IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT, WE WANT TO PUT THINGS RIGHT.
Our commitment to you
We are committed to providing you with first class customer service. However, there may be occasions when you feel you have cause for complaint. If so, please tell us about it straight away - and we will do all we can to put things right.
We will investigate your complaint thoroughly and aim to resolve it as quickly and amicably as possible. To do this, we need to understand the problem. So please help us to help you and follow our ‘complaints procedure’ below.
Complaints procedure
- Your local branch
Contact a member of staff at your local branch. You can do this in person, by telephone, via e-mail or in writing. Our member of staff will be pleased to assist you. If, however, our staff member is unable to resolve the matter to your satisfaction, he or she will confirm in writing the same day that your complaint has been referred to a Branch or Department Manager for investigation and indicate how long it will take before we can put things right.
- The Manager's decision
The Branch or Department Manager will investigate the circumstances to your complaint. If it is going to take longer to resolve the matter than we first indicated, the Manager will provide you with a progress report.
Once the complaint has been fully investigated, the Manager will write to you with a final response to confirm the outcome of their investigations. This will be no later than 8 weeks after you raised your complaint. Their letter will confirm whether the Society upholds or rejects your complaint. Where we reject your complaint, we will advise you of our reasons for doing so.
- If you are still dissatisfied
We are committed to resolving complaints whenever possible through our internal complaints procedure. If, after receiving the Manager’s detailed response, you are not satisfied that we have resolved your complaint, you can take your dispute to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
The Ombudsman is an independent adjudicator who can investigate and make a decision about outstanding disputes.
The contact details for the Ombudsman are:
Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London E14 9SR
Phone: 0300 123 9 123 (free if you pay a monthly charge for numbers starting 01 or 02)
0845 080 1800. (calls to this number cost up to 4p a minute for BT customers – and may be free on some BT plans)
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
A leaflet providing details about the Financial Ombudsman Service is available on request at all of our branches and at our Head Office Administration Centre.
This complaints procedure does not affect your legal rights.
