Customer complaints are of strategic importance to companies. On one hand, it is possible to stabilize threatened business relationships through a professional response to complaints. On the other hand, utilizing the information contained in complaints offers opportunities for sustainable improvement of a company's competitiveness. Andreas Schöler examines the informational potential of customer complaints for companies and the conditions for their realization. Empirical studies show that while the value of complaint information is recognized in practice, there are significant deficits in actual information usage. Therefore, the investigation of the barriers to the systematic use of complaint information within companies is the focus of this work. Based on this, specific management measures for better utilization are developed.