The GB Gambling Commission recently published a comprehensive guide for operators on the subject of handling customer complaints. Published earlier this week on the GB Gambling Commission’s main website, Advice for licensees on improving complaints handling, walks operators through some very basic components of customer service that most operators are probably already familiar with.
The GB Gambling Commission’s foray into customer service advice comes on the heels of a comprehensive review of 34 licensee’s complaint policies. That review was conducted both to “explore how to improve how licensees deal with consumers when things go wrong” and as a component of the long-delayed gambling policy review white paper. Though the release of the white paper has been repeatedly delayed, the commission is clearly trying to make the best of the work they’ve already done for it.
GC director of policy Ian Angus emphasized the importance of complaint handling saying, Good complaints handling is vital in the gambling industry. We want consumers to be able to easily find and understand policies and be able to raise their complaints without any barriers. We know gambling businesses receive around 200,000 complaints every year, and while the government’s review of the Gambling Act will consider where these can be escalated to, the majority will still need to go through the licensee’s complaints process first.”
The commission’s advice for handling complaints includes suggestions like, “include a link to your complaints procedure on your homepage” and “include clickable links and check that they work.”
It’s believed that about eight percent of UK gamblers have filed a complaint with an operator at some point and that another four percent would like to have complained, but just didn’t follow up.