Complaint handling crosses departments, and most of its failures happen at the handoffs. Agree this table with your general manager before you change anything. The two lines that matter most are the front door (everyone sends every complaint to quality the same day) and the voice (one owner per complaint speaks for the company on it).
| Role | Owns | Does | Decides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality manager | The complaint process | Runs the log and the weekly review; assigns an owner to each complaint; reviews every response before it goes; reports the monthly view | Who owns a complaint; whether it is substantiated; when it can close |
| Complaint owner | One complaint | Acknowledges, leads containment and the investigation, writes every letter, keeps the log line current | The content of each letter, with the quality manager |
| Customer service, sales, program managers | Receiving complaints | Pass every complaint to quality the same day, unaltered; keep the customer informed of who owns it | Nothing technical: they route, they do not answer |
| Investigation team | The causes | Operator, engineer, inspector, supplier quality: the people who know the process | Whether a cause is confirmed |
| Shipping and receiving lead | Documentation and identification | Owns the causes and actions on certificate, label, packing and mixed-lot complaints | How the shipping desk's checks change |
| General manager | Priorities, resources, commercial matters | Clears blocks; handles any discussion of costs, charges, warranty or contracts; reviews the monthly view | Resources; anything commercial |
| Contracts or commercial owner | Costs, liability, warranty, contract terms | Answers any part of a complaint that is commercial or legal | What is said about money or terms |
Need more than one resource, or not sure where to start? Book a complimentary 30-minute Aegis Quality Guidance Call. We'll find the tools that fit your situation and a sensible place to start. No sales pressure, no obligation.
A management aid, not certification or a registrar audit. Using it does not by itself show conformity to AS9100D or any other standard, and your customers' requirements may add to it.
Clause numbers refer to AS9100D (SAE AS9100 Rev D) unless another document is named. The standards' text is not reproduced here: use your own licensed copy.
Aegis Insights are our own guidance, labeled wherever they appear: how we approach this work, not a requirement of any standard or customer.