Our guide to handling your complaint
How will my complaint be handled?
If you need to make a complaint, we want the process to be as straightforward as possible, our aim is to:
- Make it simple for you to tell us about your complaint
- Conduct a full investigation
- Give your complaint careful consideration
- Provide you with a full account of our actions
- Ensure you’re happy we’ve handled your complaint fairly.
How soon will we deal with your complaint?
You’ll hear back from us within three days of us receiving your complaint. In some cases this will be in the form of an acknowledgement letter but in others it may be a full reply.
If you receive an acknowledgement letter it will tell you:
- Who’s dealing with your complaint
- When we’ll contact you again
Once you receive this your complaint will be investigated fully and we will write to you with our findings.
In complex cases we may need to spend a little longer investigating but we will keep you up to date with our progress. In all cases we’ll respond to your complaint within eight weeks in line with the deadline set by the Financial Conduct Authority.
If you’re unhappy with the way we’re handling your complaint
All our complaint handlers are trained and monitored to ensure they deliver professional service consistently. If you’re unhappy with the way your complaint is handled, you can ask for it to be reviewed at a higher level.
The Financial Ombudsman Service
We try to resolve all complaints internally. However, if you’re still unhappy with our response to your complaint, or if we’ve not resolved it eight weeks after you first told us about it, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
If you want the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your complaint, you must refer it to them within six months of the date of our final response to you. You can contact them at:
The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London E14 9SR
Tel: 08000 234 567
Free for people phoning from a “fixed line” (for example, a landline at home).
Or: 0300 123 9 123
Free for mobile-phone users who pay a monthly charge for calls to numbers starting 01 or 02.
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
The Financial Ombudsman Service offers a free independent service and they can help with most financial complaints. For further information you can visit their website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Online Dispute Resolution service
If you bought one of our products online, you can also refer your complaint to the European Online Dispute Resolution platform. This service passes on your details to the most appropriate dispute resolution service for the product you’ve bought. For insurance products this is likely to be the Financial Ombudsman Service.