'Race for size' leads to poor complaints-handling

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Larger businesses are failing to cope efficiently with consumer complaints because they are allocating resources to "the race for size" instead, suggests chief ombudsman Walter Merricks.

In a speech to the Consumer Action Network, Merricks accuses businesses of becoming less capable of coping efficiently and fairly with consumer complaints the larger they become. He states: "The race for size has left back-offices struggling to integrate old computer systems inherited from previous businesses and unconnected complaints-handling units operating inconsistently with little sense of direction or leadership." Merricks believes complaints departments are not seen as serious players within companies and their job "seems to be to dispose of complaints through a process that’s ...

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