Complaint cases with a clock: from bad order to closed case

What should go into a complaint case?

Nexara supports complaint logging from the call-center screen, with photos, SLA times in minutes and a routing ladder. Start with the order when one exists. For a walk-in complaint, record the branch and visit details in your intake process.

Use the following intake checklist to give the handler enough detail to investigate. Record the customer's account while it is fresh, and make the promised next action clear before ending the conversation.

1. Identify the incident. Include the order reference if available, the branch and when it happened. Add a usable customer contact.
2. Describe the failure in plain words. Record what the customer reported separately from what staff have checked.
3. Name the handler responsible for the next action. Specify who takes over when that person leaves the shift.
4. Set the deadline and record the promised action. Attach a relevant photo when it helps establish what happened.

Use this checklist as your operating procedure and check where each detail belongs during setup. A photo can document damaged packaging or a wrong item. Temperature complaints also need the customer's account and checks by the branch. Accept the complaint even when the customer has no photo.

How should a restaurant set its complaint SLA?

SLA means service-level agreement. In a restaurant's internal complaint process, it is the time allowed for a defined action. Specify whether the deadline means contacting the customer, approving a remedy or completing it. Otherwise, one branch will count an apology as completion while another waits for the replacement.

Choose operating targets your team can meet during service. Possible food-safety incidents need immediate management attention under your food-safety procedure. Do not leave them waiting behind routine service complaints because their deadline has not expired.

Nexara lets teams define complaint SLA times in minutes. Your operating policy must still define when responsibility starts and what action satisfies the deadline. Also define how after-hours reports are handled before publishing response promises to customers.

Who owns the case when the first handler cannot finish it?

Nexara complaint cases have a routing ladder and sync to workflow tasks. Give each case one accountable handler at a time. The kitchen may investigate and the branch manager may approve a remedy, but the handler remains responsible for updating the customer.

Write an escalation ladder based on decision authority. A branch manager can handle a routine service correction under your policy. An area manager can take over when the branch cannot act or the deadline is missed. Escalation should move the decision to someone who can make it.

NexaraFlow includes an Escalated Complaint template and role-scoped task queues. Its SLA escalation check runs every 5 minutes; its general escalation check runs every 30 minutes. Set your internal handover procedure around those check intervals.

At shift handover, review unresolved cases and explicitly accept responsibility for each next action. Read the deadline and the last customer update before taking over. See NexaraFlow timed tasks for the related task workflow.

What counts as a resolved complaint?

Nexara exposes complaint case chips for open, breached, escalated and resolved. Establish a closure rule before using those labels to review work. Mark a case resolved after the agreed action has been completed and communicated.

For a missing item, approving a replacement and delivering it are different events. If the customer cannot be reached, record the contact attempt and follow your policy for another attempt or administrative closure. Do not record customer acceptance when none was received.

Keep the customer remedy separate from the operational correction. The customer may receive the missing item today while the branch still needs to change its packing check. Keep that unfinished work on the team's operating checklist after the complaint closes.

Nexara also populates feedback-call tasks from delivered orders, with item summaries for the caller. Feedback calls after delivery explains that process. Review call completion and case resolution separately, with a clear completion rule for each.

How do you compare complaints across branches fairly?

Calculate complaints per 1,000 orders by dividing complaint cases by orders in the same period, then multiplying by 1,000. Read that rate alongside the raw count so you can compare branches with different order volumes.

Here is the calculation for two illustrative branches over the same 30 days.

Branch A averages 200 orders a day and Branch B averages 100. Branch A has more cases, but Branch B has the higher complaint rate. Review Branch B's cases first to see whether the same item or service problem keeps appearing.

Use the same counting rule at every branch. Decide whether repeat contact about the same incident remains one case. Separate complaints unrelated to an order from an order-based rate. Keep the reporting period consistent, and do not mix cases opened this month with orders from another month.

Nexara has Complaints and Orders report tabs; calculate the rate above as part of your review. Read restaurant reports that matter for the wider review. Check overdue cases too, and ask whether staff logged complaints consistently. If feedback calls increased, check how many cases came from those calls before judging the branch.

What should you test before using this across the chain?

Nexara supports complaint photos, SLA times in minutes, a routing ladder and workflow task sync. Test a sample complaint with the people who will handle it. Follow the case through a shift handover and check whether the incoming handler can identify the next action.

1. Log an order-related complaint from the call screen. Check where the branch and incident details appear.
2. Add a relevant photo and follow the case through the routing ladder. Identify who owns the next action.
3. Inspect an overdue example and the related workflow task. Check how the escalation timing is presented.
4. Resolve the sample case, then inspect how it appears in the Complaints report. Check how you would review unfinished work.

Before rollout, document who can approve a remedy and who takes over at shift change. Test those handovers with the staff who will actually handle complaints. Nexara has a free plan plus paid plans per branch in JOD, with current rates on request.

For a walkthrough, use the WhatsApp step below to contact Issa Al-Dalu, founder of Nexara at nexaratech.io, and follow a sample complaint from intake to resolution.