COMPLAINTS POLICY
COMPLAINTS POLICY – NORMAL LIKE ME
1. Definitions
1.1 In this Complaints Policy the following expressions have the following meanings:
“Appeal”
means your request to escalate a Complaint from Level One to Level Two if you are not satisfied with the outcome at Level One;
“Appeal Handler”
means an employee of Normal Like Me working at Normal Like Me, who will handle Level Two Complaints;
“Business Day”
means, any day (other than Saturday or Sunday) on which ordinary banks are open for their full range of normal business in England;
“Complaint”
means a complaint about services sold by Normal Like Me, about our customer service, or about our employees;
“Complaints Form”
means our standard complaints form, available from www.normal-like-me.com;
“Complaint Handler”
means an employee of Normal Like Me working at Normal Like Me who will handle Level One Complaints;
“Complaints Policy”
means this document;
“Complaints Procedure”
means the internal complaints handling procedure of Normal Like Me which is followed when handling a Complaint and is available from www.normal-like-me.com for your reference;
“Complaint Reference”
means a unique code assigned to your Complaint that will be used to track your Complaint;
“External Resolution”
means the referral of your Complaint to an external body or organisation for resolution if you are not satisfied with the outcome at Level Two;
“Level One”
means the first stage in our complaints handling procedure under which your Complaint will be handled by a Complaint Handler; and
“Level Two”
means the second stage in our complaints handling procedure under which you may appeal the outcome of a Level One Complaint. Your Complaint will be handled by an Appeal Handler.
2. Purpose of this Complaints Policy
2.1 Normal Like Me welcomes and encourages feedback of all kinds from our customers. If you have a Complaint about our services, our customer service, or about our employees not only do we want to resolve it to your satisfaction but we also want to learn from it in order to improve our business and customer experience in the future.
2.2 It is our policy to resolve Complaints quickly and fairly, where possible without recourse to formal investigations or external bodies. In particular, the aims of this Complaints Policy are:
2.2.1 To provide a clear and fair procedure for any customers who wish to make a Complaint about Normal Like Me, our services, our customer service, or about our employees;
2.2.2 To ensure that everyone working for or with Normal Like Me knows how to handle Complaints made by our service users;
2.2.3 To ensure that all Complaints are handled equally and in a fair and timely fashion;
2.2.4 To ensure that important information is gathered from Complaints and used in the future to avoid such a situation arising again.
3. What this Complaints Policy Covers
3.1 This Complaints Policy applies to the provision of services by Normal Like Me, to our customer service and to our employees. For the purposes of this Complaints Policy, any reference to Normal Like me, also includes our employees.
3.2 Complaints may relate to any of our activities and may include (but not be limited to):
3.2.1 The quality of customer service you have received from Normal Like Me;
3.2.2 The behaviour and/or professional competence of our employees;
3.2.3 Delays, defects, or other problems associated with the provision of services by Normal Like Me;
3.2.4 Delays, defects, poor management, or other problems associated with the provision of services by Normal Like Me;
3.3 The following are not considered to be Complaints and should therefore be directed to the appropriate person:
3.3.1 General questions about our services;
3.3.2 Matters concerning contractual or other legal disputes;
3.3.3 Formal requests for the disclosure of information, for example, under the Data Protection Act;
4. Making a Complaint
4.1 All Complaints, whether they concern our services, our customer service, or our employees, should be made in one of the following ways:
4.1.1 In writing, addressed to Janet Willicott, Director, Flat 3, Scargill Court, 3 Brannigan Way, London, HA8 8FY;
4.1.2 By email, addressed to Janet Willicott, Director at info@normal-like-me.com;
4.1.3 Using our Complaints Form, following the instructions included with the form;
4.1.4 By contacting us by telephone on 07930812211.
4.2 When making a Complaint, you will be required to provide the following information in as much detail as is reasonably possible:
4.2.1 Your name, address, telephone number and email address (We will contact you using your preferred contact method as your Complaint is handled);
4.2.2 If you are making a Complaint on behalf of someone else, that person’s name and contact details as well as your own;
4.2.3 If you are making a Complaint about a particular transaction, the Reference Number and or Invoice Number;
4.2.4 If you are making a Complaint about a particular employee of ours, the name and, where appropriate, position of that employee;
4.2.5 Further details of your Complaint including, as appropriate, all times, dates, events, and people involved;
4.2.6 Details of any documents or other evidence you wish to rely on in support of your Complaint;
4.2.7 Details of what you would like Normal Like Me to do to resolve your Complaint and to put things right. (Please note that whilst we will make every reasonable effort to accommodate such requests, we are not bound to take any action beyond that which we may be contractually or otherwise legally obliged to take.)
5. How We Handle Your Complaint
5.1 Normal Like Me operates a two-stage complaints handling procedure. Following our Complaints Procedure, our aim is to always resolve Complaints to your satisfaction at Level One without further recourse to Level Two. If you are not satisfied at the end of Level One, you may escalate your Complaint to Level Two. If you are still not satisfied at the end of Level Two, Complaints may progress to External Resolution as detailed below.
5.2 Level One:
5.2.1 Upon receipt of your Complaint, the Data Officer and or Director, identified above in Section 4.1 will log the Complaint in our Complaints System and will acknowledge receipt of it in writing within (15 days), giving you a Complaint Reference.
5.2.2 When we acknowledge receipt of your Complaint, we will also provide details of your Complaint Handler. This may be the Data Officer and or Director to whom your original Complaint was directed (as above) or your Complaint may be assigned to another appropriate member of our team.
5.2.3 If your Complaint relates to a specific employee, that person will be informed of your Complaint and given a fair and reasonable opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the employee in question should take place only via the Complaint Handler and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the employee in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.
5.2.4 If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Complaint Handler will contact you as quickly as is reasonably possible to ask for it. We ask that you use reasonable efforts to supply any such information or evidence quickly in order to avoid delaying the complaints handling process. If you are for any reason unable to provide such information or evidence we will use all reasonable efforts to proceed without it, however please be aware that we will not ask for further information or evidence unless we consider it important to the successful resolution of your Complaint.
5.2.5 We aim to resolve Level One Complaints within four (4) weeks, however in some cases, particularly if your Complaint is of a complex nature, this may not be possible. If this is not possible for any reason you will be informed of the delay, the likely length of the delay and the reasons for it.
5.2.6 At the conclusion of the Level One complaints procedure, regardless of the outcome, we will provide you with full details of our investigation, our conclusions from that investigation, and any action taken as a result. You will also be reminded of your right to appeal our decision and escalate the complaint to Level Two in the form of an Appeal.
5.3 Level Two:
5.3.1 If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint at Level One, you may appeal the decision within Fifteen (15) days, and have the complaint escalated to Level Two. Appeals are handled by Management and level members of our team.
5.3.2 Appeals, quoting your original Complaint Reference, should be directed to your original Complaint Handler who will forward the request to an appropriate Appeal Handler. Receipt of Appeals will be acknowledged in writing within 48 hours. When we acknowledge receipt of your Appeal, we will also provide details of your Appeal Handler.
5.3.3 If your Complaint relates to a specific employee, that person will be informed of your Appeal and given a further opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the employee in question should take place only via the Appeal Handler and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the employee in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.
5.3.4 If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Appeal Handler will contact you as quickly as is reasonably possible to ask for it. We ask that you use reasonable efforts to supply any such information or evidence to us quickly in order to avoid delaying the complaints handling process. If you are for any reason unable to provide such information or evidence we will use all reasonable efforts to proceed without it, however please be aware that we will not ask for further information or evidence unless we consider it important to the successful resolution of your Complaint.
5.3.5 We aim to resolve Level Two Complaints within Six (6) weeks, however in some cases, particularly if your Complaint is of a complex nature, this may not be possible. If this is not possible for any reason you will be informed of the delay, the likely length of the delay and the reasons for it.
5.3.6 At the conclusion of the Level Two procedure, regardless of the outcome, we will provide you with full details of our investigation, our conclusions from that investigation, and any action taken as a result. Our decision at this stage is final, subject to your right to seek External Resolution of your Complaint.
5.3.7 As we are a member of Royal Society of Public Health and the Bar Human Rights Committee you, as our service user, have the right to seek External Resolution of your Complaint from that organisation if you are not satisfied with the outcome of your Level Two Complaint.
5.4 External Resolution:
5.4.1 If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your Complaint at Level Two you may seek External Resolution of your Complaint from Royal Society of Public Health. For details of complaint and conflict resolution mechanisms available from RSPH, please contact them by post at John Snow House, 59 Mansell Street, London, E1 8AN, by telephone on +44 (0)20 7265 7300, by email at info@rsph.org.uk, or via their website at https://www.rsph.org.uk/.
5.4.2 Code of Conduct:
Code of Conduct towards RSPH and its Members
Members shall comply with the Rules of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and the provisions of this Code of Conduct.
Members shall not engage in conduct, which may prejudice the reputation of RSPH.
Members shall not falsely or maliciously attempt to injure the reputation of another Member.
Members shall not refuse a reasonable request from another Member for information or guidance.
Conduct towards the public
Members have a responsibility to serve the worldwide public interest in health, education, and welfare. They shall actively be concerned with the health and welfare of colleagues, consumers, and the wider community. In their professional capacities, Members shall seek to advance public knowledge and understanding of health matters.
Members shall only offer to do work or provide a service, which is within their professional competence and shall not claim competence, which they do not possess. Any professional opinion they give shall be objective and reliable.
Members shall not make public statements in their professional capacity unless appropriately qualified and authorised to do so and shall have due regard to the likely consequences of any statement on others.
Members shall not misrepresent or withhold information on the capabilities of products, systems, or services with which they are concerned or take advantage of the lack of knowledge or inexperience of others.
Members shall in their professional practice have regard to basic human rights and shall avoid any actions that adversely affect such rights.
Members shall not knowingly disseminate material, which appears to encourage discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, creed, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. It shall not be regarded as promoting such material to divulge it for the purpose of studying the subject of that discrimination.
Members shall comply with the law in the country, in which they reside and/or work
Members shall not knowingly engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
Conduct within the Member’s Profession
Members shall not knowingly engage in conduct, which may prejudice the reputation of their profession.
Members shall remain current with developments in their field, share ideas and information, keep accurate and complete records, maintain integrity in all conduct and publications, and give due credit to the contributions of others.
Members shall conform to recognised good practice including quality standards, which are in their judgement relevant, and shall encourage their associates to do likewise.
Members shall seek to upgrade their professional knowledge and skill, maintain awareness of relevant developments, procedures, and standards, and encourage their associates to do likewise.
Members shall act with integrity towards members of their own and other professions with whom they are concerned in a professional capacity and shall avoid engaging in any activity which is incompatible with their professional status.
Members shall support fellow members in their professional development and, where possible, provide opportunities for the development of new entrants to the profession.
Conduct towards Employers
Members shall promote and protect the legitimate interests of their employers, perform work honestly and competently, fulfil obligations, and safeguard proprietary information.
Members shall fulfil to the best of their ability the contractual obligations owed to their employer. Where circumstances arise in which the public interest or the reputation of the profession may be at variance with the interests of an employer, the public interest and the maintenance of professional standards shall be the Member’s primary considerations.
Conduct towards Employees
Members shall treat employees with respect for their professionalism and concern for their wellbeing, provide them with a safe working environment, award them fair recompense for their work, and give them credit for their contributions.
Conduct towards Students
Members shall regard the tutelage of students as a trust conferred by society for the promotion of the student's learning and professional development. Each student shall be treated respectfully.
Conduct towards Clients
Members shall serve clients faithfully, respect confidentiality, advise honestly, and charge fairly.
Members shall avoid any situation that may give rise to a conflict of interest between themselves and their client and shall make Ordinary and immediate disclosure to the client if any such conflict should occur.
Responsibility for the Environment
Members shall consider and anticipate the environmental consequences of their work. Members shall act to avoid pollution and to protect the environment.
6. Confidentiality and Data Protection
6.1 All Complaints and information relating thereto are treated with the utmost confidence. Such information will only be shared with those employees of Normal Like Me who need to know in order to handle your Complaint.
6.2 We may ask for your permission to use details of your Complaint (with your personal details removed) for internal training and quality improvement purposes. If you have given such permission, you may revoke it at any time by contacting The Director of Normal Like Me or the named Data Officer, whose details are provided above in Section 4.1.
6.3 All personal information that we may collect (including, but not limited to, your name and address) will be collected, used and held in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and your rights under that Act.
7. Questions and Further Information
If you have any questions or require further information about any aspect of this Complaints Policy or about our Complaints Procedure, please contact Janet Willicott by post at Flat 3, Scargill Court, 3 Brannigan Way, by telephone on 0044 (0) 7930812211, or by email at info@normal-like-me.com.
8. Policy Responsibility and Review
8.1 Overall responsibility for this Complaints Policy within Normal Like Me and the implementation thereof lies with Janet H Willicott, Director.
8.2 This Complaints Policy is regularly reviewed and updated as required.
8.3 This Complaints Policy was adopted on 8thJune 2020.
8.4 This Complaints Policy was last reviewed on 8thJune 2020.