Do people really complain more these days? That in itself is debatable. Many put forward the theory that the Great British public is more likely to complain because of the increasing number of consumer orientated television programmes such as Watchdog or Holidays from Hell. This may be a contributing factor, but we at Service Science believe a major overriding reason is something which the legal profession refers to as "Trade Puffing".

Without a doubt, the main reason a customer complains is the same as it was twenty years ago - "Someone didn't get what was promised". Trade Puffing is the act of a business "puffing out its chest" to say we're better than our competitors. This is frequently done by making a promise or a guarantee.

What tends to happen is the marketing department of Business A makes a promise to out-perform a promise made by Business B. Of course the marketing department of Business B then reacts with a counter-promise to out-perform Business A and so on. However in recent years the time period between "boasts" has gradually decreased due to an increasingly competitive market place and the ever increasing ease of communicating with potential customers through the media and information technology.

Take a banking example as a hypothetical case:

10 years ago Bank A says we'll give you an answer to your mortgage application within 2 weeks

5 years later along comes Bank B saying we'll give you an answer within a week

2 years later Bank A says we'll give you an answer by close of business next day - unheard of!

A year later Bank B says we'll give you an answer within 2 hours

A month later Bank A says we'll give you an instant answer

And so on...

Of course such boasts increase customer expectations, and as a result expectations have risen exponentially. In many businesses so quickly in fact, that the operations department of a business frequently can't keep up with the evermore rigorous boasts made by the marketing department. And when customer expectations aren't met? ... A complaint is the result. Or is it?

In fact most people won't complain, but vote with their feet instead... but that's another story known as the Iceberg Theory.