Ninety-six percentage of unhappy customers, travellers or people receiving bad service do not complain was the conclusion of research carried out in the Western world. Only four percent therefore justifiably complain.

In well-run organizations, government departments, and service providers, customer feedback is used as a key tool for improvement. The response can create more focus on training, system improvements or staff development/ changes. Responding to complaints is also an opportunity to convert a negative customer into a very positive one, people will share their good experiences. Likewise, more than 13% of people who have had a bad experience will talk about it negatively to fifteen or more people, but not complain to the company itself.

It costs six to seven times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. Richard Branson used to see most of the complaints from his customers sent to the head office or regional management. This just wasn’t to check how complaints were being handled, but also to look at areas of opportunity. He would randomly pick out a few letters and ring the complainer directly.

Firstly, obviously, the person at the other end of the phone is shocked and amazed after Richard apologizes and says he is looking into the matter, meanwhile, a gift is sent to the person. Those who have been rung are ultimately more than satisfied and are said to tell the story to all their friends, and their friends tell more friends.

When making travel bookings, for example, we are choosing hotels and restaurants after looking at previous customers' comments.

In my thirties, I created “the four percent club” of like-minded people who would share tactics and experiences over copious glasses of wine. Some years ago I created the fictitious character “The Whinging Pome”, who is vocal, unapologetic and always opinionated with wicked English wit and cutting Whinging Pome Rules.

This has resulted in the Pome i.e. me communicating frequently about poor service, ruined meals, bad experiences, etc. Publishing articles or short stories highlighting what I consider are “the good, the bad and the ugly” experiences. In my second book, “The Whinging Pome: On the Road Again”, there is a story entitled “Flights From Hell”. I write and complain to airlines more than any other industry about bad service, cuisine, delays and more. We are paying so much more to travel, but the experience is declining.

Sadly, in 96% of people’s DNA, they do not complain or do anything when they should be highlighting shortfalls, disturbing incidents etc. as we go about our daily lives.

One of the top organizations for lodged complaints and negative reviews is the Eiffel Tower, with 17,000 on record. For English-speaking travellers, women complainers in order of frequency are named Kim, Karen and then Susan and for males, Paul was the biggest complainer followed by David and John. Any surprises!! This may be influenced by the popularity of names, or reflect the age of many complainers.

Now, there are those who say complaining creates stress and negativity amongst those people who do it frequently, but I have not felt this, I am very positive about complaining.

In my view, if we all made more effort to complain when it’s justified, and follow it through, the world would be a better place.

Many companies now appreciate feedback and genuine complaints, as they create valuable learnings to respond to and improve business performance.

Only 4% of us with a right to complain do so. You can participate in making the world and your country a better place, step by step.