Here are some tips to help you increase your chances of having your complaint understood and acted upon. Following these tips could make it more likely you will get the result you want. However, getting the result you want is never guaranteed.
Be clear
People have different communication styles. This might be because of their personality, their background, their culture or ethnicity. People also use different styles in different situations.
When you complain, it’s most effective to be as clear as possible. Be brief and stick to the facts.
Writing or saying clearly what your complaint is and what outcome you want helps the agency to fully understand your complaint.
Focus on the facts that are relevant to your complaint and say much less about your feelings, beliefs or thoughts about what has happened. These are important to you, and it’s natural that you want the agency to know about them. However, keep these comments brief.
Don’t write words, sentences or pages entirely in capital letters (also called upper case letters). Also, don’t use bold lettering or different size fonts or different colours for emphasis. All this can make your complaint harder to read or understand.
Be polite
You want to be treated with respect, and so does everyone else. This includes the people who are dealing with your complaint. When you treat people with respect, they are more likely to treat you with respect.
- Don’t use sarcasm. This makes your complaint less clear and can make you seem unreasonable.
- It’s never acceptable to use rude or abusive language.
- Don’t make derogatory comments about the character of people you are complaining about (for example, that they are corrupt or lazy). Comments like that are not useful. If you don’t have proof to back up those claims, it can also make your claims less believable.
If you’re making a complaint in person or over the phone, try not to become angry or emotional. If you get angry and start to shout or swear at a person handling your complaint, they might end the discussion. It’s better to try again when you are calm. Or you could put your complaint in writing instead.
Be honest
Tell the truth. It’s the right thing to do. Also, it’s likely you will be found out if you don’t tell the truth. This won’t help your case.
Tell the whole story. Sometimes people don’t tell complaint handlers all the facts because they think some of the facts might hurt their case. This usually won’t help you.
If an agency or a complaint handler makes inquiries about your complaint, they will probably get all the facts anyway, such as records of any phone calls you made to the agency. If these records show that you said something that isn’t true, it can damage your credibility.
Stick to the facts and try not to use emotional language. For example, you could say you were given wrong information by an official, rather than saying a person lied to you.
Be realistic
When you say what outcome you want, make sure it’s a reasonable request.
You might want to check whether the agency can do what you want them to do by asking the agency before you make your complaint.
Asking for staff to be fired or disciplined is not usually a reasonable request or a likely outcome.
If there is proof of criminal conduct, staff may be prosecuted. If there is proof of serious wrong conduct, then disciplinary action may be taken. However, most cases don’t involve this kind of serious wrong conduct.
In cases where a mistake has been made, an agency might apologise to you and they could take reasonable action to make things right for you. Sometimes, if the agency or its staff made a mistake, they may compensate you for expenses you had to make. They might also waive or refund a fee.
Complaint handlers usually focus on fixing the problem rather than on blaming or punishing people who made mistakes.
If mistakes were made in the past and they can’t be changed now, complaint handlers focus on what can be done to make things better for you.
They might also work to change their systems so they don’t make the same mistakes for other clients in the future.
Be cooperative
Give the agency all the information you have to explain or prove your complaint. This could include documents, letters or photographs. Do this at the beginning. If this isn’t possible, let the agency know that you will be providing more information when you have it.
If you have documents you want to attach to your complaint, make sure they are necessary to explain your complaint, or to prove important points. Provide copies of documents. Don’t provide the originals.
If you have a large number of documents, arrange them in order (for example, by date). If you can, number each document so that when you mention each document in your complaint you can refer to those numbers.
It is also important that you let the complaint handler know if you get new information that is relevant to your complaint.
Make a copy of your complaint before you send it in and keep this for your records.
If you don’t want to continue with your complaint for any reason, let the complaint handler know.
Be informed
If you don’t understand the complaints process or if you don’t understand something you have been told, ask questions.
If you don’t understand the answers, ask for an explanation. You could also ask to speak to someone else.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, ask about your rights of review/appeal.
You can usually find important information about the agency and about its processes for complaints and review on their website.
If you don’t have access to the internet, your local library or online access centre can assist you.
Content for this page has kindly been provided by NSW Ombudsman.