Handling a health-related complaint on WhatsApp: a calm template for sellers

The message is a screenshot forwarded from a family group, with one line from the buyer's daughter: "Mummy had your kadha for two days and now she has bad acidity. What is in this?" Reply calmly, in four short messages. Thank the daughter for telling you. Ask that her mother stop taking it and speak to her doctor. Ask for the batch number, photographs of the pack, and how much was taken. Then say you are checking, and name a day you can keep to come back. Do not diagnose, defend the product or suggest a dose.

What changes when the product was swallowed

You cannot see the symptom of something eaten or drunk, and you should not try to. Four things follow.

Keep the pack. Ask them to keep it closed and not throw it away. If the batch needs checking, that pack is what your manufacturer will want.

How much, and for how long. Two cups of kadha a day for two days is a different story from half a pack in one sitting. Ask in their words and write it down.

Who else had it. A family pack of herbal tea is often shared. "Has anyone else at home had it?" tells you whether to look at the batch or at one person's reaction.

Medicines stay with the doctor. Do not ask what else they take.

The template, message by message

Save these as quick replies in WhatsApp Business, and change the words in brackets each time.

Message 1, as soon as you see it:

Thank you for telling us, [name], and I'm sorry [your mother is / you are] unwell. Please stop taking the product for now and speak to your doctor about the symptoms. They are the right person to advise you. I would like to look into this pack properly. Could you send me a few details?

Message 2, straight after:

Please send me four things.

1. A photo of the back of the pack, showing the batch number and best-before date.
2. Your order number, or where and when you bought it.
3. Roughly how much was taken, and over how many days.
4. Whether anyone else at home had it.

Please keep the rest of the pack closed. Do not throw it away.

Message 3, once the details arrive:

Thank you, this helps. I have sent batch [number] to our quality team to check. I will message you on [a day you can keep] with an update, even if we are still checking.

Message 4, when you have an answer:

Thank you for waiting, [name]. We checked batch [number] and [what you found, in plain words]. [What you are doing: replacement, refund, or a change you have made.] I hope [your mother is / you are] feeling better. If you have any more questions about the product, message me here directly.

If the first message describes difficulty breathing, swelling of the face or lips, fainting, or a child who swallowed an adult product, skip the template. Reply "Please get medical help now" and phone them. The batch can wait.

Write every reply as if it will be forwarded

The complaint often arrives secondhand, so reply to the person who wrote. Any message can land in a family or society group within the hour, so write rather than send voice notes, which cannot be quoted accurately. Label the chat "Health complaint" and keep it out of the team's general group; only the person handling it and the owner should see a customer's name beside symptoms.

Words that turn a complaint into a dispute

These are the sentences that turn a private complaint into a public row:

• "This has never happened before." It sounds like you are calling them a liar.
• "It's 100 per cent natural, so it can't cause this." Natural ingredients cause reactions too, and the sentence is a claim you cannot support.
• "It's the toxins coming out." Some herbal sellers say this about stomach upsets and rashes. It is a medical claim, and a dangerous one.
• "Maybe you have an allergy." That is a diagnosis.
• "Try taking half a scoop after food." That is dose advice.

The register and the batch count

Log each case in a complaint register with a batch column, and hold a batch when it draws a second complaint. Our note on skin reactions and batch numbers lays out that register, which works the same way for anything swallowed. Add two columns beyond it: how much was taken, and who else had it, so that two cases from one batch show up side by side. Some sellers may also have a duty to report reactions to a regulator. That depends on the product and the body, and the rules change, so ask your own adviser. Do not guess.

For example: a kadha seller in Jaipur

Imagine an invented small brand in Jaipur selling herbal kadha blends through Instagram and WhatsApp. The message in the opening is theirs, with every detail made up: a daughter writing that her mother has bad acidity after two days of the ginger and tulsi blend. The founder replies within minutes: "It is all natural and very mild. Maybe it is her diet. She should have it after food and it will settle." The daughter screenshots it into a large family group.

Three things were wrong in three sentences: a safety claim, a guess about diet, and dose advice. The founder goes back to the chat with the template, apologises, gives the doctor line and asks for the batch. Two cups a day, and the father drank it too, with the same complaint. That points to the batch. The founder checks. The batch record shows dried ginger from a new supplier, but nobody can tell whether it was the cause; the lab the founder asks will take a while and may not say. The founder sets the remaining packs of that batch aside, which costs roughly a month's sales of that blend, and refunds the order without argument. The daughter is told exactly that: what was checked, what was set aside, and that no cause is confirmed. The mother recovers. The daughter does not repost anything, but does not reorder either, and the outcome stays partial, as these often do.

The template is not a shield: if the same complaint recurs across batches, no wording fixes it.

Save the four messages before you need them

Copy the four messages into your WhatsApp Business quick replies, change the brackets to suit your range, and create the "Health complaint" label. If you want the register and the ownership of each step set up, complaint and escalation management covers it, and wellness is the section for sellers of this kind. To talk about your own set-up, tell us what you need.