Set up and maintain complaints procedure according to ISO 9001

Joost Vaessen
24 oktober 2023

A complaint! Very unfortunate if you receive one. But do you realize that you should actually be very pleased about that? A complaint gives you the perfect opportunity to implement improvements through a complaints procedure. And one of the ISO 9001 requirements is continuous improvement. You see? A complaint is actually a gift, as it helps you move forward!

ISO 9001 complaints procedure

ISO has clear preconditions when it comes to setting up a complaints procedure. ISO states that an organisation must:

  • Respond to a complaint;
  • Evaluate the complaint in order to take measures and prevent its recurrence;
  • Implement the necessary measures;
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of the measures; 
  • Make changes to the quality system as needed.

If you are going to set up a complaints procedure, first determine who will be responsible for it. This way you ensure that it is clear to everyone who is going to do what. Because complaints also go straight to the right person, they will be dealt with quickly and properly.

The complaints process doesn't have to be complicated

After you have designated a person responsible for the complaint, you record the process. The complaint is registered, safeguarded and assessed in order to determine the measures to be taken. Work with a central complaints/improvement register, for example. If you keep a central record of everything, it is also easier to draw conclusions from the data collected.

You can clearly see whether an incident is a one-off or a regular occurrence. You can then give priority to these. Because you have everything conveniently arranged in one system, you always have the correct and most up-to-date information. This allows you to help the person reporting the complaint quickly, which benefits customer satisfaction!

It is important not to make the registration of complaints unnecessarily complicated. If your employee needs half a day to register a complaint because of a jumble of forms, this will be put on the back burner and eventually it will not be dealt with. Clearly a missed opportunity. Make sure that the first report can be made by quickly filling in a simple form, or by sending an e-mail. In a possible follow-up (for example if an incident occurs more regularly) go into detail more.

Learn from complaints

Once you have dealt with the complaint, you must find out what the cause of the complaint is. Only when you know where the problem comes from can you take the necessary actions to solve the problem and improve. Not only can you prevent new complaints, you are also working on continuous improvement, which is one of the requirements of ISO 9001. Isn't it nice how everything comes together like this?

Easy and efficient complaints procedure

The easy-to-use software tool includes efficient complaint registration. The online complaints form is user-friendly and the entire complaints process is processed in one system. My ISO Genius also makes finding back complaints really easy.

Do you want to know how this works? Request a free demonstration and be convinced by the ease of use.

Do you have any questions regarding a complaints procedure? Or other aspect of ISO 9001? Feel free to contact us.
We are pleased to advise you with our expertise!

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