This page describes what you can expect when you bring a complaint to us. This includes an overview of the process, how we’ll communicate with you and how long it’s likely to take.
Our service is free and easy to use
We’ll communicate clearly
We are committed to ensuring that our service is accessible. So when you contact us, or use our service, we will adapt the way we communicate with you to your needs.
We’ll need some information upfront
Our process
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You can do this online or over the phone.
Our customer advisers will check we have the information we need to get started. If we think we need more – for example, your account or policy numbers – we will contact you.
We’ll give you a case reference number. Use this when you contact us so we can find your case quickly. Don’t share the number with anyone else unless they are a trusted person helping you with your complaint.
How long this stage takes
We aim to set up your case within seven days of receiving your complaint and will contact you when we do.
If you feel your case needs to be dealt with urgently because you’re struggling financially or have severe ill health, let us know when you send your complaint. Or you can contact us on our helpline number quoting your reference number.
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One of our investigators will contact you.
This person will be your contact person during the investigation. You can get in touch with us any time with questions, and we’ll keep you updated while we look into things.
Your investigator will:
- ask the business for their side of the story
- look at whether the financial business has made a new or updated offer to
- resolve the complaint before we carry out a full investigation
- consider all the information about what’s happened, fairly and impartially
How long this stage takes
The time it takes to investigate varies, depending on the nature of the complaint and what it’s about. You’ll find more detail on how long the investigation might take on the relevant product page.
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We’ll let you know the outcome of our investigation.
We aim to give answers to complaints within 90 days, but complex cases can take longer. We’ll let you know if we think it will take more than 90 days.
If both you and the business agree with what we’ve said, the complaint is settled. Most cases are resolved in this way.
If either of you don’t accept the investigator’s answer, you – or the business – can ask for one of our ombudsmen to review it and make a final decision.
The time this will take will vary, depending on the type of complaint it is. While you wait, your investigator will continue to be your main point of contact.
The ombudsman will review your complaint and will issue a final decision.
How long this stage takes
How long this takes will depend on a number of factors, including the type of complaint. But we aim to resolve 90% of cases within six months of the point we accept them as complaints.
We’ll do all we can to get your case to an ombudsman for review as soon as possible. During this time the investigator who reviewed your case will continue to be your main point of contact. They will keep you updated regularly with your case’s progress.
Putting things right
At the end of our investigation, if we think there’s simply been a misunderstanding, or that you haven’t lost out financially, we’ll explain why. But if we think the business treated you unfairly, we’ll say what they need to do to put things right. That could mean by:
- correcting their mistake – for example, reinstating an insurance policy if they’ve cancelled it unfairly
- giving you compensation if we think you lost out financially, or experienced distress or and inconvenience because of their actions.
We might decide they should also pay costs and interest on top of this.
There’s a limit to how much we can tell a business to pay. If we think compensation should be higher than our award limit, we can recommend that the financial business pays more. But we can’t make them do this.
Accepting compensation may mean you won’t be able to take the business to court for the same complaint. Consider taking independent legal advice if you're not sure what to do.
If you accept our findings, the business must follow our instructions.