After your complaint has been received
Where we receive a complaint from you, our Customer Care Team
will investigate your complaint competently, diligently and
impartially.
We’ll fairly and promptly assess:
• The nature of your complaint.
• Whether any third party is involved in the complaint (such as
the dealer that sold your vehicle or a lender).
• How we should resolve the complaint.
• Whether the complaint should be upheld and whether any redress
should be paid to you.
When considering complaints, we’ll take into account all of the
available evidence, as well as the circumstances of your
particular complaint. We’ll also take into account any guidance
published by the Financial Ombudsman Service, as well as any
relevant laws or regulation.
How we will resolve your complaint
Upon receiving your complaint, it will be logged and
given a reference number. Where a complaint is resolved within
three business days, you will receive a Summary Resolution
communication, which will inform you of the resolution. It will
also provide you with the Financial Ombudsman Service’s details
so you can refer it to them if you do not agree with the
resolution. Where investigations continue beyond three business
days, the complaint will be promptly acknowledged and a Final
Response will be subsequently issued once investigations have
concluded.
During the course of our investigation we may need to obtain
detailed information from you or any third party involved in the
complaint. In order to deal with your complaint promptly and
thoroughly we ask that you help as much as possible with our
assessment and your prompt attention would be gratefully
appreciated.
If your complaint is regarding the quality of your vehicle, then
we suggest in the first instance you make the initial contact
with the dealership who sold you the vehicle in order to try and
resolve the issue. If you are having any further difficulties
following your conversation with the dealership, then please
contact us and we will help in any way we can.
We’ll keep in touch while we’re looking into your complaint and
we’ll be happy to answer any queries you may have about how
we’re progressing.
We will aim to resolve your complaint within 8 weeks and send
you a written or electronic communication of the resolution.
However, if the complaint isn’t resolved within 8 weeks we will
send you a written or electronic response to inform you why we
have not been able to resolve it within the given timescales. We
will also give you an indication of when we expect to be able to
provide you with a Final Response. You will also receive a copy
of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet,
setting out further details of the service they provide and how
to refer your complaint to them.
What happens after the investigation?
Where we decide that redress is appropriate, we’ll provide you
with fair compensation for any acts or omissions which we’re
responsible for and comply promptly with any offer of redress
which you may accept. The redress won’t always involve financial
compensation and may instead include, for example, an apology,
repair of the financed vehicle or an offer to rewrite a finance
application. In cases where financial redress is deemed
appropriate, this may also include an element of interest
calculated in line with relevant guidance.
Time limits for making a complaint
We have the right to decline an investigation of any complaint
received more than 6 years from the date of the incident you’ve
complained about, or (if later) more than 3 years after you were
(or ought reasonably to have been) aware of a cause for
complaint.
We will, however, be happy to consider any exceptional
circumstances that you feel may explain the delay in bringing
the matter to our attention.
If you are unhappy
Should you remain unhappy with our findings, having received our
Final Response, you may be able to refer the matter to the
Financial Ombudsman Service for review and we will advise you of
your rights to this.
You can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service
if you’ve either:
Received a Final Response with which you’re dissatisfied; or
We’ve had at least 8 weeks to consider the complaint but haven’t
yet issued a final response.
If you do want the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your
complaint, you should contact them within 6 months of the date
of our Final Response letter, a copy of which they may ask you
to send to them.
Because some of what we do isn’t covered by the Financial
Ombudsman Service, it’s possible that they may not be able to
assist you. We will, however, inform you in our Final Response
if we think this is likely to be the case and you’ll still be
able to contact an Alternative Dispute Resolution service who
will make their own decision on whether your case is eligible
for them to look in to.
The Financial Ombudsman Service is a free and impartial service
for resolving disputes between consumers and financial services
institutions and their contact details are set out below.
By post:
The Financial Ombudsman Service Exchange Tower London E14 9SR
By telephone: 0800 023 4567
By email:
[email protected]