As the vice president of sales for Dunder Mifflin, Inc., a company that manufactures and sells paper to commercial offices, it has come to your attention that there has been an increase in the number of customer complaints concerning your Scranton branch's service representatives. Of particular importance is the number of complaints that involve claims in excess of thousands of dollars.

Because these large dollar amounts can lead to lawsuits being filed, you want to investigate what is causing the increase in complaints and how Dunder Mifflin can process these complaints to avoid burdensome litigation.

What steps should you take to discover, in the most accurate and efficient manner, the reasons customers are filing complaints?

What is the distinction between mediation and arbitration?

Should Dunder Mifflin's sales contracts include a clause that requires the parties to attempt resolution of the dispute by mediation? By arbitration? By some other mechanisms?

If Dunder Mifflin's sales contracts did include a dispute resolution (other than litigation) clause, when can the courts still be used?