Kaebuste käsitlemine telekommunikatsiooniettevõttes AS EMT

Abstract

Complaint handling in a telecommunication company EMT. Keywords: complaint handling, telecommunication industry, complaining behaviour, consumer satisfaction, feedback system, perceived justice. Telecommunications industry is a sector where technical failures occur inevitably. The main problems are the lack of communication between clients and service providers and inadequate complaints handling systems. The lack of adequate complaint management systems may be due to organizational values. Company's values, service process and the procedures should support customer orientation and a positive attitude towards complaints. Complaint handling procedures can be compared to information processing. Complaints management processes and information processing both cover the following stages: the adoption of environmental information, noticing, interpretation and taking information into account in decision-making process. Systematic complaints handling is a challenge by which dissatisfied customers may remain loyal to the company. Earlier studies have shown that Estonian consumers are modest when it comes to complaining or reporting about products or services problems. Compared to other spheres, telecommunications sector is beset by a large number of complaints. Estonian consumer and service provider rights and obligations are prescribed by the Consumer Protection Act, Law of Obligations Act and the Electronic Communications Act. This work therefore included a summary of key points in the legislation, while taking into account the context of this work. Research aimed to explore telecommunication company EMT feedback systems, the complaint handling communication process and whether internal communication factors have an impact on these processes. On the other hand I wanted to know how EMT’s customers evaluate the complaints handling process of company. This paper examined these key problems with the method of interviewing by talking to EMT personnel and clients. The survey showed that the company has set up special channels for clients to provide feedback or submit a complaint. Feedback is perceived as a partnership between the company and a client. Feedback and complaints are valued according to EMT personnel, but these values should be integrated more into the daily workflow. Complaints management process is considered as a combination of standard procedures and creativity. Automated systems, customer relationship management system and database are important part of the system, as they store information about customers' complaints. Complaints handling is distributed among the different levels throughout the company and the responsibility is on the entire organization. Complaints managing procedures do not have a negative impact on staff relations. EMT complaint handling procedures require active team work, which involves the entire organization. This means that the members of the company should communicate and exchange messages densely. Call centre, information sharing procedures and customer service provide several ways of improvement. It is very important that the customers can easily contact to the company via telephone, especially if it is the most used channel, when urgent issues arise. Satisfaction provides only the feedback system that enables effective communication between organizations and consumers. It is also important to improve the information sharing system, so that customers should not have to wait for the solution to emerge, when it will not. The relationship between the consumer and the company will be enhanced when the client feels that the company treats him/her respectfully, the client gets answers to questions, is informed of significant changes and a solution is found. Also it should be considered the possibility of creating a more personal contacting channel, so customers would have an opportunity to call a person who understands and values his or her problem entirely. The results showed that the consumer satisfaction with complaint handling process was generally low. Customer service attitude towards consumer complaint was the indicator of consumers evaluations. Many of the customers surveyed felt that customer service is a sphere that EMT should improve. This topic certainly needs further research in telecommunication sector, especially with an aim to draw representative conclusions. This qualitative study does not allow to make representative generalizations about the overall situation in the telecommunications industry. However, this research can be handled as a basis from which to proceed future research.