COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE...
1. DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION
1.1. In this Complaints Handling Procedure the following expressions have the following meanings:
“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 our goods and/or services or about our customer service;
“Complaints Policy” means our customer complaints policy, available from here;
“Complaint Reference” means a unique code assigned to a Complaint that will be used to track that Complaint;
“Customer” means a customer of ours and includes potential customers (no purchase necessary);
“Decision Letter” means a customer of ours and includes potential customers (no purchase necessary);
“Resolution Action” means the available actions to be taken in response to a Complaint as detailed in Section 6.
2. WHAT THIS COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE COVERS
2.1. This Complaints Handling Procedure applies to Complaints pertaining to the sale of goods and/or the provision of services by us and to our customer service.
2.2. For the purposes of this Complaints Handling Procedure, any reference to me, us, The Felting Flock also includesourteam and any subcontractors we may use.
2.3. Complaints may relate to any of our activities and may include (but not be limited to):
2.3.1. The quality of our customer service;
2.3.2. The behaviour and/or professional competence of our team and any subcontractors we may use;
2.3.3. Delays, defects or other problems associated with the sale of goods;
2.3.4. Delays, defects, poor workmanship or other problems associated with the provision of services;
2.4. The following do not constitute Complaints. Customers raising such questions or matters should be addressed accordingly:
2.4.1. General questions about our goods and/or services;
2.4.2. Returns of damaged, faulty, incorrect or unwanted goods for exchange or refund in accordance with our Terms and Conditions where there is no further complaint;
2.4.3. Matters concerning contractual or other legal disputes;
2.4.4. Formal requests for the disclosure of information including, but not limited to, those made under applicable legislation.
3. RECEIPT AND RECORDING OF COMPLAINTS
3.1. Customers may make Complaints using any of the following methods:
3.1.1. By email, addressed to Nicola Dean (Owner of The Felting Flock) at nicola@thefeltingflock.com;
3.2. Upon receipt of Complaints, the following steps shall be taken within 7 Business Days:
3.2.1. Nicola Dean (Owner of The Felting Flock) shall respond to your complaint via email explaining that your complaint has been logged and provide you with a Complaint reference number. You will also be asked for any information that may not have been supplied;
3.2.3. All Complaints shall be acknowledged in writing within 7 days of receipt. The acknowledgement shall inform the Customer of their Complaint Reference, by whom their Complaint is to be handled, and shall include copies of our Customer Complaint Policy and this Complaints Handling Procedure.
3.2.3. The investigation for your complaint will commence within 7 days of you receiving acknowledgement We have received your complaint.
4. COMPLAINT INFORMATION
4.1. Customers are advised in our Complaints Policy that the following information should be provided in as much detail as is reasonably possible when making a Complaint:
4.1.1. The Customer’s name, address and email address, indicating any preferred method of communication;
4.1.2. If the Customer is being represented by a third party, the information set out in Section 4.1.1 should be provided in reference to both parties;
4.1.3. If the Complaint relates to a particular transaction, the order number;
4.1.4. If the Complaint relates to a particular team member, the name and, where appropriate, position of that team member;
4.1.5. Further details of the Complaint including, as appropriate, all times, dates, events, and people involved;
4.1.6. Details of any documents or other evidence on which the Customer wishes to rely in support of the Complaint;
4.1.7. Details of how the Customer would like The Felting Flock to resolve the Complaint. Whilst we undertake to make all reasonable efforts to accommodate such requests, however, we are not bound to take any action beyond that which we may be contractually or otherwise legally obliged to take.
4.2. If the information detailed in Section 4.1 is missing, insufficiently detailed, or incomplete, the Customer should be contacted within 7 Business Days, requesting further information.
5. COMPLAINTS HANDLING
5.1. As a sole trader Nicola Dean, shall handle all Complaints.
5.2. Upon receipt of a Complaint, the Complaint shall be considered and a decision made within 7 Business Days whether to:
5.2.1. Investigate the Complaint fully if it is considered to be valid, in which case the procedure should resume from Section 5.3; or
5.2.2. Dismiss the Complaint if it is considered to be invalid, in which case the Customer shall be informed of the decision in writing within 7 Business Days.
5.3. Subject to delays arising from circumstances beyond our reasonable control (including, but not limited to, delays in other persons responding to communications), Complaints shall be fully investigated within 7 days of the investigation starting as set out in 3.2.3 and decided upon within 7 days of the investigation being completed.
5.4. If additional information or evidence in support of the Complaint is required, the Customer shall be contacted via email, stating clearly what information or evidence is required. Customers should be respectfully reminded that any delay in their response to such a request may delay the resolution of their Complaint, as per Section 5.5 of our Complaints Policy.
5.5. If a Customer is unable or unwilling to provide information or evidence requested under Section 5.5 of our Complaints Policy, reasonable endeavours shall nevertheless be used to resolve the Complaint. If, however, it is not possible to uphold the Complaint in the absence of the requested information or evidence, the Complaint may be closed and the Customer informed of the outcome in accordance with Sections 5.9 to 5.12 of this Complaints Proceedure.
5.6. The Complaint shall be examined and evaluated, taking full account of all relevant statements, information, evidence and circumstances. Full objectivity and fairness shall be maintained at all times.
5.7. Following examination of the Complaint, a decision shall be reached within the time period set out in Section 5.3 (subject to the exceptions noted therein). Resolution Actions that may be chosen are set out in Section 6.
5.8. Once a decision has been reached, a Decision Letter shall be sent to the Customer by email. Decision Letters shall set out the decision and the Resolution Action(s).
5.9. If a delay either occurs or is considered likely to occur at any stage of this procedure, the Customer should be informed via email. The Customer should be informed of the length or likely length of the delay and the reasons therefor.
6. RESOLUTION ACTIONS
6.1. When handling Complaints the following Resolution Actions may be selected, as appropriate to the facts and circumstances of a Complaint:
6.1.1. A written apology;
6.1.2. A discount on a future purchase;
6.1.3. A partial or full refund;
7. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTION ACTIONS
7.1. Upon the conclusion of a Complaint, the Resolution Action(s) settled upon shall require implementation in a timely manner. Responsibility for the implementation of Resolution Actions ultimately lies with Nicola Dean (Owner of The Flock): nicola@thefeltingflock.com
8. RECORDING OF RESOLUTION ACTIONS
8.1. Upon the conclusion of a Complaint and the implementation of the applicable Resolution Action(s), will be logged in our Complaints Log.
9. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION
9.1. All Complaints, Appeals, evidence and other information gathered, held and processed under this Complaints Handling Procedure shall be treated with the utmost confidence at all times. Such information may be shared with employees team members and subcontractors of The Felting Flock only to the extent required to resolve the Complaint in question in accordance with this Complaints Handling Procedure.
9.2. In the event that the details of a Complaint are to be used for training or quality improvement purposes, in which case they may be shared with other employees or subcontractors of The Felting Flock beyond the scope of this Complaints Handling Procedure, the relevant Customer’s express permission must first be sought using that Customer’s email address. Personal details (that is, anything that may be used to identify the Customer) shall be removed from all information so used. Such permission may be revoked at any time in accordance with the Customer’s right to do so under Section 6.2 of our Customer Complaints Policy.
9.3. All personal information collected by us (including, but not limited to, Customers’ names and contact details) shall only be collected, used and held in accordance with the provisions of UK data protection law (including but not limited to the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003) and Customers’ rights thereunder, as set out in our Privacy Policy.
10. PROCEDURE REVIEW AND RESPONSIBILITY
10.1. Overall responsibility for this Complaints Handling Procedure and the implementation thereof lies with Nicola Dean (Owner of The Felting Flock).
10.2. This Complaints Handling Procedure shall be reviewed regularly at intervals of not more than 1 year and shall be updated as required.
10.3. This Complaints Handling Procedure was adopted on 6th February 2023.
10.4. This Complaints Handling Procedure was last reviewed on 6th February 2023.