Customer complaints and service policy in electronic commerce

Abstract

Handling customer complaints is an important strategy to retain customers. Therefore, in the event of service failure, e-retailers should concentrate on recovery policies. However, studies discussing prevention policies to avoid customer complaints are scant. This study collected 5933 real customer complaint data from an electronic commerce customer-service database and classified customer complaints into 6 types. The findings showed that a number of customers were dishonest and took advantage of recovery policies. After interviewing business managers and consultants, this research suggests that e-retailers have prevention policies to guarantee accuracy of packaging and delivery processes. Prevention policies can reduce customer complaints, and avoid extra costs for businesses conducting recovery policies.