Step 20 of 20

SOP-OM-20 · Customer Complaint Management

Scope

Scope: Covers the end-to-end management of customer quality complaints, including complaint notification, EQT review, root-cause investigation, corrective action, issue documentation, customer response, and claim follow-up.

Purpose: Ensures customer complaints are assessed and addressed promptly through structured investigation, corrective actions, clear communication, documented follow-up, and cost recovery where applicable.

Owner: DMR owns and coordinates the Customer Complaint Management process, with PMR responsible for complaint coordination and follow-up and QA responsible for providing the required technical samples, workbooks, and inspection documentation.

Applies to: Applies to PMR and QA working on Production Processes within Order Management.

Related guidelines

• GL-OM-05 Product File Management
• GL-OM-09 Cancellations & Liabilities

Process

1. PMR — When a quality issue is reported, a Quality Alert e-mail is sent and an Emergency Quality Team (EQT) meeting requested

   • MR requests and organises it.

2. PMR — The Commercial Director, Technical Manager/Director, GT, AM, Merchandiser and QA attend the meeting and all participants must come prepared

3. PMR — The commercial team prepares the product file, the correspondence history and any other material required for the review (See GL-OM-05 Product File Management)

4. PMR — At the meeting an attempt is made to determine the root cause and in all cases a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is prepared

5. PMR — If the root cause cannot be found, investigation activities and actions are assigned and followed up until closure

6. QA — The technical team prepares the approved Red Seal and Gold Seal samples, the workbook and the inspection reports (inline, final, re-final)

7. QA — After the notifications, an Issue Record is created and the inspection reports, customer photos/reports, CAP and supporting documents are added to it

8. PMR — The Customer Complaint Response Action Plan report is completed and uploaded under the issue record in CRM (the record is created by the Technical Administrator)

9. PMR — The customer is informed within 30 minutes after the meeting, and the manufacturer is separately informed about the agreed actions

10. PMR — All communication with the customer and the manufacturer on quality matters is handled by the Technical Manager and/or Account Manager; the Director is involved in case of escalation

11. PMR — All customer e-mails and reprocess cost claims must be answered within 24 hours (even if the manufacturer's confirmation has not yet been received)

12. PMR — The EQT convenes within 30 minutes of the notification (those outside the office join by conference call)

13. PMR — If the customer's claim is considered justified, provisional acceptance is given without delay and Finance is instructed to recover the costs from the manufacturer via a Debit Note (See GL-OM-09 Cancellations & Liabilities — R4)

Workflow

PMR — When a quality issue is reported, a Quality Alert e-mail is sent and an Emergency Quality Team (EQT) meeting requested

PMR — The Commercial Director, Technical Manager/Director, GT, AM, Merchandiser and QA attend the meeting and all participants must come prepared

PMR — The commercial team prepares the product file, the correspondence history and any other material required for the review

PMR — At the meeting an attempt is made to determine the root cause and in all cases a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is prepared

PMR — If the root cause cannot be found, investigation activities and actions are assigned and followed up until closure

Tutorial

This training video supports the Customer Complaint Management process. It does not replace the numbered steps.

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Exam

Exam for the Customer Complaint Management process. Take it after you finish the process article, including the tutorial video.

Pass mark	Expected duration	Attempts
80%	About 10 minutes	1 (one attempt per person)

Pass mark 80%. 10 single-choice questions, one point each.

Your name and score are recorded and count towards the leaderboard. You have one attempt, so finish the article and the tutorial before you start.

Locked

Watch the tutorial video above to 100% to unlock the exam. The questions appear here once your progress is complete.

Changelog

Changelog

Date	Changed by	What changed
2026-10-12	Order Management	Training video added and exam published.
2026-09-30	Order Management	Added guideline references.
2026-09-15	Order Management	Added related process references.
2026-09-11	Order Management	Article Added