Complaints

Complaints Procedures & Guidelines

General Principles

The complainant should be handled with courtesy at all times, even if you think their complaint is unjustified. A complaint can be turned into a compliment if handled professionally and brought to a successful conclusion. Complaints are a key source of management information.

Definition

Any oral or written expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, from, or on behalf of, a person about the provision of, or failure to provide, a financial service or a redress determination, which:

(a) alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience; and

(b) relates to an activity of that respondent, or of any other respondent with whom that respondent has some connection in marketing or providing financial services or products, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Complaint Handling

A complaint cannot be handled by the person against whom the complaint is made. The complaint handler must be a senior member of staff. (See also, Complaints against Staff Members, below)

The firm is required to investigate a complaint ‘competently, diligently and impartially’; it will also be required to ‘obtain additional information as necessary’.

Publicising the Complaints Procedure

In relation to your internal complaints procedure, you must :-
(a) include a reference to the complaint handling procedures before the conclusion of the contract, which must explain how customers can complain to you in writing and by telephone.
If the deal is sold by telephone, the complaints procedure must be forwarded to the client immediately (promptly) after and always within 5 working days. Details of the Financial Ombudsman Service should also be drawn to the customer’s attention.

(b) supply a copy of your complaints procedure on request, and supply a copy automatically upon receipt of a complaint.

(d) provide complaint procedure information in a format capable of being reproduced in writing. (Usually, this will be using the procedure leaflet)

(e) not make any charge for the provision of the Complaints Procedure or the handling of a Complaint of any description.

(f) Provide a notice on your website of the existence of a dispute resolution procedure and the existence if FOS. (Financial Ombudsman Service)

Time Limits – Long Complaints

(1) Promptly, normally within 5 working days: send an acknowledgement which includes prominent mention of the customer’s right to refer to the FOS, or the absence of such right, reassuring the customer that the complaint has been received and is being dealt with, giving the name and/or title of the complaint handler and enclosing the FOS leaflet.

(2) Within 8 weeks: Keep the customer reasonably informed as to the progress of the Complaint. FCA expects that all complaints will be dealt with in this period.

(3) By the end of 8 weeks after receipt of a complaint, where a complaint has not been settled, you must issue a final response or issue a response which :

(a) explains why you are still not in a position to make a final response, giving
reasons for the delay and indicating when you will be able to provide a final
response, and

(b) inform the customer that he may refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if he is dissatisfied with the delay, and encloses the explanatory leaflet if not previously provided.

(4) Responses you send within 8 weeks: Your written response must include:-

(a) An offer of appropriate redress if the client has been financially affected. This
does not have to be in a ‘final response’ letter.

(b) Information on how to pursue his complaint if he remains dissatisfied,
indicates that you will regard the complaint as closed if you do not receive a
reply within 8 weeks;

(5) Final Response Letter

In addition to the above;

(a) inform the customer they may refer their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if not satisfied – and that they have 6 months from the date of your letter to do so, and that you will not give FOS permission to handle a complaint outside of this time limit. (NOTE – You may wish to waive this right and so advise the customer that you will allow FOS to handle any complaint no matter when submitted to them)

(b) If the complaint is rejected, give full details of the decision, including reasons
why.

And if the customer :-

(a) does not reply to the final response, you are not required to send following correspondence.
(b) does not reply within 8 weeks, you can treat the complaint as closed.
does reply within or after the 8 weeks, you are required to continue to comply with (3) above (with time limits adjusted according to (6) below).

(6) Customers taking more than 1 week to reply :

If the customer takes more than 1 week to reply to a letter of the kind described in (4) above, the additional time in excess of 1 week will not count for the purposes of the time limits set in (2) and (3) above.

Time Limits – Short Complaints

(1) If you can resolve a complaint by close of business on the third normal working day after receipt, this is classed as a short complaint.

(2) All short complaints must be recorded in the firm’s complaints register

(3) If within the period in (1) above, the complaint can be resolved, you must write to the person who has complained using the summary short complaint resolution template letter and you must also enclose a copy of the FOS leaflet

(4) All short complaints must be reported on the Firm’s Reg Data return.

Redress

Redress offered to a complainant has to be fair and in proportion to their financial loss. It should, in addition, be consistent with the fair treatment of customers as detailed in the firm’s TCF policy

Record Keeping

If a complaint can be resolved before close of business the following day, this is classed as a short complaint and must be recorded, and included in the reporting to the FCA.

If a complaint can be resolved before close of business the third day after receipt, but there is a possibility that this may involve staff training or further complaints, this will also be recorded on the register.

Under the firm’s TCF policy, root cause analysis of all complaints, is considered to be an essential management information tool. A short record of these complaints will, therefore, be retained although this may not form part of the firm’s official complaints register.

If a complaint cannot be resolved before close of business the third day after receipt, this is classed as a long complaint and must be recorded as such in the complaints register.

We will retain a record of the complaints log (along with any correspondence and notes, including details of redress) for at least 3 years.

Responsibilities

Staff: all relevant employees must be familiar with the complaints procedure and, upon receipt of a complaint, must follow the Step by Step Guide as indicated.

Team Managers (TBC): must ensure that complaints received by their team members are recorded on the complaints log and that the time limits above are adhered to.

Sarah Judd must ensure completion of the FCA Report and Quality Monitoring Audits, incorporating root-cause analysis, taking responsibility for outstanding complaints and any corrective action identified.

Craig Judd is responsible for the oversight of the firm’s compliance with DISP, which could include:

Reviewing the firm’s management information in relation to complaints and assess whether it is fit for purpose.
Reviewing management information and assessing whether appropriate actions are taken in response to the results of root cause analysis undertaken.

Complaints Reporting and Recording

Details of the complaint must be recorded on the company’s complaint report sheet, including:

Client name
Policy Number/Reference
Risk Group (i.e. Consumer/Commercial)
Date of complaint
Type of complaint (Long/short)
Method of complaint (e.g. verbal, written, email etc.)
Complaint category (See above)
FCA Class of Business (HP/PCP/PL)

Complaints against staff members or the company’s representatives

If any (i.e. Long, or Short) complaint is made about the behaviour or actions of a staff member, or any person acting on the firm’s behalf, the complaint should immediately be referred to Sarah Judd for remedial action. Each individual complaint will be reviewed by the Senior Management team, to establish whether any appropriate re-training activity is necessary.

If the complaint is received by any of the company’s representative firms (ARs or IARs) the matter must be initially reported to the firm’s FCA supervisor and then to Sarah Judd for action as noted above.

Copy of Customer Complaints Procedure

Our aim is always to provide our customers with a first-class service, however we are aware that, occasionally, it is possible that we may fail to meet your expectations.

If you need to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact us either in writing to:

Sarah Judd
AutobahnFinance.com
Suite 1, Atlantic House
Charnwood Park
Bridgend
CF31 3PL

or, by telephone / fax on Telephone 01656 760563

Where a complaint arises we will, wherever possible, endeavour to resolve the matter by no later than the close of business the third working day following receipt. If this is not possible, to enable us to remedy the situation in a speedy and efficient manner, we have a documented, formal complaints procedure, details of which are shown below.

1) We will acknowledge your complaint promptly, to reassure you that we will be dealing with the issue as a matter of urgency, giving you the details of who will be handling the matter in our office, and details of the service of the Financial Ombudsman Service, where this applies.

2) In the event that your complaint relates to activities or services provided by another party, we will advise you of this in writing giving the reasons for our decision, and ensure that your complaint is promptly forwarded to the appropriate party, in writing.

3) We will aim to make a final response to you as soon as is practicable, and keep you reasonably informed as to progress. We anticipate that we will be able to provide a substantive response to most complaints within eight weeks.

4) By the end of eight weeks from receipt of your complaint, we will issue you with our final response, or issue a response that gives the reasons for the delay and indicates when we will be able to provide a final response. If you are dissatisfied with our response, or the delay at this time, you will have a period of Six months in which you can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service, whose details are shown below.

When we provide our final response letter, we will endeavour to ensure that we have taken into consideration any financial losses, or material inconvenience you may have suffered. If we do not feel that your complaint is justified, we will advise you of the reasons for our decision and we will also advise how you may pursue the complaint if you remain dissatisfied.

The Financial Ombudsman Service provides consumers with a free, independent service for resolving disputes with financial firms.

The FOS Consumer Helpline is on 0800 023 4567 (free for people phoning from a "fixed line" (for example, a landline at home) or 0300 123 9 123 (free for mobile-phone users paying monthly charge for calls to No’s starting 01 or 02 and their address is:

Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
Harbour Exchange Square
London
E14 9SR

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