Making a Complaint
We endeavour to provide you with excellent customer service; however, we acknowledge that 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:
We try to resolve complaints as soon as possible while ensuring that the complaint has been fully investigated. 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:
Complaints Handling Policy
Telephone: 0330 520 1531
Post: Clavering House, Clavering Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 3NG
Email: complaints@firstforjustice.org.uk
Acknowledgement
Where we need more time to resolve a complaint, or a further complaint is received, we will send you a written or electronic acknowledgement within five business days of receipt, 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, which is the subject of the complaint, and will have authority to settle the complaint.
Third Party Complaints
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 your complaint. We will send you an acknowledgment letter within 5 working days to inform you of this which will include the third parties’ 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 you an acknowledgment within 5 working days and inform you of how we will investigate your complaint and the timescales of which we have to address your complaint.
Complaints Handler
First for Justice Complaints Handler is Philip Lowery.
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 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 complaints. This will be considered our ’final response’ which will be a written response that either:
Accepts the complaint and where appropriate, offers redress or remedial action (appropriate redress will not always involve financial redress); or
Offers redress or remedial action without accepting the complaint; or
Rejects the complaint and gives reason for doing so and which:
Informs 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 which:
Encloses a copy of the Financial Ombudsman standard explanatory leaflet.
Provides the website address of the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Indicates 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:
Complaints to the Claims Management Ombudsman must be submitted within six months of our final response to you.
Telephone: 0800 023 4567
Post: Claims Management Ombudsman, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR