Please Note:
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| All Agents |
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When you receive a call or ticket that may be a critical escalation please do the following:
- Complaint received via Call:
- Acknowledge the complaint by thanking the complainant for bring the matter to our attention.
- Ensure that you tell the complainant that the matter will be escalated and investigated to our specialised team that deals with these types of complaints.
- Inform the complainant to expect a follow up call from the team
- Complaint received via ticket:
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DO NOT respond to the ticket, immediately escalate the ticket to the social team for them to deal with the complaint.
The following script can be used as guidance to respond to the complainant on call:
"Good day [Insert Complainants Name]
Thank you for informing us of the incident, I am sorry to hear that you have experienced this issue and understand the frustration and concern this may have caused you.
This incident will be escalated to our critical escalation team for further investigation and will be address properly by them.
Please note that the critical escalations team will be in contact with you.
We take these complaints very serious and are committed to resolve them timeously."
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| Customer Service Leadership Team |
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On all follow up calls and emails DO NOT accept liability until the investigation is completed on our end.
For accidents and insurance claims, when the complainant provides the information as requested by us, use the "Mr D:: Critical Escalation:: Confirmation of receipt of requested information" macro to acknowledge the receipt of the information.
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Overview
| This objective of this document is to outline critical escalation scenarios, the process steps to be taken by CS agents, CS leadership and all business leadership in the receival, investigation and resolution of these critical escalation incidents. |
The document covers the following areas:
- Definition of Critical Escalation
- Process for Critical Escalations
- Daily Feedback Report
1. Definition of Critical Escalation
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A Critical Escalation refers to any real or suspected event or situation that poses a significant risk or has caused considerable harm to the physical or mental health, safety, or well-being of an individual involved with Mr D service. The aim of this procedure is to offer clear guidance for managing a critical escalation effectively.
P1 Incidents: Demand immediate operational action, such as investigation, driver suspension, and feedback. Decisions regarding the engagement of Legal and Public Relations may also be necessary.
P2 Incidents: While less urgent than P1 incidents, these still require monitoring until resolved. They may necessitate driver suspension and timely intervention from Legal and Public Relations during business hours.
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The below table outlines critical incidents that will require a critical escalation and its priority.
P1 & P2 Critical Incident Categorisations
| P1 Allegation |
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P2 Allegation |
| Sexual Assault. (unwanted touching) |
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Physical or verbal threat (discretion to be used if the situation requires this to be a P1) |
| Physical assault. |
| Theft. |
| Personal Injury requiring hospitalization of complainant (eg ingestion of foreign object, assault by IC, ect) |
Public indecency e.g. urination (discretion to be used if the situation requires this to be a (P1) |
| Customer, 3rd party, or IC driver personal injury or fatality. |
| Delivery of alcohol to a minor. |
| Any police enquiries relating to an IC driver or a hub. |
Verbal altercation with a customer, restaurant owner/staff or third parties (discretion to be used if the situation requires this to be a P1) |
| Incidents posing a severe threat to brand damage.( Caught on video in uniform doing something illegal) |
| IC Driver contact outside of SOP. (message clearly unrelated to delivery of Food even if casual) |
| Customer or partner advises they are taking legal action |
Damage to third party property.
Movable e.g. motor vehicle
Immovable e.g. Gate of house or postbox
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| IC driver under the influence of alcohol or drugs |
| Any other event determined by management as a P1. |
All other incidents are to be handled via the standard operating procedures.
2. Process for Critical Escalations
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Critical Escalation incidents can be received by CS,OS and RS agents through call or email. Below are the steps to deal with the critical escalation.
POPI Customer Verification
- When inbound contact is made by a customer related to any of the below scenarios. Agents must ensure they follow the POPI Security Questions.
- All security vetting questions related to inbound and outbound customer contacts can be found in the POPI FOOD CS SOP
- If the complainant does not pass the vetting process proceed to log the critical but do not provide any personal information relating to the order to the complainant.
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1
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Determine if complaint is a critical Incident
- Review complaint, to determine if it falls under one of P1 or P2 critical incident examples
- If complaint is food quality or foreign object related refer to Critical Food Complaints: Food Poisoning & Foreign Objects in Food SOP
- In cases where the agent is unsure whether the incident is or is not a critical incident but the severity of the complaint is concerning and may pose potential risk to the brand , the agent is still required to escalate to the relevant team
- Complaint IS a critical Incident: Follow step 2
Complaint IS NOT a critical or does not require escalation: Follow appropriate existing SOP or request guidance from TL/2iC with regard to resolution
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CS
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2
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Determine Escalation Route & Escalate
- Once the incident has been identified to be a critical incident the agent must escalate the incident on zendesk to the relevant Customer Service Team
- Escalate using the below based on the scenario
- IF complaint is against Groceries or TakealotNOW partner:
- Apply “Mr D :: Internal escalation:: Critical Escalations Team (Groceries&TakealotNOW)
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IF complaint is against a driver:
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Apply “Mr D :: Internal escalation:: Critical Escalations Team (Food/Shops/Groceries/TakealotNOW- Driver Related)”,
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IF complaint is against a Mr D partner (restaurants or shops partner):
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Apply “Mr D :: Internal escalation:: Critical Escalations Team (Food or Shops - Partner Related)”
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IF complaint is against a Mr D customer:
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Apply “Mr D :: Internal escalation:: Critical Escalations Team (Food or Shops - Customer Related)"
- Apply the macro on the original complaint ticket as an internal note
- Complete the fields in the macro
- Order Number/Ticket Number:
- Type of Issue:
- Description of issue: * Always provide a detailed description of the issue
- Contact Details of the complainant:
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Submit ticket as OPEN
- If the complaint relates to driver intoxication or alcohol delivered to a minor, after escalating, inform the MOD of the case using the escalation ticket ID in MrD Food CS G-chat Group
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CS
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3
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Receive Critical Escalation
Each of the following teams will receive the critical incident escalated to either of the below Zendesk views:
- Critical Escalations: Food Management (CS/RS/OS)
- GROC/TALNOW:: Management Critical Escalations Unsolved Tickets (Groceries/TALnow)
It is the duty of the Customer Service team to identify the escalations relevant to their department and follow the next critical incident steps to deal with the critical:
- CS: Complaint against Food or Shops customer
- Groceries & TakealotNOW CS : Complaint against Groceries or TakealotNOW store
- Order Success : Complaint against driver or driver related
- Restaurant Support : Complaint against Restaurant or Shop
If the escalated case relates to intoxication or alcohol delivered to a minor, it is the responsibility of the CS MOD to inform OS MOD in order for the OS MOD to immediately inform the business of the case and escalate the matter in the MrD (P1) Escalations whatsapp group.
NB* IF the critical Incident has been escalated to the incorrect team it is the duty of the TL/2IC to assign the escalated ticket to the correct team and Zendesk view
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TL/2iC
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4
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Call/Follow up Complainant
P1 & P2 (excluding insurance related claims)
- Call the complainant,acknowledge the complaint, obtain additional information/evidence and ensure that the topic will be addressed and followed through.
- For all P1 escalations the CS Manager or the assigned CS Leader on duty follows up with the complainant, assuring that the escalation has been received. At that stage a follow up time and date is also agreed on.
- Request all necessary evidence and additional details from the complainant, however do not wait to receive evidence to log complaint
- Set a basic expectation on when the complainant will receive the next information or feedback from us. This is dependent on the incident priority
- For incidents requiring evidence, inform the complainant that 3 days is provided for evidence to be sent through
- Inform the complainant that should evidence not be provided within 3 days, the complaint will be closed.
- Send a follow up mail after you call using one of the below macros,
- Complaint against driver/branch: Apply “Critical Escalation: Acknowledgement of complaint (Driver Related)”
- Complaint against restaurant/store/PnP:Apply “Critical Escalation: Acknowledgement of complaint (Store/Restaurant/PnP)” macro
- Complaint against customer: Apply “Critical Escalation: Acknowledgement of complaint (Customer)” macro
- Leave detailed notes regarding the call in your zendesk ticket
- IF the complainant does not pick up on your first attempt send a follow up mail using the “Mr D:: Critical Escalation:: Critical incident Complainant Follow Up”
P1& P2 (Potential insurance related claims : accidents and 3rd party damage to property)
- Call the complainant,acknowledge the complaint.
- Advise the complainant that the following information may be requested by the insurer and should be prepared (they do not need to provide the information to Mr D):
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For a vehicle accident on public road:
- SAPS Report (some insurances ask for the actual report not just the case number)
- Copy of ID and/or driver licence;
- Copy of the vehicle registration document;
- Description of the accident
- Images of damage on complainants vehicle
- 3 x quotations for repair
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Damage to property
- Images of damage
- Description of the incident
- 3 x quotations for repair
- Advise the complainant that the final approval of the claim and the payment will be dependent on the outcome of the claims assessors decision & the next follow up/contact will come from the driver management team
- TDT first response to the complainant will be within 7 business days maximum
- Follow up the call with the complainant by sending them the Mr D:: Critical Escalation:: Insurance Claim information documents macro. This serves the purpose of providing the complainant with written confirmation of all the information they should gather
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TL/2iC
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5
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Review Complaint & Categorise
- Review the escalated complaint and determine if it is a P1 or P2 critical incident
- Use the “Definition of Critical Escalation” and the table “P1 & P2 Critical Incident” to guide
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IF Incident is a P1 and has these characteristics seriously violent, criminal or sexual nature, allegations, situations or events that pose a severe threat to the Mr D or Takealot brand similar ensure to follow these additional steps before continuing.
- Inform CSM on Duty immediately of the situation,
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IF incident is a P1 or P2 that does not have the above characteristics continue with the next step (step6)
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IF the P1 or P2 critical incident is related to the complaint being against a partner (Restaurant, Groceries, Shops), escalate the matter to the CSM to confirm whether the partner should be suspended.
- If yes, the following steps to be followed:
- CSM is to inform the relevant Account manager or operations manager of the decision to suspend, prior to suspension
- Call the partner to inform them of the suspension due to the critical incident, this can be done when the follow up with the complainant is made.
- Suspend partner that has been accused of a P1/P2 escalation.
- Use the suspension reason “Indefinite Behavioral”
- Leave the the zendesk ticket number of the original complaint in the detail description of the suspension note
- Leave the following note in the “Note displayed to Restaurant section”:
- “Your store has been suspended.Your account manager will be in contact with you within the next 48 Business hours”
- Send the restaurant an email using the “Restaurant Critical Incident ” macro
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- cc AM, Regional AM, CS Leadership Group, Lee-Ann Smith and Tramaine
- Restaurant will be set back to trading by the AM once they have provided acceptable resolution to the complaint
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TL/2iC & CSM
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6
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Add Incident to the Critical Escalations Tracking Sheet
- Mr D Food Critical Incident Tracker
- Request access to the sheet from Rinalda Moodley or owner of the above link
- Refer to Appendix A as a guide to complete the tracker.
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2iC
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7
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Raise Escalation with Business
- Mr D critical escalations team is to send a ticket to the relevant stakeholders in the business informing them of the critical escalation and request feedback.
- Provide clear context of the issue when informing the business of the critical escalation and attach all evidence received.
- For P1/P2 incidents apply the “Mr D :: Critical Escalations :: P1/P2“ macro
- For P1 (Cloud)/P2 (Cloud) incidents apply the “Mr D :: Critical Escalations :: P1/P2 (Cloud)” macro
- The macro should be completed as illustrated below:

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Step 1: Update the subject line with the relevant information
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Step 2: Complete the left Panel of the Zendesk Ticket
- Brand: Mr D Food
- Requester: Use the table below to determine the requester e.g for P1 use p1criticalescalations@mrdfood.com
- CC: Use the table below to determine who to include
- Form: Food :: CS Internal Queries
- Assignee: For driver issues assign to the relevant FM/ For restaurant issues assign to relevant AM/ For customer issues assign to Tamsyn Frankson for marketplace issues and to Nuraan Ebrahim for GROC issues
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Step 3: Complete the second part of the form
- Food :: Internal Query Type*:
- Select Branch/Customer/Driver/Pick n Pay/Restaurant/Shops/Takealot Now
- Restaurant Full Payment (RS Only)*:
- Select No/Yes/Not Applicable
- Reason for Restaurant Full Payment (RS Only): Complete when applicable
- Mr D Food order number / DFD Number/ Groc Number*:
- Social Media Driver Complaint*: Select the applicable reason
- Type of Order*:
- Select Food (DFD)/PnP Groceries & Liquor (GROC)/Shops (DFD)/TAL NOW
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Step 4: Complete the body of the macro with the relevant information.
- Step 5: Submit the ticket as OPEN
The table below outlines the stakeholders that the business escalation should be sent to and who should be CC’d based on the type of critical escalation
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2iC
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8
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Post on Whatsapp group (Only P1 Critical Incidents)
TDT Escalations
- Send message to the critical escalations group called “Mr D P1 Escalations”
- The message should follow the following format “Date/Branch/DFD/Driver/Brief Description/Restaurant Name (If Applicable)”
Restaurant Escalations
RS Leadership
In the case where the restaurant is accused of a critical incident an additional escalation should be made to the “AM P1 Escalations Group”
- Format of the escalation should be Date/DFD/Driver/Brief Description/Restaurant Name/Restaurant ID
- Indicate whether the restaurant has been suspended pending investigation
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2iC
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| 9 |
Escalation Feedback
* NB Critical escalations involving insurance claims do not require Critical Escalations team to do follow ups once critical email has been sent to the driver management team.
In the case of a Priority 1 escalation raised by a customer or restaurant against TDT
- TDT needs to acknowledge that the escalation has been received [It will be best effort up to 9pm or the acknowledgement may be received the following morning before 10H00.]
In the case of a P1 or P2 escalation raised by TDT against a customer or restaurant
- Mr D is required to investigate and inform the customer by written correspondence of the complaint against them.
- Inform TDT that the matter has been escalated and is being investigated.
For both P1 and P2 escalations FM’s are required to provide feedback within 48 working hours excluding insurance cases; this is post acknowledgement of the critical escalation stated above.
For insurance cases, the FMs are required to provide feedback within 7 working days.
For both P1 and P2 escalations AM’s are required to provide feedback within 48 working hours this is post acknowledgement of the critical escalation stated above.AM must provide feedback on the “AM P1 Escalations Group”,this must include feedback on the critical incident to provide RS with context as to why the restaurant is been set back to trading.
*Refer to section 4-Evidence Collection for guidance on how to collect and waiting period for feedback
*NB When the critical escalations teams follow up with the FM or the AM the follow up mail must be sent directly to the parties and not include all parties in the original mailing list when the critical escalation was raised to the business. This needs to be done on the original Zendesk ticket. Zendesk ticket to be screenshot and included as an internal note.
If a customer pushes back where the driver is not a Mr D driver, please refer to Tamsyn to respond with template.
For any other push back refer to TL/CSM to manage the complainant.
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10
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Resolving Escalation
All communications with the complainant are run via the Mr D critical escalations team(CS) except for insurance claims, these will all be handled by the hub
10.a In the case of a P1 or P2 escalation raised against TDT:
Insurance claim complaint:
- The Mr D CSM coordinates these efforts and requests support from the remaining management team if needed.
- All Insurance claims, and associated communications in this regard, are dealt with between the complainant and the respective branch management directly.
- It is the responsibility of the FM to ensure that the branch has facilitated the necessary steps (communication with complainant, insurance payout) with the complainant to resolve the critical escalation.
- It is the responsibility of the FM to update Mr D on the progress of the resolution.
- Once the FM has confirmed that the insurance claim is in process it is the responsibility of the critical escalations team to call and email the complainant to confirm contact with Branch/Fm and validate that the claim is in progress. FM to provide:
- Case/claim Number
- Contact Persons details (e.g. Branch Manager/Broker/Claims assessor)
- This will give the complainant an opportunity to respond and dispute if they feel like anything is still pending or unresolved.
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- Once feedback has been received from the branch that the issue has been addressed, it is the responsibility of the critical escalations team to inform the complaint of the feedback and close off the ticket and update the critical incident tracker.
- Feedback to the complainant will be that the complaint has been addressed.
- In the case where a complaint is made against TDT and the complainant advises that they do not have evidence, the complainant needs to be informed that the complaint will be addressed accordingly; however the complaint will be closed as no evidence has been provided.
*Do not close the critical escalation in the tracking sheet until the FM has advised that the claim has been logged or is in progress.
- Once a critical escalation has been resolved the case is closed by the Mr D Critical Escalations team or by the compliance team if agreed. All closed escalations require comments to provide sufficient context.
10. b In the case of a P1 or P2 escalation raised by TDT:
If the complaint is against a customer
- Inform the following individuals once action has been taken of either warning the customer regarding the complaint or blacklisting the customer profile.
- In cases where either action is taken the following individuals should be notified by email.
tamsyn.frankson@takealot.com (Marketplace)
nuraan.ebrahim@takealot.com (Groceries)
If the complaint is against a restaurant partner
- The complaint can be closed once feedback has been received from the AM regarding the action that has been taken by the restaurant partner regarding the complaint.
- In cases where either action is taken the following individuals should be notified by email.
tamsyn.frankson@takealot.com
lee-ann.smith@takealot.com
NB* In the case of a severe P1 Critical Escalation (brand damaging, criminal incident) ownership of follow ups, informing additional stakeholders(eg CEO, Legal ect) and resolving the incident will reside with Tumelo Mothapo and/or Joshua Oliver
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2iC
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11
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Update the Critical Escalations Tracking Sheet
A critical escalation cannot be closed or marked as resolved until it is confirmed that the complainant has been resolved
- Detail the resolution or action taken to close the critical escalation and populate the required fields
- Once critical escalation is completed/closed the incident is archived in a separate sheet
- Column S (Resolved date), Column U (Incident status), Column Y (Customer feedback ticket) and Column AC (Incident has been closed) to be updated once final feedback has been received and complainant has been informed of the outcome
Mr D Food Critical Incident Tracker
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2iC
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3. Daily Feedback Report
The purpose of the below process is to provide daily feedback on the new and open critical escalation incidents. The listed business stakeholders are responsible for following up and providing feedback based on the open and critical incidents
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Send Daily Email
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Two automated daily reports will be sent out by CS at 7am every day, the reports will be the following
- P1,P2 Critical Escalation Summary_dd/mm/yyyy
- Covid Critical Escalation Summary dd/mm/yyyy
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Example. P1,P2 Critical Escalation Summary_dd/mm/yyyy Example
- Escalations created yesterday
- P1 Escalations
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P2 Escalations

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| 2 |
Stakeholders to be included in Daily Feedback Mails
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4. Evidence Collection
The below section outlines the roles and responsibilities of the Critical Escalations Team, Restaurant Account Managers and TDT in the following cases:
- When evidence in the form of images or video are required from a complainant.
The Table also sets out the maximum number of days evidence will be pursued from a complainant before a critical escalation is closed due to lack of evidence.
| Complainant |
Evidence Waiting Period
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Critical Escalation Team
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Account Manager
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Franchise Manager
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| Customer |
3 Days
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- Send Customer “Critical Escalation Feedback Macro” after the first day of failing to contact them.
- Call Customer once a day for 3 Days where no evidence has been received yet
- Follow up on required evidence, upload evidence to critical escalations email thread, upload to the central drive
- Should evidence not be provided within three days, inform customer of closure of critical escalation due to failure to provide evidence
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| Restaurant |
3 Days
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- Inform Restaurant on initial contact to provide evidence to AM via whatsapp or WeTransfer
- Inform Restaurant of closure of critical escalation due to failure to receive evidence
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- Follow up daily within first 3 days on required evidence
- Receive evidence via whatsapp or WeTransfer
- Upload evidence to critical escalations email thread
- Save on drive Format RestID_dd/mm/yy
- Where evidence is not received within 3 days AM to inform stakeholders via critical escalation mail and indicate attempts to contact complainant of the 3 days
- AM to inform restaurant and provide feedback on closure of critical on a case by case basis
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Branch/Driver
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3 Days
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- Inform FM to provide evidence via critical escalation email thread
- Inform Branch of closure of critical escalation due to failure to receive evidence
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- Follow up daily within the first 3 days on required evidence
- Receive evidence via whatsapp
- Upload evidence to critical escalations email thread
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Appendix A
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All columns highlighted in blue are automatically populated based on the selection of a branch in column N.
NB* "Zendesk TICKET ID" Refers to the ticket ID of the P1 or P2 Critical escalation email raised to the business on Zendesk
NB* If the critical is related to food poisoning or foreign object complaint follow the below logging convention standard:
- Insert the order id (DFD) in column A (Critical ID) of the tracker
- Insert the internal escalation ticket id in column AH (Zendesk ticket ID (TDT Ticket)) of the tracker
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