In the line of fire

Got an article in The Guardian today on people who staff customer complaint lines.
It sounds like the kind of job most of us would think twice about taking but many of the people I spoke to got real satisfaction from it.
If you work for Kellogg's, customers send you funny-shaped cereal while those working in local government saw the chance to improve services.
And if you're Richard Branson people send you six page letters with pictures about the in flight meal.
Newspapers have been notorious for their poor complaint handling. Mobile phone firms or utility companies at least a call centre somewhere even if the staff are poorly trained and motivated. Calling a newspaper with a complaint used to be about as rewarding as watching Wigan versus Blackburn inan end of season dead rubber.
With the advent of newspaper ombudsmen, even our industry has taken some steps towards listening to the customer. I just though wonder how many over-worked news editors on local newspapers have received training on how to handle those trying complaints that come in just before deadline.
Newspapers have always been good at listening to, and reflecting, readers complain about other things. However they have a tin ear for complaints about themselves. Perhaps that has led to more of the public being turned off from traditional media and the appeal of new media with its niftier ability to handle comment and correction.
With The Evening Standard's campaign saying it's sorry we look for the ulterior motive while M&S's 'we've boobed' campaign just strikes as a clever response to a marketing failure.