Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-fvjsw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T05:27:26.163Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Complaint as a Problem-Solving Mechanism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1978

H. Laurence Ross and
Neil O. Littlefield
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

When consumers experience problems with purchases the most frequent mechanism for their solution is complaint to the seller. This case study describes and attempts to evaluate the working of the complaint mechanism in handling the problems of purchasers of selected household appliances. The complaint mechanism was found to be commonly used and effective in handling matters defined by consumers as problematic, and consumers often seemed to obtain more generous concessions than the law required of the seller. The latter's response was liberal because management defined generous dealing with customers as consonant with long-run commercial interest, and because staff experienced both official and unofficial pressures to grant customers' requests.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , Winter 1978, pp. 199 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © 1978 Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

This research was supported by Grant SOC 74-14809 from the Law and Social Sciences Program of the National Science Foundation. The authors appreciate the thoughtful services of our research assistants at the University of Denver, especially Ted Banks and Joyce Sterling, and of colleagues who read and commented on earlier drafts, especially Richard Abel, Herbert L. Costner, Frederic L. Dubow, Sheldon Messinger, and Eric Steele. We are particularly indebted to the personnel of Fred Schmid Appliances and TV Co., of Denver, Colorado, the retailer studied here, (referred to in the text by the pseudonym of “Western Television and Appliance Company”) and to its president, Roy Jansen, for the permissions, information, and encouragement received during the study.

References

ABEL, Richard L. (1973) “A Comparative Theory of Dispute Institutions in Society,” 8 Law & Society Review 217.Google Scholar
ANDREASEN, Alan R. (1975) The Disadvantaged Consumer. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
BEST, Arthur and Alan R., ANDREASEN (1977) “Consumer Response to Unsatisfactory Purchases: A Survey of Perceiving Defects, Voicing Complaints, and Obtaining Redress,” 11 Law & Society Review 701.Google Scholar
CAPLOVITZ, David (1963) The Poor Pay More: Consumer Practices of LowIncome Families. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
FELSTINER, William L.F. (1974) “Influences of Social Organization on Dispute Processing,” 9 Law & Society Review 63.Google Scholar
GALANTER, Marc (1974) “Why the ‘Haves’ Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change,” 9 Law & Society Review 95.Google Scholar
GALANTER, Marc (1976) “Delivering Legality: Some Proposals for the Direction of Research,” 11 Law & Society Review 225.Google Scholar
HANNIGAN, John A. (1977), “The Newspaper Ombudsman and Consumer Complaints: An Empirical Assessment,” 11 Law & Society Review 679.Google Scholar
KING, Donald W. and McEVOY, Kathleen A. (1976) A National Survey of the Complaint-Handling Procedures Used by Consumers. Rockville, Maryland: King Research, Inc. (under subcontract from Technical Assistance Research Programs, Inc., Washington, D.C.).Google Scholar
NADER, Laura and Linda R., SINGER (1975) “Dispute Resolution . . . What Are the Choices?” 51 California State Bar Journal 281.Google Scholar
ROSS, H. Laurence (1970) Settled Out of Court: The Social Process of Insurance Claims Adjustments. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.Google Scholar
ROSS, H. Laurence (1975) “Insurance Claims Complaints: A Private Appeals Procedure,” 9 Law & Society Review 275.Google Scholar
STEELE, Eric H. (1977) “Two Approaches to Contemporary Dispute Behavior and Consumer Problems,” 11 Law & Society Review 667.Google Scholar
WHITFORD, William C. and Spencer L., KIMBALL (1974) “Why Process Consumer Complaints? A Case Study of the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance of Wisconsin,” [1974] Wisconsin Law Review 639.Google Scholar