What complaint resolution means
A complaint is resolved when both sides agree on the outcome, not when the business marks it closed. A ticket set to "solved" that you never agreed to is an ending, not a resolution. The test is simple: would you describe the problem as fixed?
The outcome itself is usually one of a handful of things:
- A refund, in full or in part.
- A replacement item, or a repair.
- A credit or gift card, when you would rather keep doing business with them.
- The service done again, properly, at no charge.
- An explanation and a change, when the problem was how you were treated rather than what you paid.
The stages of complaint resolution
Every fair process, whether it is a company’s own complaints team, an ombudsman or a regulator, runs some version of the same stages. What separates the ones that work is whether each stage has a deadline. On RDACTD they run like this:
- Filed. The complaint reaches the business privately, with the facts and the outcome you want. Your name is not shown to it.
- Acknowledged. Someone at the business confirms they have it and own it. This has to happen within five days.
- Offered. The business proposes a resolution, such as a refund, a replacement, a gift card or a free service, with a message explaining it.
- Accepted or rejected. You decide. Rejecting an offer is not the end: the business can come back with a better one.
- Resolved. Once you accept, the case is closed as resolved and stays private.
How long complaint resolution should take
A simple problem, a missing item or a double charge, should be fixed within days. A dispute that needs an investigation can reasonably take a couple of weeks. Formal schemes in regulated industries such as banking often give a business several weeks to send a final response, which is a ceiling, not a target.
On RDACTD a business has five days to acknowledge a complaint and ten days from acknowledgment to resolve it, so an engaged business has a little over two weeks at most. Speed also counts: a complaint resolved inside five days earns the business more on its RDACTD score than one resolved at the deadline.
Accepting, rejecting and countering an offer
Read an offer against what you asked for, not against what you were hoping for. A partial refund can be fair when you kept part of what you bought. A gift card is only a resolution if you would actually shop there again.
If you reject an offer, say what would resolve it. "Refund the second charge of $48.20" is something one person can approve in a minute. "This is not good enough" gives the business nothing to say yes to, and it is the version of you that gets quoted if the case goes public.
When the business will not resolve it
If the business ignores the complaint, the deadline does the work. Miss the five-day acknowledgment, or acknowledge and let the ten days run out, and the case file is published on the business’s public record.
If the business engages but the two of you cannot agree, either side can end the case with Close and Publish. The complaint and the conversation behind it go on the record, with personal details redacted, so anyone reading can judge the offer for themselves.
None of this closes the other routes. A consumer protection agency, your regulator, a chargeback through your card issuer and small claims court all remain open to you, and a dated case file showing what you asked for and what the business offered is exactly the evidence they will want.