Customer escalation
Escalation means getting the right level of attention to a problem quickly. It is normal and healthy, and nobody is blamed for escalating in good faith. Use this page when a problem on a project or with a customer cannot be solved by the team.
When to escalate
- The project is red in the status report and the team cannot recover it alone.
- A customer has complained to a senior person or threatened termination.
- A dispute about acceptance or a change request is stalled, see Deliverable acceptance.
- A security or data issue affects a customer, see below.
Escalation levels
| Level | Who | Typical trigger | Response target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Project manager (for example Henry Brandt) | Team-level blockers | Same day |
| 2 | Delivery manager (for example Maya Torres) | Milestone at risk | 1 business day |
| 3 | VP Delivery (Frank Delgado) | Customer sponsor unhappy; budget exposed | 1 business day |
| 4 | CEO (Elena Vasquez) and account owner | Relationship or contract at risk | As soon as possible |
Account owners such as Grace Liu are always informed at level 2 and above.
Procedure
- State the problem in one paragraph: what happened, impact, what you tried.
- Send it to the next level with a proposed action and a date for a decision.
- Tell the customer that you have escalated and who will be in touch.
- Record the escalation in the project log.
- After resolution, write a short note on cause and prevention in the closure or lessons-learned report.
Security and service incidents
Security events and service outages are not handled by normal escalation; they follow SOP-001 Incident Response. A P1 must be acknowledged within 15 minutes and a bridge call opened, and compliance is notified when complete. See Report an incident. The Support Lead, Bob Kessler, runs the service desk.
Legal and contractual issues
If a customer raises a contract issue (termination, liability, confidentiality) involve Legal immediately: Alice Moreno first, then Marcus Webb. Contract terms are per customer; the customer pages summarize key terms but the signed documents rule.
Communication tips
- Be factual and calm. Avoid speculation about cause until you know.
- Give the customer a time for the next update, and meet it.
- Keep a written record of conversations.
Related
See How we run projects and Who to ask.
Owner: Frank Delgado - Last updated: 2026-08-05