Customer complaint & refund: SOP template
Purpose: make sure every complaint is acknowledged, investigated, resolved, and logged, with timely escalation for financial, legal, or repeat-risk issues. Scope: complaints from any channel.
- 1
Log the complaint in your tracker within 15 minutes
- 2
Classify severity: low / medium / high / critical
- 3
Acknowledge the customer within 2 business hours
- 4
Investigate: facts, owner, timeline, evidence
- 5
Propose a remedy: fix, redo, partial credit, refund, or goodwill gesture
- 6
Get approval if the financial impact exceeds [your threshold]
- 7
Communicate the resolution and a target date
- 8
Close only when the customer confirms (or after 2 follow-ups with no reply)
Escalate immediately if…
- 9
Legal threat, suspected data/privacy issue, payment fraud, media attention, or the same root cause twice in 30 days
Escalate critical cases straight to [founder / function head] and open a corrective action.
Make this SOP yours in minutes
Start with this template, then record the real workflow with the Dyzo Owl Chrome extension — every click becomes a step with a screenshot. Share it with a link; readers never need an account.