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Practice cases
Customer ServiceBeginner

Customer Complaints Increased by 35%

Define the problem, evaluate evidence, identify verified causes and recommend measurable system actions.

22 minutes

Scenario

A scheduling platform received 35% more reminder complaints in May. Support leaders propose retraining agents, while engineering suspects a release defect.

Your role
Process improvement analyst
Method
Root Cause Analysis

Evidence pack

e1

Baseline

Reminder complaints rose from 40 to 54 per 10,000 messages.

e2

Timing

The increase began two days after release 8.4.

e3

Pattern

82% of new complaints involve rescheduled bookings.

e4

Delivery

Provider delivery success remained at 99.2%.

e5

Data

Affected records contain a new time in schedules_v2 and an old time in reminder_projection.

e6

Test

The integration suite covers new bookings but not reschedules.

e7

Control

No monitor compares scheduled and reminder times before send.

Constraints

  • Customer harm must be contained before permanent action.
  • Human error cannot be accepted without a mechanism.
  • Closure requires an outcome measure.

Case steps

Work through each prompt using the evidence pack. Answers and rubric weights stay protected in the interactive flow.

1
Open Response

Choose an immediate containment action that limits customer impact and preserves evidence.

2
Open Response

Write a neutral problem statement using evidence e1–e3.

3
Open Response

Identify the immediate technical cause and two deeper system vulnerabilities. Cite evidence.

4
Open Response

Propose corrective actions linked to each verified cause and define implementation and outcome measures.