How
to handle product liability claims
I
am a new customer Service Supervisor for a small company
and I've discovered that the plant does not have a plan
in place for how to respond to product liability
complaints and claims from customers. Can you point me
toward resources for handling these situations?
Myra's
answer to: How
to handle product liability claims
Frontline
customer service representatives are the greatest
influence in keeping product complaints from becoming
product claims.
It's
absolutely true. Your customer service representatives
are the first line of defense against product liability
claims and their carefully planned response and diligent
handling of the complaint can keep the issue out of
court.
From the
first moment you and your team realize you're dealing
with a product liability complaint, there are four
things you need to do, right off the bat and I'll walk
you through each of them step-by-step.
1. Log
all complaints. Product
liability complaints must be documented completely with
verbatim comments from both the customer and the
customer service representative. If you use a contact
management system to track complaints, this is where
you'll want to capture the product liability complaints.
In addition to complete documentation, you'll need to
archive the data for at least three years. If you don't
have a sophisticated complaint tracking system, document
the complaint completely in writing.
2. Get
complete information from the customer. Attorneys
have found that the first description of the incident by
the consumer tends to be the most truthful and least
calculated. So get as much detail on what happened and
exactly how the incident occurred as you possibly can
during the initial phone call with your customer. You
need to know this: Information obtained by you from the
customer may serve as impeachment evidence if the
consumer later changes their story - so be sure to get
as much information as you possibly can. Capturing this
data with complete accuracy is CRITICAL.
3.
Disseminate complaints to Quality Assurance and Legal
departments. Every product
liability complaint needs to be escalated for review and
investigation by your Quality Assurance and Legal
Departments. Your Quality Assurance Department needs the
complaint data so they can improve the product, or at
the very least research the problem. Your Legal
Department needs this data so they can initiate their
investigation before notice of a claim is given. (Note:
Many contact management systems will automatically do
this when a specific category is selected).
4.
Resolve the complaint immediately. The
faster the resolution, the lesser the chance of the
customer suing the company.
Do these
four simple things whenever you're faced with a product
liability complaint and you will have captured
everything your organization will need to investigate
the claim and protect the organization from a product
liability lawsuit.
Additionally...when
you know what not to say to consumers in product related
complaints, you can help keep your company out of court,
or at least avoid making damaging admissions that may
harm the company's chance of defending the claim. In
part 2 of my Managing Product Liability Claims article,
I will help your company manage product liability risks
by learning exactly what not to say when faced with
product liability complaints.
Here are
three reasons avoiding damaging admissions is critical:
A. What
you tell the consumer may be admissible into evidence in
court before a jury.
B.
Admitting or acknowledging fault (verbally or in
writing) without the opportunity to investigate, may
preclude the company from denying liability later on,
regardless of what the investigation shows.
C. You
can be called as a witness for deposition or trial and
asked about what you said to the consumer and why you
said it.
Here's
what not to say:
1. "I
knew this was a problem in the past, but I thought it
was corrected." Do not admit the existence of a
defect.
2. "WOW!
You're the sixth person I've talked to this month with
this problem." - This is damaging for obvious
reasons.
3. "Making
the changes you suggest would drive up the cost of the
product to our customers." This shows that the
company values money over safety. If jurors sense this,
they are much more likely to award punitive damages
against you.
4. "Don't
worry. We'll take care of everything." What if
your investigation ultimately exonerates you - but
you've told the customer you would 'take care of
everything'? Also, your insurance policy may require you
to refrain from making any payment or promise to pay
without the insurer's consent. Be circumspect in making
verbal commitments.
5. "I
am so shocked that his happened again." This
comment may imply that you have been on notice of a
product problem. If the company has failed to adopt
remedial measures, this could spawn on a punitive
damages claim against your company.
The
bottom line here is: Do not accept responsibility.
See
also: 4 Ways to Keep Product Liability Claims Out of
Court
