How to handle customer complaints: steps, scripts and the UK rules

Good complaint handling comes down to a few habits: let the customer finish, say sorry for the specific thing that went wrong, put it right quickly, check it stayed right, and write it down. Here’s how to handle customer complaints at the counter, on the phone, by message and in a public review, with scripts you can use word for word, a simple complaint log, and the UK rules on refunds, repairs and dispute resolution.

None of this needs a policy manual, just a team that knows what to say, what they can offer and where to write it down.

The six steps of complaint handling

Whether it’s a cold plate at table six or a drip under a radiator after a job, the same six steps work.

1. Listen to the end. Let them say all of it without interrupting, even if you already know the answer. Most people calm down once they’ve finished and can see you heard it.
2. Thank them and show you’ve understood. Repeat the problem back in one sentence: “So the valve we fitted on Monday has started dripping.” It proves you listened and checks you’ve got it right.
3. Apologise for the right thing. Say sorry for the specific thing, not for “any inconvenience”. You can be sorry for how it went before you know whose fault it was.
4. Ask what would put it right, then fix it. Offer a choice where you can. If you need to check something first, say exactly when you’ll come back to them.
5. Follow up. A short call or text a few days later to check the fix held.
6. Write it down and learn from it. Log what happened, what you did and why it went wrong. Once a month, look for the same complaint turning up twice.

What to say to an angry customer (and what not to say)

When someone is angry, your tone does more work than your words. Lower your voice rather than matching theirs, and if other customers are listening, offer somewhere quieter: “Shall we step over here so I can hear you properly?”

Then use plain, specific words. These swaps help:

Owning a complaint doesn’t mean admitting everything on the spot. If you don’t know what happened yet, say so: “I don’t want to guess. Let me check the job notes and I’ll call you back by four.”

You don’t have to put up with abuse, and nor does your team. If someone is shouting or swearing, set one calm boundary:

If they carry on, end it politely and note what happened. The complaint still deserves an answer later.

Scripts for the counter, the phone and messages

These use two made-up businesses: a restaurant called Rookwell & Fig and a plumbing firm called Brackleigh & Pike. Once you know the shape, use your own words.

In a restaurant or café

Go back within a few minutes with an update, even if there’s nothing new. If you’ve taken something off the bill, tell them before it arrives, so it reads as a kindness rather than a surprise.

On the phone

For trades, most complaints come by phone. Answer, or call back the same day.

By email or message

Written complaints need two replies: a quick one within a working day to say you’ve got it and when you’ll be back in touch, and a fuller one once you’ve looked into it.

Keep it short enough to read on a phone, and end with a real name.

When to offer a refund, repair or replacement: the UK rules

Plenty of complaints are settled with goodwill: a free coffee, a dish off the bill. But when goods are faulty or a service wasn’t done properly, the customer has rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and it helps to know them before someone quotes them at you.

Goods must not be, in the words of GOV.UK’s guidance for businesses, “faulty, not as described or does not do what it’s supposed to”. If they are:

• Within 30 days, the customer can reject them for a full refund. The 30 days start the day after they’ve received them (or, if you’re installing them, after you’ve told them the installation is finished). For goods expected to perish sooner, like flowers or fresh food, the window ends when they could reasonably be expected to last.
• They can ask for a repair or replacement instead. You must do it within a reasonable time, without significant inconvenience to them, and at your cost, including labour, materials and postage. While they wait, the 30-day clock pauses.
• If one repair or one replacement doesn’t fix it, or neither is possible, or you take too long, they can choose either a price reduction or to reject the goods for a refund. In the first six months you can’t knock anything off that refund for the use they’ve had, except for motor vehicles.
• A fault that shows up within six months is treated as having been there on the day of delivery, unless you can show otherwise. After six months, GOV.UK says you can ask the customer to prove it was faulty when they bought it.
• Refunds must be paid “without undue delay, and in any event within 14 days” of agreeing the customer is entitled to one, the same way they paid unless they expressly agree otherwise.

Services, like a repair, an installation or a deep clean, must be performed “with reasonable care and skill”. If it falls short, the customer can ask you to do it again “to the extent necessary” to put it right, within a reasonable time and at your cost, including labour and materials. If that’s impossible, or you take too long, they can ask for a price reduction, which the Act says “may, where appropriate, be the full amount of the price”. That refund also has to reach them within 14 days, with no fee. Citizens Advice tells customers they have up to six years (five in Scotland) to ask for a poor service to be put right, so keep job records.

One more from GOV.UK: “It’s illegal to restrict or take away customers’ rights or to mislead them about their rights, for example by displaying a sign that says you do not accept returns or offer refunds.” If there’s a “No refunds” sign by your till, take it down.

Formal complaints, written outcomes and dispute resolution

What is a formal complaint? In everyday use, it’s one the customer puts in writing or asks you to treat officially, rather than a quick word at the counter. Treat both with the same care: the duty below applies whenever you respond to a complaint, however it was made.

The dispute resolution duty. Since 6 April 2026, under section 308 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, when you tell a customer the outcome of their complaint, you must also tell them about any alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or similar scheme available if they’re unhappy with it. That means a scheme you’re obliged to use, whether by law, by your terms with the customer, or by another agreement, such as a condition of joining a trade association. Business Companion says traders “must give the required information in a durable form, such as by letter or email”, including the scheme’s name and web address. If you don’t belong to a scheme, there’s nothing to add, but check with any trade association you’ve joined.

Where customers go next. Citizens Advice runs the consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133 (0808 223 1144 in Welsh), Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Its advisers explain the law that applies and can “pass information about complaints on to Trading Standards”, but they can’t complain on the customer’s behalf. Citizens Advice also publishes template letters. The one for poor-quality work quotes the Consumer Rights Act and asks the trader to get in touch “no later than 5 days from the date on this letter”. If one arrives, it isn’t a threat, just a customer following good advice, so reply within the five days.

Customers do take complaints further. Between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025, the Citizens Advice Consumer Service received 290,427 complaints. Of those, 36,534 were about home maintenance and improvements, including 2,629 about plumbers and plumbing. If one of yours ends up there, a written record of what you offered, and when, is your best answer.

Complaints in public: reviews and social media

Sometimes the first you hear of a problem is a one-star review or a comment on Facebook. The same six steps apply, but everyone can read your reply. Thank them, apologise for the specific thing, and give a name and a direct number so the details can be sorted out privately. Our guide on how to reply to a bad review has replies you can adapt.

Two lines from the CMA’s fake reviews guidance matter here. Businesses should not interfere with negative reviews “by making an offer of dispute resolution contingent on a consumer not leaving a negative review”. And one of its examples of a banned practice is offering someone who left a negative review a refund or gift card if they change it to remove the negative comments. So put things right because it’s right, and never tie the fix to the review.

Handling complaints well isn’t a way to keep criticism off Google, either. The same guidance warns against “encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews”. Keep asking every customer for a review in the same way, including the ones who complained and the ones you put right.

Follow up, and keep a complaint log

A complaint isn’t closed until you’ve checked the fix worked. A short message a few days later does it:

Keep it to the check-in, with no offer. Your usual review request goes to them just as it does to every other customer. For timing and templates, see how to follow up with customers.

Then write it down. A complaint log is the part of the complaint handling process that turns one bad evening into something you fix for good. A spreadsheet or the back of the diary will do, as long as everyone uses it. One row per complaint:

Once a month, read it top to bottom and look for the same cause twice: the same dish, the same Friday shift, the same fitting. Each repeat is worth fixing, and worth telling the team about.

If complaints reach you through your website or your reviews, LocalQuiver can help you keep them in view. Messages from the contact form on a website we build land in one inbox and are emailed to you too, and by default the Review Agent leaves lower-rated Google reviews for a person to answer, with a draft reply ready to edit.

The short version

Before you close any complaint, check that:

1. They finished, and you repeated the problem back to them.
2. You apologised for the specific thing, not for “any inconvenience”.
3. You offered a fix, with a choice where you could.
4. Every promise had a name and a time, and you kept it.
5. Any refund went back within 14 days, the same way they paid.
6. Your written outcome named your dispute resolution scheme, if you belong to one.
7. Nothing you offered depended on what they write in a review.
8. You followed up, and it’s in the log with the real cause.