Complaints that live in WhatsApp chats and notebooks get lost, and lost complaints become lost customers. A simple customer complaint register format in Excel fixes that: one row per complaint, from the call to the close. Download the CSV below and open it in Excel or Google Sheets.
Customer complaint register format: columns
- Complaint no. and date and time received
- Received by and channel (phone, WhatsApp, email)
- Customer, phone and site
- Equipment or service (AC unit 2, RO in kitchen, termite treatment)
- Problem in the customer's words
- Category (breakdown, quality, behaviour, billing) and priority
- Assigned to and visit date
- Status (open, assigned, resolved, closed)
- Action taken and date closed
- Repeat? (yes if the same unit had a complaint in the last 30 days)
Daily routine
- Every call goes into the register before anything else.
- Morning: filter status = open, assign each one.
- Evening: update what was done; close only when the customer confirms.
Weekly review
- How many complaints, by category.
- Average days to close.
- Repeat complaints, by technician and by equipment.
Repeat complaints are where the money leaks: a second free visit, and a customer who will not renew. Fix the cause (training, parts, a faulty unit) rather than the symptom.
When the register outgrows Excel
A shared sheet breaks when several people take calls at once, or when the technician cannot see the history on site. ServicePilot records each call as a service request or complaint with customer, site, equipment, category and priority, turns it into a job and keeps the history on the customer record. Read complaint management software and how to respond to customer complaints.
