{
  "slug": "complaint-cause-correction",
  "title": "Complaint, Cause, Correction: How to Write Up Repair and Service Work (the 3 C's)",
  "description": "Complaint, cause, correction is the standard way to write up a repair or service job: what was reported, what was found, and what was done. What belongs in each line, an example, and the fields a work order needs around it.",
  "track": "maintenance",
  "kind": "article",
  "isRegulatoryAdjacent": false,
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-08",
  "cfr": [],
  "related": [
    "what-belongs-in-a-pm-report-for-the-customer",
    "what-is-a-pm-inspection",
    "service-events-and-records"
  ],
  "topics": [],
  "nextStep": null,
  "sources": {
    "citations": [],
    "bcpRole": "Blue Collar Parts records the work and sends the report to your customer. It does not perform, certify or approve inspections.",
    "reviewed": "2026-10-08",
    "reviewedEdition": null,
    "reviewedText": "Reviewed 2026-10-08"
  },
  "url": "https://shopbluecollarparts.com/kb/complaint-cause-correction",
  "markdownUrl": "https://shopbluecollarparts.com/kb/complaint-cause-correction.md",
  "body": "**Complaint, cause, correction** (the \"3 C's\") is how technicians write up a repair or service job. The complaint is what was reported. The cause is what the technician found. The correction is what the technician did about it, and how they confirmed it worked. Written well, the three lines tell the customer the whole job in the order it happened.\n\n## Complaint: what was reported\n\nWrite the problem the way it was brought to you, with the conditions that go with it. Who reported it, when it happens, and under what load, speed, temperature, or operating condition.\n\n- Keep the customer's or operator's description, even if you would phrase it differently.\n- Add the conditions you were told about. \"Loses power climbing grades when loaded\" points somewhere different than \"loses power.\"\n- For scheduled work with no reported problem, the complaint line states the request, such as the scheduled preventive maintenance service.\n\n## Cause: what you found\n\nThe cause is the diagnosis, not a restatement of the complaint. It answers *why* the complaint happened.\n\n- Name the test or check that led you there, and the result. A reading, an observation, or a photo belongs here when it settled the diagnosis.\n- Separate the root cause from the symptom. A blown fuse can be the symptom of a chafed wire.\n- If you could not reproduce the complaint, say so and say what you checked. \"Could not duplicate\" with nothing after it is not a cause.\n\n## Correction: what you did\n\nRecord the work performed, plainly.\n\n- The repair or service performed and the parts or materials used.\n- **How you verified the repair.** A road test, a test run under load, a re-check of the reading that pointed to the cause. Verification is what turns \"replaced the part\" into \"fixed the problem.\"\n- Anything found but not fixed, and why: declined by the customer, parts on order, or outside the scope of the visit. Deferred work that is written down is work the customer can plan for.\n\n## An example write-up\n\n*Illustrative only, not a real job, and not a procedure for any make or model.*\n\n> **Complaint:** Operator reports the generator shuts down after about 20 minutes under load.\n>\n> **Cause:** Found coolant level low. Pressure-tested the cooling system and found a leak at the lower radiator hose clamp. The engine shut down on high coolant temperature.\n>\n> **Correction:** Replaced the lower hose clamp and refilled coolant per the manufacturer's service documentation. Pressure-tested the system again with no leak found. Ran the unit under load for 45 minutes with no shutdown and normal operating temperature.\n\nEach line does one job. Someone who was not there can tell what happened, why, and how it was confirmed.\n\n## What a work order needs around the 3 C's\n\nThe 3 C's are the story of the job. The rest of the work order makes that story traceable:\n\n- **Equipment identification:** unit or asset number, VIN or serial number, and the hour meter or odometer reading at the visit.\n- **The customer and the authorization:** who the work is for, and who approved it.\n- **Date and technician:** when the work happened and who did it.\n- **Labor and parts:** time on the job and the parts used, so the write-up and the invoice agree.\n- **Photos and readings** that support the cause or the verification.\n- **What comes next:** deferred items and any follow-up the customer should schedule.\n\n## Common write-up mistakes\n\n- **\"Checked and OK.\"** It says nothing about what was checked or how.\n- **A cause that repeats the complaint.** \"Engine overheating due to overheating\" is not a diagnosis.\n- **A correction with no verification.** The part was replaced, but nobody confirmed the complaint is gone.\n- **Missing deferred work.** The item you found and did not fix is the one the customer most needs to know about.\n\n## Why the write-up matters\n\nYour customer sees the equipment come back, not the work. The write-up is how they see what was found and what was fixed, and it is what the next technician reads before they start. A clear complaint, cause, and correction lets the work speak for itself.\n\nIn Blue Collar Parts, the technician marks the work complete, then sends the record to their customer as a separate, explicit step; the customer confirms it to view it. [Learn how a service event becomes a record the customer receives](/kb/service-events-and-records).\n\n---\n\n*This page describes a general documentation practice. It is not a repair procedure and not a regulatory inspection. Use the equipment manufacturer's current service documentation for diagnosis, repair procedures, specifications, and service intervals.*",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licenseUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}