Managing Booking Issues & Complaints

Managing Booking Issues & Complaints

We understand that things don’t always run smoothly. OctopusPro helps you handle issues and complaints promptly and efficiently. It allows you to quickly view and auto-assign new issues, see issues’ status, and resolve these issues with user-configured dashboards. It allows you to open and close issues and follow up with automated responses to ensure that all issues and complaints are resolved promptly and professionally.  

So, if a customer lodges a complaint against one of your bookings, as an admin user, you can add it to the booking and manage it easily. You will receive a notification when the issue has been added. You can then view the issue and discuss it with the office and/or customer.

Table of contents

Adding an issue to a booking as an admin user 

When logged in as an admin user from the web view, go to Bookings > All bookings

On the booking list page, click on the booking you wish to add an issue to. Then, on the booking view page, click on the Actions button, then click on Add Issue  

On the pop-up window, first, select the issue type, depending on the type of issue. Then, tick the To Follow checkbox if the issue is still to follow, and has not been resolved. After that, select the Deferred Date of the issue from the calendar, which is the date the issue will take to be resolved. 

Finally, add the issue in the Comment field. Click on Submit to add the issue to the booking.

After clicking on submit, an issue will be added to the selected booking with an issue number and you will be redirected to the issue details page. 

An Issue Acknowledgement pop-up email will appear. If you wish to notify your customer of their booking issue, click on Send. The purpose of this email is to let your customers know you have acknowledged the receipt of their issue and to let them know you are working on resolving it shortly.

Viewing an issue for a booking as an admin user 

You can view your issues whenever you like. If you receive a notification of a new issue, you should click on the notification to view the issue details. But if you want to view any issue at any time, you can do so by following the below steps:

From the admin portal web view, click on Bookings > All Bookings 

Click on the booking you wish to view the issue of. On the booking view page, scroll down to the discussion board for the booking, and click on Issues, to view all the issues submitted for that booking. 

Click on the issue to view the full details of it. You can also edit or delete the issue from the Action buttons.

Or, you can also view the issues submitted from Feedback’s page.

When logged in as an admin user, from your sidebar menu click on Feedback

Click on the issue status you wish to view. For example, if you wish to view all the New issues, click on New Issues

You will be redirected to the issues list page, where you will be able to click on any issue to view its full details.

How to close a resolved issue

After the issue has been submitted to a booking, you can mark the issue as closed after resolving it. To do so, go to Feedback > In Progress from your sidebar menu 

On the issue list page, click on the actions button of the issue you wish to close. 

Then, click on Close.

A Popup window will appear, including the complaint discussion. Add a comment in the empty field and click on Close. You can control the visibility of the discussion by selecting who can view it from the dropdown. 

If you wish to notify your customers of any added comments, select the customer name. After clicking on Close, the booking issue status will be marked as closed.

How to reopen a closed issue

In the case that you have closed an issue and for any given reason wanted to reopen that issue, you can easily do so with a few simple steps. Go to Feedback > Closed Issues from your sidebar menu. 

On the issue list page, click on the actions button of the issue you wish to reopen. 

Then, click on Reopen.

A Popup window will appear, including the complaint discussion. Add a comment in the empty field and click on Reopen. You can control the visibility of the discussion by selecting who can view it from the dropdown. If you wish to notify your customers of any added comments, select the customer name. After clicking on Reopen, the issue status will be marked as reopened.

How to directly contact a customer regarding their issue?

The system makes it quick and easy for a user to contact a customer regarding their issue. To do this, from your sidebar menu, go to Feedback > All Issues

On the issue overview, click one of the contact icons below the customer’s name to email them one of the complaint default templates, send them an SMS, or directly call them.

How to directly contact a fieldworker regarding an issue?

The system makes it quick and easy for a user to contact a fieldworker regarding an issue submitted to a booking they were assigned to. To do this, from your sidebar menu, go to Feedback > All issues

On the issue overview, click one of the contact icons below the fieldworker’s name to email them one of the complaint default templates, send them an SMS, or directly call them. 

You can also add a comment on the discussion board where they will be able to see it.

Customizing templates used for communications (automated responses)

The system has default templates sent out to customers for issues, which you can easily customize to your preference to fit your business/brand tone of voice. 

Automated issue emails can help increase customer satisfaction and retention. It can help you show your customers that you appreciate them, and help you maintain a positive business reputation by resolving issues & complaints and keeping your customers constantly updated on their issue status.

Accessing/editing these templates:

To view the default templates, from your sidebar menu go to Settings > Communications > Templates & Canned Responses 

Click on Emails, and from the search bar on the right type in “Complaint”

You will be able to view all the email templates related to complaints. Click on the template you wish to edit or customize.

Types of default email templates available:

Complaint acknowledgment:

This email template is to notify your customer that you have received and acknowledged their complaint and will be working on resolving it. 

If desired, you can edit the text of the email to your requirements.

Send complaint details:

If you need to remind or inform your customer of their complaint details, including the complaint number, complaint type, complaint comment, and the complaint discussion board, you can send your customer this template. 

If desired, you can edit the text of the email to your requirements.

Final complaint resolution:

If a complaint has been received from your customer, as a final complaint resolution, you can send this email template to let your customer know that you have received and resolved their complaint and that nothing can be done further in their case. 

If desired, you can edit this email template and add your own text or message.

Open complaints reminder:

To remind your fieldworkers of open complaints they have received and are yet to acknowledge, you can send them this template to remind them of the open complaints. 

If desired, you can edit this email template and add your own text or message.

Viewing issues as a fieldworker from the fieldworker app 

Fieldworkers can view issues added to the bookings they are assigned to. To view an issue as a fieldworker from the app, go to Feedback from the sidebar menu. 

To view the details of an issue, the fieldworker can click on it. 

When the issue status is To do, the fieldworker will be able to view the issue and add a comment to the issue discussion board, which will be visible to the customer and admin user.

When the issue status is In Progress, the fieldworker can mark the issue as resolved and add a comment explaining how the issue was resolved. The issue status will then turn to Awaiting approval and the admin user will then have to approve first, and then close the issue.

Creating custom statuses for issues

With issues statuses, you can easily control all issues & complaints lodged by your customers knowing which ones you need to follow up with. When it comes to managing customer issues, it’s important that all users are aware of the status of an issue, in order to provide an effective solution to the customer. An issue status lets users know the current situation of the issue and helps organize your issues into different categories.  Once you change the status of an issue, it will automatically be moved to the correct folder under the Feedback tab in the main menu. 

OctopusPro comes with a set of default issues statuses, but you can add more if needed. 

New: New issues that have not yet been dealt with.

In Progress: Issues that are in the process of being resolved.

Reopened: Issues that have been reopened and require action.

Awaiting Approval: Issues that have been marked as resolved by the fieldworker but have not yet been approved by the office.

Closed: Issues that have been resolved, approved, and are now closed.

Users can select a status from our suggested status or a list personalized by you. To create a new issue status:

From your sidebar menu, go to Settings > Communications > Feedback & Rating  

Then, click on the + tab on the right side of the page.

Enter the status you wish to add, you can also change the color of the status by picking a custom color. Click on save to add the custom status. 

When an issue is placed on this status, it will change to this color.

Categorizing issues by creating issues types 

An issue type gives a general overview of the nature of an issue to users. Create a list of different types of issues that can be made by users. You may also want to include another option for issues that do not fall under one of the options you have created.  

Issue types help you categorize and quickly see what the issue is for each issue when browsing all issues. Issue types can be for example:

  • Damage Caused
  • Unsatisfactory Job
  • Late Service

To create a new complaint type, go to Settings > Communications > Feedback & Rating 

Click on Issue types

Then, click on the + tab on the right side of the page.

Enter the issue type you wish to add, and then click on save.

After adding issue types, you can then select one of these types when creating a new issue for a booking.

After adding a type to your issue, you can filter issues by each issue type. To do that, on your issue list page, select a type from the dropdown, to filter all issues with that type selected.

What happens when you have open issues?

Once you add an issue to a booking, it automatically withholds the payment to the assigned fieldworkers until the issue has been marked as closed by the admin user. 

In order to pay the fieldworker from the fieldworker booking summary report, the admin user will need to either manually release the withheld payment or close/resolve the open issue.

For more information please visit Octopuspro user guide, and subscribe to our youtube channel.

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