The interactional work of suppressing complaints in customer service encounters

The analysis in this paper draws from customer service calls to an electronic repair facility and systematically examines the interactional dynamics between customers and service representatives as they each manage to keep service complaints from becoming overt. This paper considers how the recognizability of a complainable matter can be used as leverage for achieving other types of interactional projects, such as gaining additional assistance or, for representatives, working to quickly close down the call before the customer has a chance to complain. By building upon Schegloff's (2005) observations regarding suppressing complaints in ordinary encounters, the analysis in this paper contributes to our understanding of the function of complaints within institutional encounters, with implications for understanding complaint management in service encounters.