Online Dispute Resolution

Foreword Complaint handling has always been a business for pragmatists. Labouring largely unrecognised in the back offices or outsourced call centres of their employers, these foot soldiers of what was hailed as the great revolution of 'putting the customer first' have had little to guide them in their endeavours in the way of theory or specific statute. Theirs was a practical business focused on trying to satisfy the customer or if that failed, shutting them up or ignoring them in the hope they would eventually go away even if it was to a rival concern. There was however one source of enlightenment - US data from way back in the 70's that suggested that complaint handling could contribute to profit and growth. That sparked a wave of investment and interest in the function of complaint management that lasts to this day. TARP the consultancy who collected and promoted these findings exported this message abroad - setting up their European arm in the '80s. This book celebrates that continuing interest and its application across many markets. It is written at a moment of anticipation when alternative dispute resolution and its technological handmaiden are being actively encouraged in the countries of the European Union. Effective resolution of consumer complaints in ways which are accessible, low cost, fair and technically agile is attracting unprecedented support from governments and businesses at both national and international levels. This book is as I said a celebration and one which has drawn together a diverse and talented set of authors - veterans and not so veterans of complaint handling from different perspectives and also newer activists contemplating new ways of working - using the law if that works but very ready to contemplate other ways of working if that works better. So we are back to pragmatism again. A definition of complaint handling which has always rung true for me is "bargaining in the shadow of the law." Now we are looking at new ways of doing that and doing it across national boundaries - not just the free movement of goods and services but the free movement of legal decisions that make it easy for people using new technology to buy things to use that technology to help them when things go wrong. The book is ordered to illuminate different aspects of the developments I have outlined above. Marc Grainer was with his colleague John Goodman (and later Colin Adamson in Europe) the first to propound the thesis that complaint handling pays. It seems right therefore that his chapter heads up our book asking whether the bright new dawn for investment in better complaint handling has in fact yielded the benefits we hoped would follow. If it has not, what can business do about it? His ideas are an ideal starting point. My chapter that follows intentionally narrows the focus to the here and now on the newer methodologies for satisfying disappointed customers that take account of the changes in the way that people shop and act if things go wrong. There are many different approaches and I have tried to round them up for the reader - especially the non-US ones who may be unfamiliar with the experience we have had in the definition and application of ODR (online dispute resolution). The EU is launching innovative schemes with its Digital Strategy designed to create the confidence amongst its millions of consumers that is necessary before they embark on cross-border shopping to take advantage of the spread and diversity not just of prices but of the goods and services themselves available in the 28 countries in that single market. Pablo Cortez of Leicester University in the UK has made online dispute resolution his speciality and he with two other academic colleagues from the Universities of Barcelona and Helsinki respectively set out the legal frameworks being built as well as the obstacles the proposed arrangements have to address in areas such as enforcement and the design of the technologies to support ADR/ODR. To show what can be achieved by adapting technology, we have an example of a programme which has helped many people facing one of the most grave problems for consumers and their families - the repossession of their home. We are not talking here of a faulty food-mixer. In her account of a mediation programme set up in the aftermath of the mortgage crisis in 2007, Amy Koltz takes us through the process involved in working with multiple stakeholders to achieve the goals of this important programme. Technology contributes a lot but you have to get the human beings on board first. The hopes and dreams of how things will work in the future must pay heed to the realities of what is happening now and it seemed the moment to go back to the nitty gritty - what Katherine Newcomer and other complaint managers like here have to contend with and decide upon on a daily basis. Not for nothing did we call her chapter 'Abuse, Truth, Fraud and Fairness' - all human life is there. Considering the parade of human vanity and emotion that cross her screen every day I thought her treatment was very restrained. Finally we end on a note of anticipation and speculation with Adrian Lawes wandering lonely as a cloud (for those of you who like Wordsworth) across the landscape of the UK speculating about the public's reaction to the new approaches on offer. I hope you learn from this collection of talents and topics. I look forward to working with you. - Jo DeMars