What to expect

When you bring your complaint to us – and we’ve checked it’s something we can help with – you’ll be given a case handler to look into your complaint.

Your case handler will:

• ask the business for their side of the story
• weigh up the facts of what’s happened, fairly and impartially
• tell you and the business what we think

If we think there’s just been a misunderstanding – or you haven’t lost out financially – we’ll explain why. But if we decide you’ve been treated unfairly, we’ll tell the business to put things right. We’re able to resolve most complaints this way.

Getting started

When you get in touch with us your complaint may be taken on by a case handler there and then. Other times we’ll need to find the right person for your complaint, and they’ll get in touch when they’re ready to start looking into it. Either way, your case handler will introduce themselves and ask you for anything important that you haven’t already given us – such as a copy of the final response the business sent to you.

They’ll also get in touch with the business – either to get their side of the story, or to give them a chance to look at your complaint if they haven’t already.

After we’ve heard from the business, we’ll look at all the information we have. We might request more details from you or the business, or you may want to give us more information to look at.

How we'll communicate with you

We usually sort things out over the phone and in writing – so we won’t ask you to discuss your complaint face to face. We will be clear and straightforward in the way we communicate and we won’t use jargon.

We can also communicate with you using things like large text, Braille, British Sign Language or Next Generation Text. Find out more about how we make our service accessible to customers with additional needs.

We’ll keep you updated about your case while we’re looking into things, and you can get in touch with us at any point if you have any questions.

Telling you what we think

When we’ve reviewed everything you and the business have told us, we’ll let you know whether we think the business treated you fairly or not. We’ll always explain the reasons behind our view. If we think the business treated you unfairly, we’ll say what they need to do to put things right. 

Both you and the business have a chance to agree or disagree with what we’ve recommended. At this point, if both you and the business agree with what we’ve said, the complaint is settled. Most of the cases we see are resolved at this stage.

If you disagree with what we said – and have more information that you think will change our view – let us know. We may change our view, or it might stay the same – we’ll tell you why either way.

Taking your complaint further

If you or the business don’t want to accept what we’ve said, you can ask for your case to be referred to an ombudsman.

The ombudsman will then look at all the details of your complaint afresh, and make a final decision. 

If you accept the ombudsman’s decision, the business has to do what the ombudsman has told them to do. This might, for example, include making the business pay you compensation.

If you don’t want to accept the ombudsman’s decision you don’t have to. But it does mean our involvement has come to an end and the business doesn’t need to do anything. You may still be able to take legal action against the business, but we won’t be involved in this.

How long it takes

How long it takes to sort out your complaint depends on how complex it is – and how long it takes to get all the information we need. If there’s just been a misunderstanding we can often sort things out very quickly. If things are more complex, it will take longer. It will also take longer if you or the business don’t agree with what we say, and want an ombudsman to make a formal, final decision. Generally, though, we can resolve most complaints within three months of a case handler getting in touch with you.

When you get in touch with us about your complaint, let us know if your situation is urgent – for example, if you’re seriously ill or in financial difficulty.

Putting things right

If we decide a business has treated you unfairly, we’ll tell them what they should do to put things right. Sometimes this is simply a case of getting the business to correct their mistake – for instance, if they’ve cancelled your insurance policy unfairly we might tell them to reinstate it.

Sometimes we’ll ask the business to pay you compensation. This may be because we think you lost out financially as a result of something they did wrong. Or it might be because the actions of the business meant that you experienced distress and inconvenience.

Read more about our approach to calculating compensation.

If you're unhappy about our service

We want to give you the best possible level of customer service, whatever the outcome of your complaint. But if you’re not happy with the way we’ve handled your case, you can complain.

Find out how to complain about the service we’ve given you.