Customer warranty claims and post-delivery dispute resolution have become a major drain on our profitability, but neither our Director of Sales nor our Head of Operations wants this seat on their branch of the Accountability Chart. How do we place and staff a contentious seat that both functional leaders actively reject?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When nobody wants a seat, it is almost always because the seat carries high conflict, unclear authority, and punitive scorecards. In this case, Sales hates warranty claims because handling angry customers interferes with closing new revenue. Operations hates warranty claims because they view them as customer complaints rather than production defects. As a result, the issue falls into the cracks and drains company margin.

To solve this, use structure-first thinking. Stop asking who wants the seat and start asking where the seat logically belongs to protect the business. Warranty claims and dispute resolution are root-cause feedback loops for product or service delivery. Therefore, the Quality and Warranty Resolution seat belongs under Operations, not Sales. Sales should advocate for the customer relationship, but Operations must own delivery quality, failure analysis, and remediation costs.

Next, define the seat with five crystal-clear roles on the Accountability Chart:
- Rapid dispute intake and customer communication
- Warranty policy enforcement and claim adjudication
- Root-cause defect tracking and operational feedback
- Rework and replacement dispatch
- Warranty expense management and margin recovery

Once the roles are defined under Operations, your Head of Operations cannot simply ignore the seat. If they do not personally have the time or disposition to manage warranty disputes, they must find, hire, or elevate someone below them who has GWC™ for those five roles. The Head of Operations remains accountable for the outcome, even if a dedicated warranty manager executes the daily work. Clear structural placement eliminates interdepartmental finger-pointing and forces operational accountability.