Complaints Handling Policy

Making a complaint

We endeavour to provide you with excellent customer service at all times. However, in the unlikely event that you wish to raise a complaint or are dissatisfied with our service in any way, you can make a complaint by any reasonable means, such as telephone, email, post or in person using the following contact details:

• Telephone: Neil Hargreaves on 01584 777361
• Post/In Person: For the attention of Neil Hargreaves, RGL Management Limited, 9 Rural Enterprise Centre, Eco Park Road, Ludlow SY8 1FF
• Email: info@rglmgt.com

We try to resolve complaints as soon as possible. Should we resolve your complaint by the close of the third business day following the day on which we receive your complaint, we will issue you with a written communication called a summary resolution communication acknowledging that you made a complaint and setting out that the complaint has been resolved. It will make you aware of your right to refer the complaint to the Claims Management Ombudsman (part of the Financial Ombudsman Service) should you be dissatisfied with our resolution.

Should a further (or new) complaint arise from you, or we are not able to resolve the complaint by the close of the third business day, it will be logged and dealt with as follows:

Acknowledgement

Where we need more time to resolve a complaint, or a further complaint is received, we will send a written or electronic acknowledgement to you within five business days of receipt of your complaint, outlining our understanding of the complaint points and identifying the individual handling the complaint.

Wherever possible, that individual will not have been directly involved in the matter that is the subject of the complaint, and will have authority to settle the complaint.

Complaints about third parties

If your complaint solely relates to a third party such as a solicitor, we will forward your complaint to the third party that we believe is solely responsible for the complaint. We will send you an acknowledgment letter within 5 working days to inform you of this. The letter will include the third party’s details and their complaints handling procedure and how they will address your complaint. If we are jointly responsible with a third party for the complaint, we will issue to you an acknowledgment within 5 working days, and inform you of how we will investigate your complaint and the timescales within which we have to address your complaint.

Complaints investigation

The Complaints Handler will investigate the subject matter of the complaint and, where required, may contact you to obtain further information to investigate the complaint. The nature of the investigation will depend on the nature of the complaint, but may involve reviewing internal records and reviewing all communications with you. The Complaints Handler will assess whether the complaint should be upheld or rejected, and whether remedial action is necessary.

We will keep you informed about the progress of investigations by sending written communication either by email or post on a weekly basis. We will ensure that the individual(s) involved in investigating complaints is/are independent and have not been involved in the events complained about (where possible).

We will endeavour to issue a final response to you within eight weeks of receiving your complaint. This will be considered our ’final response’ which will be a written response that either:

(a) Accepts the complaint and, where appropriate, offers redress or remedial action (appropriate redress will not always involve financial redress); or
(b) Offers redress or remedial action without accepting the complaint; or
(c) Rejects the complaint and gives reason for doing so.

The response will inform the complainant that if they are not satisfied with our response, they may refer their complaint to the Claims Management Ombudsman (part of the Financial Ombudsman service) by letter, email or telephone and will:

(i) Enclose a copy of the Financial Ombudsman standard explanatory leaflet;
(ii) Provide the website address of the Financial Ombudsman Service;
(iii) Indicate that we waive the relevant time limits (where relevant).

If a complaint is not resolved after eight weeks, we will explain in writing why we are not in a position to make a final response and indicate when we expect to be able to provide a final response. You have the right to refer the matter to the Claims Management Ombudsman at this point; full contact details will be provided to you. In either case you must refer your complaint to the Claims Management Ombudsman within six months of the date of our letter.

Appeal process

The Claims Management Ombudsman (CMO) is part of the Financial Ombudsman Service and is an independent body established to settle disputes between claims management companies and consumers in a fair and impartial way. They may investigate complaints up to six years from the date of the problem happening or within three years of you becoming aware of the problem. You can refer your complaint to the CMO on any of the below contact details:

Post: Claims Management Ombudsman, Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR
Telephone: 0800 023 4567
Web: www.cmc.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Complaints to the Claims Management Ombudsman must be submitted within six months of our final response to you.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) advises that you do not send original documents as they scan any documents sent to them and destroy the originals.