Complaint Handling Procedure
We take complaints very seriously and seek to resolve them as quickly as possible.
We will investigate your complaint fairly, competently, diligently and impartially. We will also be consistent with our investigation, as well as being reasonable and prompt. If we decide that remedial action or redress is due we will inform you of this in our ‘Final Decision Letter’.
If we decide not to uphold your complaint we will clearly explain why and the reasons for our decision in our Final Decision Letter.
If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Professional indemnity insurance
We hold professional indemnity insurance and will work with our insurers during the complaint process.
Acknowledgement – 5 Working Days
We are required to acknowledge complaints “promptly”. We consider an acknowledgement within 5 working days to be prompt. Our acknowledgement letter will also enclose details of the FOS to who you can refer your complaint to if it is not resolved to your satisfaction.
4 weeks:
Within 4 weeks we aim to issue our decision on your complaint – called a ‘Final Decision Letter’ (FDL).
If we have not resolved your complaint in this time frame we will write to you and explain what the position is and the reason for the delay and a time scale when we expect to send our FDL.
8 weeks:
We are required under the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to complete our investigation in to your complaint and reply to you with an FDL within 8 weeks.
If, for whatever reason, we cannot do this we will write to you and explain why. At this time you will have the right to refer your complaint to FOS. We will also provide you with a booklet and an on-line link to the FOS web site.
“Final Response Letter”
When replying to you we will provide evidence of our investigation and the reasons for the conclusions we have reached.
If we discover we are at fault we will offer redress or remedial action when we decide this is appropriate. If the decision is to refute the complaint the Final Decision Letter will detail why we are not upholding your complaint.
We will also send full contact details of FOS and enclose an FOS booklet which explains how you can refer the complaint to FOS. It will also contain the link to the FOS web site: