Complaints are an inevitable part of working in customer service — and handled well, they're also an opportunity to turn a frustrated customer into a loyal one. Good Egg Energy takes complaints seriously, both because our customers deserve it and because we're required to by our regulatory obligations. This guide covers the full complaints process, from first contact to resolution.
What counts as a complaint?
A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction with Good Egg Energy's products, services, staff, or processes — where the customer wants or expects a response. This is broader than it might sound. A customer who says "I'm really unhappy with how this has been handled" is making a complaint, even if they don't use the word.
The distinction matters because complaints trigger a specific process with regulatory timelines attached. When in doubt, treat it as a complaint and log it accordingly.
Logging a complaint in Kraken
Every complaint must be logged in Kraken at the time it's received — not after the call, not at the end of your shift. To log a complaint:
- Open the customer's account and navigate to Complaints
- Select New complaint and choose the appropriate complaint category
- Enter a clear, factual summary of what the customer has told you — in their words as much as possible, not your interpretation
- Set the complaint status to Open
- Assign an owner — if you're handling the complaint yourself, assign it to yourself; if it needs to go to another team, assign accordingly
- Note any immediate steps taken or promised on the call
Give the customer their complaint reference number before the call ends. This is important — it lets them follow up easily and signals that we're taking their concern seriously.
Regulatory timelines
Energy complaints are subject to regulatory requirements. These are not guidelines — they are obligations:
- Acknowledgement: the customer must receive an acknowledgement of their complaint within 2 working days of it being received
- Resolution: complaints must be resolved within 8 weeks
- Deadlock: if a complaint cannot be resolved within 8 weeks, or if the customer is not satisfied with our resolution and considers the matter at a standstill, we must issue a deadlock letter — this allows the customer to escalate to the Energy Ombudsman
Missing these timelines has consequences — regulatory, reputational, and financial. Make sure every complaint you log has a follow-up action and a responsible owner.
Handling the complaint conversation
How you handle the initial conversation sets the tone for everything that follows. A few principles that make a real difference:
Let the customer finish. Don't interrupt, don't jump to solutions, and don't get defensive. Most customers just want to feel heard before anything else.
Acknowledge before you investigate. A simple "I'm really sorry you've had this experience — that's not the service we want to provide" goes a long way, even before you know whether we were at fault.
Be honest about timelines. If you can't resolve something on the call, say so clearly and tell the customer exactly what happens next and when they'll hear from us.
Don't over-promise. It's better to under-promise and over-deliver than to set an expectation you can't meet. A customer who was told they'd get a callback by Wednesday and didn't is angrier than one who was told Thursday and heard on Wednesday.
Resolution options
Depending on the nature of the complaint, resolution might look like:
- A clear explanation of what happened and why
- A billing correction or account credit
- A goodwill gesture — financial or otherwise
- A process fix that prevents the same issue recurring
- An apology — sometimes this is genuinely all a customer needs
Match the resolution to the complaint. A billing error of £200 warrants a different response than a delayed letter. Use your judgement, and check with your team leader if you're unsure what level of resolution is appropriate.
Escalating a complaint
Some complaints need to go beyond first-line resolution. Escalate when:
- The customer is not satisfied with what you're able to offer
- The complaint involves a serious service failure, safety issue, or vulnerable customer
- The complaint is approaching the 8-week deadline without resolution
- The customer specifically requests to speak to a manager or senior team member
When escalating, brief the receiving team member fully — the customer should never have to repeat their entire story to a new person.
The Energy Ombudsman
If a complaint remains unresolved after 8 weeks, or if we issue a deadlock letter, the customer has the right to take their complaint to the Energy Ombudsman — an independent body that resolves disputes between energy customers and suppliers. Their service is free to customers.
You don't need to discourage customers from using the Ombudsman — it's their right, and we should tell them about it. What we should always do first is make every reasonable effort to resolve the complaint ourselves.
