘what should I do.’ Here are some of my main pieces of advice:
Stay calm - it’s important that you stay calm and polite. You might be frustrated, but the worse mistake you can make is to get confrontational or make threats. You need to listen and your client needs to feel like they have been listened to.
Set out the next steps - once you have heard their concerns, you should let them know what action you are going to take. For example, you could let them know that you are going to look further into it and will get back to them tomorrow. It is important that you are clear about what’s going to happen, how long it will take and what the next step is. Most importantly, stick to your word.
Get help if you need it - if you can’t work it out together, get in touch with your dispute resolution scheme. At Financial Dispute Resolution Service, we have a free ‘help-line’ to assist our members to manage any tricky complaints. A little expert advice can go a long way.
About Financial Dispute Resolution Service
Financial Dispute Resolution Service is focussed on the early resolution of complaints. Our independent experts support you and your customers to reach an agreement. We only use the formal adjudication process as a last resort.
Financial Dispute Resolution Service is part of FairWay Resolution, New Zealand’s largest specialist dispute resolution organisation and we have extensive experience in the financial sector. This makes us experts at resolving financial complaints.
At Financial Dispute Resolution Service, we are much more than an approved dispute resolution scheme. We offer our member a range of free services to help you prevent and manage complaints, including:
- Our ‘Tuesdays at 10’ monthly webinar which is tailored for the wider financial industry
- A monthly webinar for Financial Advisers which carries CPD credits
- Access to discounted training that has CPD credits
- Free attendance at your conference or professional development days.
To find out more, watch our short video or visit www.fdrs.org.nz for more information.