Consumer Complaining Behavior: The Case of a South American Country, Chile

Abstract

Complaining behaviour is a topic that has not been studied much in South America. Considering this, the aim of this investigation was to determine the customers complaining behaviour of a South American country, Chile. To do so, a survey was done, which was applied to a random sample of 498 Chileans. Results show that Chileans do not consider complaining as a right, they have a regular opinion of the way companies are handling complaints, and that the product characteristics is the dimension that has the biggest influence on their complaining behaviour. In addition those Chilean consumers who have complained in the past have a more positive attitude toward complaining than those who have never done it.