Originally Posted by BahrainLad
I disagree. I once had cause to write to the Chairman of RBS after a fiasco involving a Switch card issue and PIN that clearly highlighted a total procedural failure in RBS management (i.e. the branch caused the fiasco by following the rules) which I thought he should have been made aware of.
3 days after sending, received a reply from someone in his office acknowledging the letter, a week after that I received a full apology, explanation and compensation again from his office; and finally, a follow-up phone call from someone in "the Chairman's team" asking if everything was to my satisfaction.
Very good service, and something which BA should take note of.
Good customer service should put those letters that really do need immediate action in front of those who need to see them. If it is working correctly the above happens, and the person is happy to know that their letter has been seen and action being taken.
Obviously the Chairman/Chairwoman/Chief Executive can't respond to every letter personally, that's what their PA (or team?) is supposed to be doing for them. If they are on the ball, they should sort the post into that which the boss needs to see that which she can deal with and that which can be dealt with by a particular manager ot at a lower level.
You can assume that occaisionally letters will go astray and don't assume that just because one wasn't answered doesn't mean it was ignored, try another referencing the first. It is annoying when things aren't answered and things go unnoticed but there are other people who you can try and get your message through to. If it is a serious flaw such as the one above, and you get nothing from the Chair/Chief Exec, then try the Senior or other Non Exec Director, or a senior manager. When writing to them mention that you are writing to them because you have heard nothing from the first person you wrote to.