Procedure for Handling of Customer Complaints.

1. SCOPE

The scope of this procedure is applicable to all customer orders and customer related processes.

2. PURPOSE

To define the methods for documenting and resolving Customer complaints/concerns and to ensure that customer complaint is handled effectively.

3. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

·         XXX Quality Manual,

·         Customer Related Processes.

·         Procedure for Correction and Corrective Action.

·         Procedure for Control of Documented Information

·         Procedure for Manufacturing.

·         Procedure for QA

·         Procedure for Monitoring and Measurement of customer satisfaction.

4.TERMS & DEFINITIONS
Customer – is defined as the organization or its employee(s), regardless of the person’s title, who issued the order to our Company. This is also the organization that makes payments to our Company for services/products delivered.

5. RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTHORITY

Sales Manager is responsible for recording, acting upon and communicating to the customer on all complaints received. PROD, QA, PD and all other concerned Depts are responsible to assist the sales Dept when required.

6. DETAILS OF PROCEDURE

General

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·         The Sales and/or Quality Assurance Department personnel shall be responsible for documenting, tracking and resolving Customer concerns/complaints or corrective action requests.

·         When a concern/complaint or corrective action is verbally or in writing communicated by the Customer, the Sales/Quality Assurance person records and/or attaches the submitted information to the Customer Complaint/Concern Record form and makes an entry into the Customer Complaint/Concern Log.

·         Each Customer concern/complaint is assigned a unique number (i.e. Year-XX or 06-01, 06-02, etc.)

·         When a Customer Complaint/Concern is received, the originator who prepared the Customer Complaint/Concern Record form shall distribute copies of it to the Production, Sales, Quality Assurance and others as deem necessary to resolve the issue. The original is retained in the Customer Complaint/Concern Logbook.

Customer Feedback/ Rating :

·         Customer response obtained from customers is reviewed to find out opportunities for improvements. These shall be obtained once a year. Quality rating feedback is also received from customers.

·         Level of customer satisfaction can be judged through the feedback/rating obtained, also reviewing customer’s perception captured during the visit by/to customers.

·         Wherever necessary, corrective/preventive actions shall be initiated to improve customer rating.

Addressing Concerns/Complaints

·         Sales /Quality Assurance and Other Functional Departments are responsible for addressing concerns/complaints. The goal is to have all issues addressed and closed by Sales/Quality Assurance personnel in less than 7 working days.

·         When Sales /Quality Assurance and other Functional Department personnel cannot resolve the concern/complaint within 7 working days, the issue is elevated to the Technical Director for resolution. This is accomplished via written memo or email.

·         When deemed necessary by the Sales or Quality Assurance, a Corrective Action Request (CAR) may be issued to document, investigate, identify root cause and obtain corrective action per procedure for Correction and Corrective Action.

·         Sales/Quality Assurance and Support Functions shall ensure Customer’s concerns/complaints are closed.

·         Summary of customer complaints shall be submitted for Management Review Meeting.

·         Sales /Quality assurance dept studies the nature of the complaint and takes action to redress the customer’s grievance, in consultation with Productions and other Depts where necessary.

·         Where necessary, a visit is made by concerned Dept. to customer’s premises to understand, analyse and decide the course of action.

·         In-house inspection test records at various stages are studied by QA if necessary to analyse/understand the complaint.

·         If correction proposed involves a change of process/specifications, the customer’s concurrence is sought. If necessary a sample lot as per the revised process is made and tried at the customer’s end before the conclusion.

·         Products rejected and returned by the customer are identified and recorded and may be sorted out through one of the following methods
– Reworked, retested, and returned.
– Replacements given.

·         After the complaint has been closed the customer is informed of the action taken.

·         When it is found that the complaint is incorrect, the customer is informed in personal meeting or correspondence, explaining the correct situation.

·         Even if it is concluded that the complaint is not due to material/manufacturing defect covered under warranty, replacement may be given by sales at its discretion to maintain/improve goodwill.

Delivery Performance Monitoring

·         Summary of delivery performance shall be prepared monthly.

·         In case of delivery performance is below target reasons shall be identified.

·         Necessary actions for improving delivery performance shall be identified & follow up shall be done.

Quality Records

·         Customer concerns/complaints are considered quality records and shall be retained as per the Procedure for Control of Documented Information

Quality Assurance

·         Quality Assurance shall ensure this process is audited as scheduled per Procedure for Internal QMS Audit.