As a Pillar To Post franchisee, you and your employees face a variety of risks each and every day. Despite how accurate and thorough your inspections, some clients may dislike or disagree with your findings.

If they raise a compliant, prioritize addressing it, whether the complaint is exaggerated or warranted.

A mishandled complaint can lead to an insurance claim. Luckily, there are ways to attempt to prevent and resolve these client complaints. Try these tips to manage client complaints before and after they occur:

Prevent Client Complaints

Set yourself up for success by giving your clients an overview of your services in multiple formats.

  1. Set expectations. Remind clients that an inspection is not a warranty. While it seems self-explanatory, some clients seem to get the two confused.
  2. Require completion of the Pillar To Post inspection agreement. This includes the specific details of what your inspection does and does not provide within the inspection agreement. In fact, having these details in writing proves the client knew what to expect from the start.
  3. Give a run down of what your inspection entails. Finally, reiterate in person. Share exactly what you will do during the inspection and what it can and cannot reveal.

Manage Client Complaints  

If a complaint is made, follow these steps:

  1. Acknowledge the client complaints in a timely manner. Ignoring complaints will not make the issues go away, but likely worsen them. Communicate with the client to get all the details you need. Document these details in writing.
  2. Visit the property and document. Schedule a visit to observe the issue. Evaluate the conditions as they exist now versus when you inspected the property. By visiting, you may have the chance to explain why the condition was not discoverable during your initial inspection, or why it was outside the scope of your standards of practice.
  3. Share the situation with your insurance company. Even if you think the complaint can be resolved, share the incident with your insurance company. They can work with you to resolve the issue. If the complaint does lead to a claim down the line, they will have all the information they need from the start.

Complaints can be a hassle but managing them the right way can be beneficial for your business in the long run. Explore more risk management tips from Lockton Affinity.