Complaints Procedure

It is the aim of Alpha Contracts Leasing Ltd to provide a very high standard of service to every client. It is important to us that all complaints are resolved as quickly as possible and to the complete satisfaction of our clients.

This procedure explains how we will deal with any complaints. It also tells you what you can do if you think your complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction.

If you have a complaint:

If you have a complaint about any aspect of our service, then we would like to hear from you. You can contact us by telephone or in writing and your complaint will be resolved by Lynette Randall (Company Director) in the shortest possible time. lynette@alphacontracts.co.uk. Stable View, Hackleton, Northampton, NN7 2AW.

To help us to investigate and resolve your concerns as quickly as possible, you should in the first instance contact the salesperson with which you have been dealing. To help us resolve your problem you should provide the following information in writing:

your full name, address and contact information
full details of your complaint
your agreement details including registration number
A clear description of your concern or complaint.
Include supporting evidence or documentation
Details of what you would like us to do to put things right.

We will try to resolve your complaint immediately; however, sometimes this may not be possible. In the unlikely event that we are not able to resolve your complaint within 3 working days, our aim is to keep you informed of the progress of our investigations and provide our final response in writing providing our findings and the action to then take within 4 weeks. If you have a regulated consumer contract with us and are not satisfied with our final response, you may be eligible to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The Financial Ombudsman Service was set up by law to give most consumers a free, independent service for resolving disputes with financial firms. You have a period of 6 months to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The 6 months start from the date of our final response or 8 weeks after we received your complaint. Whichever is the earlier date.

Who can complain to us:

A Consumer
A Micro-Enterprise
A charity which has an annual income of less than £6.5 million at the time the customer refers the complaint to us; or
A trustee of a trust which has a net asset value of less than £5 million at the time the customer refers the complaint to us; or
A CBTL consumer; or
A small business at the time the customer refers the complaint to us; or
A guarantor.

Publicising our Complaints Procedure:

We will publish our complaints handling process on our website, post a hard copy if requested and refer our customers to it at first contact. We will also enclose a copy in the information pack we send out.

The Complaint Procedure:

On receipt of a complaint the customer is sent a prompt written acknowledgement providing early reassurance that the complaint has been received and that it is being dealt with. We aim to provide this within 5 working days. The customer is kept informed thereafter of the progress and of the measures being taken to reach a satisfactory resolution.

Where complaints are resolved by close of business on the third business day following the day on which the complaint is received, a Summary Resolution Communication is sent promptly to the customer.

If the complaint is not resolved under the third day rule as stated above, we aim to send the customer a written statement providing our findings within 4 weeks following the date of receipt of the complaint. If, however the complaint proves more complex, an explanatory holding response will be sent within 4 weeks advising that additional time is required to investigate the complaint.

Where it believes another respondent may be solely or jointly responsible for the matter alleged DISP 1.7.1R

Where we have reasonable grounds to be satisfied that another respondent may be solely or jointly responsible for the matter alleged in a complaint we will forward the complaint, or the relevant part of it, in writing to that other respondent. We will:

do this promptly.
inform the complainant promptly in a final response of why the complaint has been forwarded by to the other respondent, and of the other respondent's contact details; and
where jointly responsible for the fault alleged in the complaint, we will comply with our own obligations in respect of that part of the complaint we have not forwarded.

Our Reporting Requirements:

As a Core firm our complaints details will be logged internally and then used to populate our annual RegData returns to the FCA submitting data for the predetermined reporting period.

Final response:

We provide a final response within 8 weeks or a further explanatory letter advising of the reasons for the delay. This letter will inform the customer that he is entitled to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if he is not satisfied with the delay.

The final response letter will either:

Accept the complaint and, where appropriate, offer redress or remedial action; or
Offer redress or remedial action without accepting the complaint; or
Reject the complaint and give the reasons for doing so; and
Indicate if we consent to waive the relevant time limits for referral to the Ombudsman. It will also:
Include a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service's standard explanatory leaflet.
Provide the website address of the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Inform the customer how, if he remains dissatisfied with our response, he may refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Financial Ombudsman Service:

The Ombudsman can investigate any complaint we have not been able to settle to the customer’s satisfaction or where we have failed to resolve the complaint within the relevant timescales. The Ombudsman is unlikely to consider a case which has not first been referred to us in the first instance. In some circumstances the Ombudsman may decide to investigate the complaint before we have completed our investigation in full

through its internal complaint’s procedure as long as both the customer and we agree to this.

The customer has the right to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of our final response.

The contact details of the Financial Ombudsman Service are:

The Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR

Telephone Number: 0800 023 4567

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Website: http://www.financialombudsman.org.uk/

BVRLA:

If your complaint is in respect of any other issue other than a consumer contract, we are members of the BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental Leasing Association).

If after our final response you are not satisfied, then you can write to the Chief Executive, BVRLA, River Lodge, Badmington Court, Amersham, HP7 0DD

By telephone: 01494 434747 or By email: info@bvrla.co.uk
Monitoring and Evaluation:

The need to demonstrate good outcomes means that learning lessons from our complaints monitoring is particularly important. If we identify but fail to remedy harm, then we will not be complying with the Consumer Duty. This is confirmed by PRIN 2A.2.5 R which states "If a firm identifies through complaints, its internal monitoring or from any other source, that retail customers have suffered foreseeable harm as a result of acts or omissions by the firm, it must act in good faith and take appropriate action to rectify the situation, including providing redress where appropriate". If we fail to identify harm and / or fail to take appropriate action when we reasonably should, we will also fail to comply with the Consumer Duty. Our complaints recognition and escalation procedures should therefore achieve the expected consumer outcomes.

How will we deliver the Consumer Duty Outcomes:

Our increasing focus on vulnerable customers is translated into our complaints handling process, to ensure that our customers do not face any unreasonable barriers when seeking support.

All complaints are recorded on our Complaint Recording Log. This Log records details our response and what action is to be taken. All measures taken are recorded on the Complaints Rectification Log. Records of complaints will be retained for three years from the date the complaint was received.

These records of measures taken for the resolution of complaints are used to assist us in the collection of Management Information and regular reporting to Senior Management.

Root Cause Analysis:

All complaints will be recorded on our Complaint Recording Log. This Log will record and detail our response and what action is to be taken. All measures taken will be recorded on our Complaints Rectification Log. Records of complaints will be retained for three years from the date the complaint was received. These records of

measures taken for the resolution of complaints will be used to assist us in the collection of MI and monthly reporting to Senior Management. Analysis will be done of all complaints received to identify the root cause. The analysis will identify any patterns in complaints; record lessons learned; raise staff awareness and understanding of the complaint procedure and identify training needs. Any recurring issues will therefore be identified and resolved. If we identify any recurring or systemic problems that require remediation, we may consider proactive customer contact with customers who have not made a complaint but may have experienced a similar issue. We will consider previous complaint outcomes / FOS decisions (or patterns) when reviewing and considering current complaints and root cause analysis. We will regularly review our complaint communications to ensure they are sufficiently clear and understood by our target market to test consumer understanding. Part of this will include the recording and monitoring of calls and collecting customer feedback on the customer journey experience. If part of the customer journey is causing significantly more complaints, as a statistically important proportion, we will review whether that part of the journey is performing as expected and amend our procedures accordingly.

At board level we will review monthly our complaint communications to ensure they are sufficiently clear and understood by our target market to test consumer understanding. Part of this includes the recording and monitoring of calls and collecting customer feedback on the customer journey experience.

If part of the customer journey is causing significantly more complaints (as a statistically important proportion), we will consider whether that part of the journey is performing as expected and amend our procedures accordingly.

"How we use complaints data to identify where customers may have suffered foreseeable harm?

In addition to actions outlined in the responses to the Question above, we will use our complaint data to identify the following harms and take appropriate action:

Our MI may show a significant increase in inbound calls to customer service, or an increase in social media activity, from customers unhappy with missed payment or unexpected arrears charges.

A sufficient number of complaints relating to a specific team may prompt a review to identify why as part of our compliance monitoring.

Part of the feedback from complaints handling may indicate that we had made assumptions that part of the product design and governance process were correct.

For example, that a certain layout of costs and charges disclosure was clear, but several customers complained they did not understand it.

Our customer service team will often be the first team that a complainant encounters. The management of these initial discussions are vital, particularly for vulnerable customers. Our complaints recognition and escalation procedures should achieve the expected consumer outcomes. We will monitor how complaints are made, and the ease of use of all the channels available to our customers, to ensure there are no "unreasonable barriers” being experienced by complainants.

By conducting regular customer surveys to gather feedback on customer journeys we can identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to improve customer services and outcomes. For example, if customers consistently report difficulty in receiving timely responses to their inquiries, we can allocate greater resources to improving the processes around this.

References.

DISP Dispute Resolution: Complaints

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/finalised-guidance/fg22-5.pdf

Further details on the service provided by the Financial Ombudsman Service are included in the booklet entitled “Your complaint and the Ombudsman” which we will provide to you at the appropriate point.

If you have any questions in relation to our Complaints Handling Procedure, please contact Lynette Randall who will be happy to assist you.

If your complaint is in respect of any other issue other than a consumer contract, we are members of the BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental Leasing Association)

Membership number is 967. If after our final response, you are still not satisfied, then we will provide you with details of their conciliation service.