Complaints Policy and Procedure

Purpose
This document represents our policy towards complaints, how a consumer can make them and how as a company we handle them.
This policy and procedure have been created to meet general standards and requirements and complies with standard complaint handling procedures, including the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and FCA regulations such as CONC and DISP.
We take our responsibilities seriously, in addition to the legal and regulatory requirements we have as a financial firm.
We are committed to ensuring the fair treatment of our consumers and ensuring they face no post sale barriers with our service.
Definition

As per FCA material, they define a complaint as the following –
‘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, claims management service or a redress determination, which alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience.’


Customer Complaints Procedure
‘Our aim is always to provide an exceptionally high level of service to all of our customers. Where customers are unsatisfied, it’s important to us that this is dealt with objectively, fairly and as quickly as we are able to.

The following procedure explains how we deal with complaints, our commitments to you and what action to take if you think your complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction.

If you have a complaint about any aspect of our service, then we would like to hear from you. Please use the below details to let us know –

E: sales@carvaultuk.co.uk
T: 02036410809
P: 25 South Mundells, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 1EP

We kindly ask, so we can look into your complaint as quickly as possible, you include as much detail as you can, however if we are missing anything we will be in touch. We will aim to come back to you within 48 working hours of receiving your complaint.

If we are able to investigate and resolve your complaint within 3 days, you will receive a summary resolution response from ourselves, which will detail our outcome and findings.

In the event our investigations take longer than 3 days, we will issue you a Final Response within the 8-week timescale. Whilst we try to close any complaint before this 8-week time frame, we do need to make you aware we do have this time. Our final response will include detailed information of your complaint, our investigation and the resolution we have come to. If you are not satisfied with our Final Response or the handling of your complaint within the 8-week time frame, you can contact the Financial Ombudsman service using the details below. You must do this within six months of our final response.

W: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
T: 0800 023 4567
P: Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange, London, E14 9SR


Processes and Responsibilities


Record Keeping
To ensure that we handle our complaints efficiently and effectively, any correspondence or notes from phone communication will be documented on our CRM system.

This will allow the complaints handler to review the whole complaint and refer back to any point in the investigation if they are required to do so.
Any documentation received regarding the complaint will also be uploaded to the application.
All records of complaints will be kept as per our retention periods, only employees that require access to customer complaint notes will be granted this information.


Training
Staff will receive complaints training within their initial induction and at least once a year.
Training will ensure our team understands the processes that we have in place and the regulatory importance of following these processes.
At any time, staff have the opportunity to request further training on any aspect of our business.


Treating Customers Fairly (TCF)
As a company, we ensure that we follow all regulatory guidelines, including treating customers fairly.
When it comes to complaints, we guarantee that our customers will not face any post sale barriers.
Our staff are aware that they need to assist customers as much as possible when they wish to make a complaint, and they should not receive a different service to any other customer.
Customers will have their expectations managed, and staff will explain the complaints process so a customer can understand the next steps.
We will keep in constant communication with all parties, ensuring we keep in touch at least once a week whilst investigations are taking place.
All communication received will be acknowledged within 48 hours.
If a customer makes a complaint about a specific member of the team, that employee will not have any involvement in handling the customers complaint.
We will ensure that our complaints procedure is in a clear location so our consumers can access it with ease.
Compensation or redress will be decided on an individual basis and detailed to the customer in our final communication. Management will take into account all aspects of the complaint and any suffering caused to the customer and offer compensation based on these aspects and per regulation.
Compensation or redress may also involve agreements with lenders/brokers to determine an overall decision, and where application all communication and decision will be documented.


Point of Contact
Complaints and SQ’s will currently be handled by Ben.
We will request an email or detailed description over the phone to handle the complaint further.
They will then liaise with the customer and lender/broker as required and issue a final response letter or summary resolution.
All communication will be sent to the customer promptly and as soon as we are able to.
We are committed to ensuring that we are in control with all complaints and complete them as soon as possible.
Ben will ensure all complaints are updated on the complaints log, system and compliance monitoring plan.
Templates will be used when liaising with customers for acknowledgement (including initial and holding letters), Summary Resolution and Final Response Letters to ensure that the customer receives information required in DISP such as (but not limited too) 1.6.1 and 1.6.2.


SQ vs. Complaint
It is important that we can differentiate between a complaint and an SQ issue.
Whilst they are different, we do adopt the same principles, and try to assist our consumers rectify any issues they have with their vehicle.
We provide this service as an extension to our offerings in the hope we can make the consumer's journey as easy as possible.
We will assist liaising with the broker/lender if necessary, to try to come to an arrangement to provide our consumer with the vehicle they desire.
All SQ’s will be documented on our complaints log (listed within this document) for management information purposes, which assists in providing additional information on patterns and service/business activities.
Root analysis may be conducted on specific issues, which will be issued to the board of Directors and used when completing monitoring.




Monitoring and Compliance
It is extremely important that this policy is complied with to protect our consumers As a company we will ensure that we keep up to date with regulatory and legal requirements, and that our processes and policies are updated accordingly to meet regulation (DISP, CONC, TCF)

We may conduct root analysis on our complaints to identify any patterns that may potentially form, therefore limiting risk to our consumers.

All complaint information will be reported within our Reg Data. In the event a complaint identifies an area of concern within our procedure, this will be assessed and rectified where applicable.


Review
This policy will be reviewed on at least an annual basis with any updates will be reissued on this policy. All policy changes are approved by directors.


Confirmation
By signing the below I can confirm that I have fully read the above policy, been provided the opportunity to ask any questions and understand my responsibilities to abide by the terms set within the policy, along with the consequences if I do not.

SIGNED: NAME: DATE: