Complaints
The complaints register is the record you keep to meet your obligations under an Ofcom-approved complaints code of practice. It records what was complained about, when it arrived, how it was resolved, and whether the customer was told of their right to take it to an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme.
What you need: the Customer Services section and the CRM Complaints permission. There is no package requirement.
Recording a complaint
Section titled “Recording a complaint”Two routes:
- Record Complaint on the customer page.
- Escalate to Complaint on an open case, which carries the case across.
Required:
- Category - Billing, Service, Sales or Other, from your code of practice. It is a fixed list, never free text.
- Channel - Phone, Email, Letter, In Person, Web Form or Social Media.
- Opened - the date the complaint was received.
Optional: the linked case, a linked billing dispute, and Pause Chasing.
Important: nothing you type is recorded on the complaint when you open it. Only fixed choices are stored. The narrative belongs on the linked case thread, and the only free-text field on the complaint itself is the resolution summary, entered when you resolve it. This is deliberate, because a complaint can easily contain sensitive personal information that does not belong in a compliance register.
Important: the received date cannot be changed afterwards. The statutory clock runs from it, so it is fixed at recording. It also cannot be in the future.
The six-week ADR clock
Section titled “The six-week ADR clock”For complaints received on or after 8 April 2026, the customer becomes entitled to be told about the ADR scheme once 42 days have passed without a resolution.
The CRM works this out for you and marks each complaint accordingly:
| Chip | Meaning |
|---|---|
| (nothing) | Comfortably inside six weeks |
| ADR due in 5d | Inside the final week |
| ADR letter due | The six-week line has passed and no letter has gone out |
| ADR letter not sent | A letter was raised but has not actually reached the customer |
| ADR offered | A letter has gone out |
A deadlocked complaint owes the customer their ADR rights immediately, whatever its age and regardless of the rule date. Declaring deadlock is how a customer gets there sooner.
Important: a letter that was raised is not a letter that was sent. The register only treats the obligation as met once the letter has actually gone out with no failure recorded against it. A bounced email keeps the complaint showing as outstanding, and it becomes re-issuable after a short in-flight window. That is the honest answer, and the one you want if you are ever asked to evidence it.
The queue
Section titled “The queue”Complaints works the register oldest first, which is the right way round when a clock is running.
| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| Open (default) | Complaints still being worked |
| ADR due | At or past the six-week line, or deadlocked, with no letter delivered |
| Deadlocked | Declared deadlock |
| Resolved & closed | The history, newest first |
Columns are Customer, Category, Channel, Opened, Age in days and Status with its ADR chip. Filter by category.
The menu badge counts complaints at the ADR line, not open complaints, because that is the actionable figure. The Daily CRM Tasks email carries a matching row.
There is no New complaint button here. Complaints are always raised from a customer or a case, so they are always attached to something.
Actions on a complaint
Section titled “Actions on a complaint”Resolve
Section titled “Resolve”Records how the complaint was resolved.
Required: a Resolution summary.
What happens: the six-week clock stops, and any Credit Control pause the complaint placed is released.
Mark Deadlocked
Section titled “Mark Deadlocked”Declares that you and the customer cannot agree.
What happens: the complaint stays unresolved, and any Credit Control pause stays in place.
Important: issue the deadlock letter straight afterwards. From the moment you declare deadlock, the complaint shows as owing the customer their ADR rights, whatever its age, until that letter has gone out.
Closes the complaint without a resolution.
Required: a Reason for closing - the customer withdrew it, stopped responding, referred it to the ADR scheme, it duplicates another complaint, it was not really a complaint, or another reason explained in the summary.
What happens: any Credit Control pause is released, and the reason goes on the register.
Important: you cannot close a complaint as Referred to the ADR scheme unless an ADR rights or deadlock letter has actually gone out. Raising one is not enough.
Reopen
Section titled “Reopen”Reopens a resolved or closed complaint.
What happens: the six-week clock resumes from the original received date, and any Credit Control pause is re-placed. The closure reason is cleared, though the audit trail keeps it.
Issue ADR Letter and Issue Deadlock Letter
Section titled “Issue ADR Letter and Issue Deadlock Letter”Send the statutory letters.
Required: whether to send as Email or Printed letter.
What happens: the letter is created and sent or produced, and logged on the complaint with the route, who issued it and when. The deadlock letter also marks an open complaint deadlocked.
The ADR rights letter is offered once the six-week line has passed, for complaints received on or after 8 April 2026. The deadlock letter is offered at any time.
Before either will issue:
- The ADR Scheme Name and ADR Scheme Contact Details settings must be filled in for the dealer, under CRM Complaints. The letter names your scheme from them.
- For a printed letter, the letter content must have been written, because no printed body is supplied by default.
- The customer must have a valid email address on file that has not opted out of this class of correspondence. That applies whichever delivery method you choose.
Pausing Credit Control chasing
Section titled “Pausing Credit Control chasing”Ticking Pause Chasing when recording a complaint, or Pause Credit Control chasing when escalating a case, stops chasing for that customer while the complaint is unresolved.
What happens: every open chase case for the customer gets a hold blocking contact, charges and restriction, with the complaint named as the reason. Pending chase communications are cancelled, new enrolment is skipped, and the chase activity trail records it.
Things to know:
- It is opt-in per complaint. It is not automatic, and it does not follow from the linked case.
- Resolve and Close release it. Deadlock keeps it, because the customer is still exercising their rights.
- Reopening re-places it.
- Release is by the link that placed it, so a hold Credit Control added by hand is never lifted by the complaint.
- The Customer Services operator recording the complaint does not need any chasing permissions.
The register report
Section titled “The register report”Register report gives the counts a complaints code and an Ofcom information request ask for.
Filter: complaints opened in the last 3, 6 or 12 months, or all of them. Export CSV downloads the full register.
Cards: complaints opened, still unresolved, given ADR rights (counted only where a letter actually reached the customer), ADR referrals, and the average days to resolve.
The table breaks category by outcome across four age bands: up to 2 weeks, 2 to 4 weeks, 4 to 6 weeks and over 6 weeks. The bands bracket the six-week line deliberately.
The CSV carries the complaint, account, customer, category, channel, opened date, status, closure reason, the case reference (which is where the narrative and any attachments live), resolved date, days open, whether each letter was raised and whether it was sent, the ADR referral date and the resolution summary.
Things to know
Section titled “Things to know”- A complaint can never be deleted. The register is the compliance record.
- A resolved or closed complaint cannot be edited. Reopen it first.
- One case can carry only one unresolved complaint.
- Recording an actual referral to the scheme stamps who entered it and when.
- Complaints appear on the customer timeline.
Field reference
Section titled “Field reference”Complaint
Section titled “Complaint”What was complained about, how it arrived, and the records it concerns.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer | The customer the complaint is from |
| Category | The complaint category from the code of practice - fixed lookup only, never free text |
| Channel | How the complaint was received |
| Opened | The date the complaint was received - the six-week ADR clock runs from here, so it cannot be changed after recording |
| Case | The case carrying the correspondence for this complaint, where there is one |
| Dispute | The billing dispute this complaint concerns, where there is one |
| Pause Chasing | Pause Credit Control chasing for this customer while the complaint is unresolved - existing chase cases are held and new enrolment is skipped |
Lifecycle
Section titled “Lifecycle”The status, resolution, and the ADR and deadlock letters issued.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Status | Where the complaint is in its lifecycle - deadlocked complaints remain unresolved and keep any chase pause |
| Resolution Summary | How the complaint was resolved, entered when it is resolved |
| Closure Reason | Why the complaint was closed without being resolved - recorded by the Close action |
| Resolved By | The operator who resolved or closed the complaint |
| Resolved | |
| ADR Letter | Correspondence record for the issued ADR-rights letter |
| ADR Letter Route | How the ADR-rights letter was issued - email or print |
| ADR Letter Sent By | The operator who issued the ADR-rights letter |
| ADR Letter Sent | When the ADR-rights letter was issued |
| Deadlock Letter | Correspondence record for the issued deadlock letter |
| Deadlock Letter Route | How the deadlock letter was issued - email or print |
| Deadlock Letter Sent By | The operator who issued the deadlock letter |
| Deadlock Letter Sent | When the deadlock letter was issued |
| ADR Referred | The date the customer referred the complaint to the ADR scheme, where they did - the register counts these. Recording it stamps who entered it and when |
| ADR Referral Recorded By | The operator who recorded the ADR referral |
| Opened By | The operator who recorded the complaint |
| Recorded |
System Information
Section titled “System Information”| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Last Modified | Timestamp of the most recent modification to this complaint |
| Created | Timestamp when this complaint was created |