Complaint & Goodwill Cost Tracker Spreadsheet
What a complaint costs once the refund, the free work, the gift and the hours somebody spent on the phone are added together.
Every business counts what a complaint cost to fix, and almost none of them count what it cost to settle. The refund is on one system, the free work is on another, the gift came out of petty cash, the money off next time has not happened yet, and the two hours somebody spent on the phone are on no system anywhere. Added together they are usually several times the cost of the fault itself.
What is in it
- Every complaint on one row: 800 rows, nine things per complaint
- The repair, the hours and the gesture kept apart, so what the apology cost is visible on its own
- By Fault: what each kind of complaint costs, with the apology shown as a plain multiple of the repair
- How Far It Went: the same complaint priced at the desk, at a duty manager, at the general manager and outside the business
- Whose fault it was — yours, nobody’s or the customer’s — written on the row, because all three still cost money
- The Gesture: refund, free work, gift and money off next time, kept in four separate columns
Who it is for
Any business that settles complaints out of its own pocket: a hotel, a builder, a clinic, a shop, a garage, a wedding venue, a manufacturer. Nothing in the file is specific to a trade — what complaints are about, how far they can go and where they happen are all named by you.
The worked example
In the worked year 412 complaints against 19,200 jobs cost $68,583 in total, or $166.46 each. Putting things right came to $11,909; saying sorry came to $35,682, three times as much, and the 807 hours spent on them came to $20,992.
The same complaint cost $113.88 when it was settled by whoever first took it and $702.33 once it went outside the business. A quarter of the complaints got passed on and they are half the money: had every one been settled where it landed, the year’s bill would have been $46,918 instead of $68,583 — a difference of $21,666.
How it works
Compatible with Microsoft Excel 2016 or newer on Windows or Mac, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice. No macros, no add-ons, no account to create, nothing to install.
The download has two workbooks: one with the example above already filled in, so you can see what every column expects, and the same file completely blank for your own figures. A plain-English guide comes as a PDF. Buy it on Etsy — $9
Sold through my Etsy shop, ThePlainLedger, so the download, the payment and the buyer protection are all handled by Etsy.
A look inside the file
Questions people actually ask
How do I work out what a complaint actually costs us?
Add three things that normally sit on three different systems: putting the fault right, the hours somebody spent on it, and the gesture — the refund, the free work, the gift and the money off next time. In the worked year that was $11,909 to fix, $20,992 in hours and $35,682 in gestures: $68,583 across 412 complaints, $166.46 each, and the apology cost 3.0 times the fault itself. Setup also asks whose fault each kind is, and the complaints that were the customer's own fault still cost $1,116.
Is this only for hotels?
No — nothing in the file is specific to any trade, and the lists in Setup (what complaints are about, how far they can go, where they happen) are all named by you. It works for a builder, a clinic, a shop, a garage, a wedding venue or a manufacturer. If you are one person rather than three sites, put one name in the Where column and every other tab works exactly the same.
We don't log complaints at all — where do I start?
Start with the ones that cost you money; that is where the file is useful anyway, and by the third month you will have a pattern. Nine things go in per complaint, over 800 rows. The one figure you may have to estimate is what an hour costs you — wages plus what you pay on top, divided by the hours you get — and being roughly right beats leaving it out, which is what every other system does.
Does it need Excel, or will Google Sheets do?
Yes — the file is built as .xlsx, so it opens in Excel 2016 or newer on Windows or Mac, goes into Google Sheets through File → Import → Upload, and works in LibreOffice. No macros, no add-ons, no account to create, nothing to install and no subscription. You download a file and it is yours. The file holds 800 complaints, twelve kinds of complaint, six rungs and six places, and comes with a blank copy and a plain-English PDF guide.
Is this a helpdesk or a complaints inbox?
No — it is not a complaints inbox, a helpdesk or a case management system, not accounting, bookkeeping or tax software, not legal advice, and it is not connected to anything: nothing syncs and nothing logs in. It will not stop anybody complaining. It tells you what an apology costs, which kind of complaint is dearest, and how much of the bill went simply because somebody passed it upstairs — $113.88 settled on the spot against $702.33 once it went outside the business.
Need it built around your business?
This file assumes complaints that get settled with money — a refund, a repair, a gesture at the desk. If yours is different — a regulated complaints process with response deadlines, complaints that arrive through a marketplace or a booking site rather than to you, franchise sites reporting into one head office, or warranty claims that have to be split with a manufacturer — I can build the same logic around how you actually work.
All other templates are listed on the Excel & Google Sheets Templates page.