Customer complaint management is the work between a customer reporting a problem and the customer accepting that it is solved: registering the complaint, acknowledging it, containing suspect product, analysing returned parts, finding the root cause, reporting back and closing it. In automotive, IATF 16949 clause 10.2.6 asks suppliers to analyse customer complaints and field failures, including returned parts, to start problem solving and corrective action, and to tell the customer and their own organisation the results.
Each customer sets its own clock in its customer-specific requirements: how fast to acknowledge, contain, send a first response, report the root cause and send the final report, and which problem-solving format to use, such as VDA 8D or AIAG CQI-20. Zometric holds these rules as a policy per customer and computes every complaint's deadlines from the moment it was received.
The complaint is the customer-facing side: deadlines, lots, returned parts, acceptance, communication and report versions. The problem solving itself is one linked CAPA, so the 8D is worked once and its progress shows up on the complaint.
Six problems quality teams describe in their own words — and what changes when every complaint runs on its customer's clock.
A complaint moves from registered to acknowledged, in progress, final report sent and closed. Checks on every complaint say what is late or missing.
Intake
Record the customer and its reference, type, channel, time received, part, defect, quantities, lots and flags such as line stop or stop ship. Due times follow from the customer's policy, the repeat check runs and the CAPA opens. A safety- or regulation-related complaint is always critical and is escalated to the quality managers.
Acknowledgement
Name the complaint owner and decide whether containment is needed; skipping it needs a reason. The acknowledgement is logged as a message to the customer, with the date the first response will follow.
Containment
List the named and suspect lots with location, quantities checked and rejected, and the first good lot. Send them to the CAPA's containment, and record the customer's approval of the containment method or exit when the policy asks for it.
Returned parts
Receiving returned parts sets an analysis due date, 10 days by default, and gives the analysis owner a task. The result is defect confirmed, no trouble found, other cause or inconclusive, with the quantities and the disposition of the parts.
Acceptance
Accept the complaint, partially accept it with the confirmed quantity, reject it or judge it no trouble found, each with a reason. Set who is responsible; for a sub-tier supplier, request a supplier CAPA with an answer date.
Reports
Send the first response covering D0 to D3, interim reports up to D6, and the final report once the CAPA has reached D7 or is closed. Each is issued as a numbered version and logged with the rest of the communication.
Closure
An accepted complaint closes once its CAPA is closed and the final report is sent. Where the policy needs it, the customer's confirmation is recorded, or the waiting period, 30 days by default, has passed with a note. A customer who refuses closure sends the complaint back to in progress.
Each capability is tied to a decision your team is already trying to make.
Each customer has its own policy: hours to acknowledge, to contain and to send the first response, days to report the root cause and to send the final report, the 8D format required and whether closure needs their confirmation. Every complaint shows its next milestone and how long is left.
Registering a complaint opens exactly one CAPA in the customer's required format. Containment and root-cause milestones are confirmed by progress in the 8D itself — nobody updates two systems to say the same thing.
Find the suspect lots, send them into containment by location, and track returned parts through analysis. Shop-floor data and lot history sit beside the complaint, so the first response is based on evidence.
Every report sent to the customer is an issued, numbered version frozen as it was sent, alongside the communication log and the customer's own files. What you told the customer, and when, is never in doubt.
Each new complaint is matched against earlier ones for the same part and defect — from the same customer by default. A repeat is marked as such — and if its earlier CAPA is already closed, that CAPA is flagged for an effectiveness review.
Customer ppm from delivered volumes, on-time response rates and customer scorecards — each KPI listing the complaints it counted. Import a customer's complaint file directly, with columns mapped automatically.
Customer ppm is counted defective parts divided by delivered parts, times one million. Which complaints and which quantity count is set in each customer's policy. These are the default rules: customer and 0-km complaints count, the confirmed quantity is used once known and the claimed one until then, and rejected and no-trouble-found complaints are left out.
| Complaint | Type | Decision | Claimed | Confirmed | Counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CC-000141 | TypeCustomer complaint | DecisionAccepted | Claimed18 | Confirmed18 | Counted18 |
| CC-000142 | Type0-km failure | DecisionPending | Claimed6 | Confirmed– | Counted6 |
| CC-000143 | TypeCustomer complaint | DecisionPartially accepted | Claimed40 | Confirmed12 | Counted12 |
| CC-000144 | TypeCustomer complaint | DecisionNo trouble found | Claimed10 | Confirmed0 | Counted0 |
| CC-000145 | TypeCustomer complaint | DecisionRejected | Claimed5 | Confirmed0 | Counted0 |
| CC-000146 | TypeField failure | DecisionAccepted | Claimed2 | Confirmed2 | Counted0 |
The complaint sends its deadlines and data where the work happens, and hears back when that work moves on.
Each complaint opens one CAPA with the customer's required format and the complaint's deadlines for D3, D4 and D8. D3 and D4 progress confirms the complaint's milestones, and a closed CAPA tells the owner to send the final report. Repeats appear in the CAPA's effectiveness review.
Complaints against an audit-universe item's part, plant, customer or process step raise its risk score, and new complaints open a review of how often it is audited.
The operation where the problem started is chosen from the part's process steps and passed on to the CAPA.
The complaint shows out-of-spec readings for the part's SPC streams in a window around the production dates of the complained lots, with a link to the part in SPC.
Rejected inspection lots of the part in the same window appear beside the complaint, with a link to its inspection plan.
Register and import complaints, decide acceptance and responsibility, request supplier CAPAs, close, reopen and cancel complaints, and keep delivered volumes up to date.
Works the complaint: lots, returned parts, due-date changes with a reason, acknowledgement, reports and the customer's replies. Receives the due-soon and overdue notices.
Do everything a coordinator does and maintain the customer complaint policies. Receive escalations and overdue notices for their plant.
See the complaint and update its lots and returned parts; the 8D itself is worked in the CAPA.
Members and viewers can read complaints and the customer KPIs.
| Zometric Complaint Management vs e-mail and a spreadsheet log | E-mail and spreadsheet log | Zometric Complaint Management |
|---|---|---|
| Deadlines | Worked out by hand for each customer | Computed from the customer's policy at registration, with due-soon and overdue notices |
| Problem solving | An 8D file started separately, if at all | One CAPA opened at registration in the customer's required format |
| Suspect lots | A list in the e-mail thread | Lots with location, status and quantities, sent to the CAPA's containment |
| What was sent | Attachments in someone's sent folder | Numbered report versions frozen as issued, with the communication log |
| Repeats | Noticed if someone remembers | Matched on part and defect within the policy window; a closed CAPA gets a review flag |
| Closure | Closed when the inbox goes quiet | Needs the closed CAPA and the customer's confirmation, or a waiting period and a note |
| ppm | Recounted for every review | Counted under each customer's rules, listing every complaint it counted |
| Checks | None | 25 complaint rules, from a late acknowledgement to NTF without analysis |
Import a customer's complaint export from Excel or CSV. Columns are mapped by their names, the mapping is saved per customer layout, and existing references are skipped or update open complaints.
Enter or import delivered quantities per customer, plant, part and month from Excel or CSV — the denominator of customer ppm.
Each issued report version has a print layout for PDF and an Excel workbook, with a draft preview before issue.
Export the complaint register and the customer quality KPIs to Excel.
Complaints, communications, KPIs and the status commands — acknowledge, accept, issue a report, close — are available through the REST API, with a webhook when a complaint changes status.
Zometric's modules share a single data backbone — adopting more of them compounds the signal-to-noise advantage.
The cross-module traceability and genealogy layer — connect every material, machine, operator and quality event into one unbroken thread, from supplier to customer.
A secure external workspace for suppliers and customer reviewers — they act from a link, with no account to create and no training to attend.
Straight answers to the questions teams ask before a demo.
IATF 16949 clause 10.2.6 asks suppliers to analyse customer complaints and field failures, including returned parts, to start problem solving and corrective action, and to communicate the results to the customer and within their own organisation. Zometric checks each complaint against these points, for example whether the results were sent to the customer.
Each customer has a complaint policy with its response times. The tenant default is 24 hours to acknowledge and to contain, 48 hours to the first response, 15 days to report the root cause and 60 days to the final report, counted from when the complaint was received. A deadline agreed with the customer can be overridden with a reason.
Registering a complaint opens one CAPA in the problem-solving format the customer's policy requires, such as VDA 8D or AIAG CQI-20. If the complaint is later rejected or judged no trouble found, the CAPA is told its source was withdrawn. An accepted complaint without a CAPA is reported as an error.
A new complaint is a repeat when an earlier complaint has the same part and the same defect inside the policy's window, 365 days and the same customer by default. Complaints with a similar description are shown as candidates. A repeat raises a review flag on the earlier complaint's CAPA if that CAPA is already closed.
Customer ppm is counted defective parts divided by delivered parts, times one million. By default, customer and 0-km complaints count, the confirmed quantity is used once known and the claimed quantity until then, and rejected and no-trouble-found complaints are excluded. Each customer's policy can change these rules.
Yes, with a reason. If parts were returned, their analysis must be completed with the result no trouble found first; if none were returned, the basis must be written down or attached. Where the policy asks for the customer's closure confirmation, the customer must agree with the decision before the complaint can close.
After the final report is sent. An accepted complaint also needs its CAPA closed. Where the policy requires it, the customer's closure confirmation is recorded; if the customer does not answer within the waiting period, 30 days by default, the complaint can be closed with a note.
Yes. Upload the customer's Excel or CSV export; columns are mapped automatically by their names, and the mapping can be saved for that customer's layout. Rows whose reference already exists are skipped, or update complaints that are still registered or acknowledged.
A 30-minute discovery call. A 2–3 week pilot on real factory data. Then scale at your pace.
