Complaints
Any expression of dissatisfaction about the provision, or failure to provide, claims management services and complaints handling procedures which alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience is treated as a complaint. This includes any expression of dissatisfaction through correspondence in writing or during the course of verbal communication.
Where any customer expresses concern about the service, steps will be taken to resolve that matter and it will be treated as a complaint.
Complaints may be received directly from customers or from third party representatives. In the event of any complaint, the matter must be recorded and logged on a complaint record form and referred to the nominated complaints handler in accordance with the complaint handling procedure outlined below.
Complaint Handling Procedure
The following complaints procedure is made available to every customer upon request, is published on the company’s website, and is included in summary form in our customer documentation;
We are committed to resolving complaints as quickly as possible. In the unlikely event that you wish to make a complaint, please contact Customer Services in the first instance. If you are still unhappy, please email us at complaints@allay.claims. Or put this in writing and provide this to:
Allay Claims Ltd, The Kiln, Hoults Yard, Walker Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2HL.
We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint and look to resolve it within three working days. If you accept our response during the three working day time period, we will provide you with a summary resolution communication to confirm this and to highlight your rights in relation to complaining to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Should we fail to resolve your complaint in three working days, we will investigate competently, diligently, and impartially and provide a final response to your complaint in full within eight weeks.
Within our final response, we will explain our assessment of the complaint and our decision on it. If it is considered appropriate, we will offer redress or remedial action.
If we are unable to resolve the complaint within this time limit due to exceptional circumstances, we will send a written response which explains why we have been unable to provide a final response, and when we expect to provide one, and in either case, send information about referral rights to the Ombudsman Service together with an explanatory leaflet.
Financial Ombudsman Service
If you are not satisfied with our response, or if a complaint is not resolved after eight weeks, you may refer the complaint to –
The Financial Ombudsman Service Exchange Tower
London E14 9SR
Telephone: 0800 023 4567
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Further information is available on the Financial Ombudsman Service website:
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
An explanatory leaflet regarding the Financial Ombudsman Service will also be enclosed within our final response sent out to you.
If you want the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your complaint, you can do so free of charge, but you must contact them within six months of the date of any final response issued.
If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.
Information Commissioner’s Office
If your complaint relates to our information rights practices and we are unable to resolve your concern, you can raise the matter with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) by telephoning their helpline 0303 123 1113.
The ICO will use the information you have provided, including our response to your concerns, to decide if your concern provides an opportunity to improve information rights practice.
If the ICO think it does provide that opportunity, they will take appropriate action. This could take a variety of forms. You should raise the matter with the ICO within three months of your last meaningful contact with us regarding the complaint.