We hope all your dealings with us will be positive experiences. However, sometimes things go wrong, and if that happens, we operate a structured Complaints Procedure to ensure we get things back on track as quickly as possible.

This page is a summary of that procedure, which is designed to ensure any complaints are dealt with in a professional manner, handled fairly, effectively and promptly, and resolved at the earliest possible opportunity.

Our Commitment to You

We will endeavour to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible and will work within the following timescales:

Three Business Days. Once we receive your complaint, if we are able to resolve the matter by close of business on the third working day following its receipt, we will simply do so and advise you in writing with our Summary Resolution Communication.

Five Business Days. If we are not able to resolve the matter as above, we will write to you within five business days acknowledging your complaint, confirming our understanding of the situation, and providing you with the name of the individual handling the complaint.

Four Weeks. If we haven’t been able to resolve the complaint sooner, after four weeks we will send you either our Final Response Letter (please see below) or a progress report explaining why we are not yet in a position to resolve the complaint.

Eight Weeks. If we still haven’t been able to resolve the case beforehand, at eight weeks we will send you either our Final Response Letter (please see below) or an explanation of why we are not yet in a position to resolve the complaint, giving the reason for the delay and indicating when we expect to be able to provide a Final Response.

Please Note. A business day is Monday to Friday between 9:00am and 5:00pm, excluding bank holidays. When a complaint is received on a non-business day, or on a business day outside business hours, we will treat the complaint as being received on the next business day.

We will ensure the person dealing with your complaint has the required skill, knowledge and authority to respond to your complaint. Our staff are fully trained, and we operate a structured and robust complaints procedure to ensure all complaints are dealt with fairly.

We will ensure the letters we send are clear and explain things properly. When we resolve a complaint, you will receive either:

Summary Resolution Communication. Where we have been able to resolve a complaint within three business days, we will issue a Summary Resolution Communication explaining that we believe the complaint to be resolved. This will include details of how to escalate the case if you remain dissatisfied.

Final Response Letter. Once we have completed an investigation, we will issue our Final Response Letter to you. This will detail the complaint, explain our investigation, and confirm our findings. The Final Response Letter will either uphold your complaint or reject your complaint and explain why. If any settlement or redress is awarded, an explanation of how this was calculated will also be included.

We will give you access to the Financial Ombudsman Service, a free service set up by Parliament to resolve individual complaints that consumers and financial businesses are unable to resolve themselves.

Once we have issued a Summary Resolution Communication or Final Response Letter (or after eight weeks if we have yet to issue either), if you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of our investigation, you may have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of the date of that letter.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and will therefore only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes the delay was the result of exceptional circumstances.

Details of how to get in touch with the Financial Ombudsman Service will be issued with our Summary Resolution Communication and Final Response Letter, together with a leaflet explaining how the service works. If you require more information, the Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted as follows:

Address
Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR

Telephone: 0300 123 9123
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Your Commitment to Us

In order to help resolve complaints as quickly and fairly as possible, we ask the following:

Tell us what happened. We need to understand the situation as clearly as possible, so we may ask you to provide your side of the story or provide documents and information which may help our investigation. These can be provided by post, email, verbally or through any other means you prefer.

Help us find the right solution. It is in everyone’s interests to get complaints settled amicably, so if there is a particular outcome you believe would be suitable, tell us and we will assess whether this is possible. We may not be able to resolve the case in the way you would like, but we will try. If we can’t, we will explain why and offer an alternative solution.

Respond to us as soon as you can. Hopefully we won’t need to come back to you too often, but we may need further information or clarity on certain points. If we do need more information, we simply ask that you respond as soon as you can so that we can get things resolved more quickly. If you can’t respond straight away, that’s fine too—just let us know.

Treat us with respect. Whilst it can be frustrating when something has gone wrong, our job is to find out what happened and, where appropriate, put things right. Our staff will do everything they can to help, so we ask that you give them the time to do their work and treat them with respect.

How to Complain

If you wish to register a complaint, you can do so by contacting our Complaints Department using the following methods:

By post:
Eden Associates
Glen Dale, High Street
Upper Beeding,
West Sussex,
BN44 3HZ

By email: philip@edenassociates.uk.com
By telephone: 0845 241 3749 (Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm)