Complaints Handling Procedure
We are committed to providing the highest quality services to our customers. If you’re not happy with our service, we will ensure that you can raise concerns or make a complaint and that those concerns or complaints are fully investigated.
This procedure outlines our commitment to dealing with complaints and provides information about how we manage, respond to and learn from any complaints we receive about our service.
What you can expect from us
We will treat complaints seriously and ensure that complaints, concerns, and issues raised by customers are properly investigated in an unbiased, transparent, timely, and appropriate manner.
We are committed to ensuring that:
- you are aware of our complaint handling procedure & understand how you can make a complaint;
- you will be treated with courtesy and respect;
- your complaint will be dealt with seriously;
- we respond to complaints and concerns within appropriate timeframes;
- we keep you up to date with the progress of your complaint;
- your concerns will be investigated & you will be informed of the outcome of any investigation;
- we provide a level of detail appropriate to the seriousness of the complaint;
- we keep clear and accurate records of complaints, including when the complaint was received;
- we provide opportunities for you to offer feedback on the quality of service provided;
- we identify the causes of complaints and to take action to prevent recurrences;
- we learn from complaints and feedback received.
Definition of a complaint or concern
A complaint or concern is an expression of dissatisfaction about our action or lack of action, or about the standard of service provided by us or on our behalf.
How to complain
Anyone can make a complaint, either verbally or in writing, by phone, in person, by email or via our website. A complaint can be made:
By telephone: 01527 511700
By email: complaints@eic.co.uk
By post: 3 Brooklands, Moons Moat Drive, Redditch, B98 9DW
Our complaint handling process
We aim to resolve queries to your satisfaction wherever possible. Where this isn’t possible, we will provide you with a clear response to each of your points of complaint. We will always try to respond as quickly as we can.
Our complaints handling process has three stages. Most complaints will be resolved at stage one. If you aren’t happy that the action we’ve taken has resolved things for you, however, then you can ask us to investigate your complaint. Alternatively, if your complaint is complex enough to require an investigation, we will put the complaint straight to stage two.
| Stage 1 First response | Stage 2 Investigation | Stage 3 Independent External Review | |
| What you can expect
| Our first priority will be to put things right and we aim to resolve most complaints or issues in this way.
Your complaint will be addressed by your first point of contact or alternatively referred to the appropriate manager for a first response.
We will provide a response by telephone or in writing via email or letter.
You can expect an apology, explanation or other action to put the matter right.
We will inform you how to escalate your complaint to Stage 2, should you be unhappy with the outcome.
| If you are not happy with the initial response, if you would prefer not to speak with our customer support team or where the complaint is more complex, your issue will be escalated to our Head of Business Standards, Kristy Davies.
We will contact you to clarify the points of the complaint and outcome sought. Where these are already clear, we will confirm them in the acknowledgement.
We will provide a written response to your complaint or concern.
If we are unable to reach a mutually agreeable solution or should we be unable to resolve your issue within 8 weeks, we will inform you how to escalate your complaint to Stage 3.
| If you are not satisfied with the Stage 2 response or your complaint is not resolved within 8 weeks, you can raise your complaint with an independent third party or the Energy Ombudsman.
|
| Timescales | Your complaint will be acknowledged within 2 working days.
Your complaint will be resolved or a response will be provided within five working days or less (unless there are exceptional circumstances).
If a first response will take longer than 5 days we will let you know and keep you updated on our progress.
| Your complaint will be acknowledged within 2 working days.
Your complaint will be resolved or a definitive response will be provided within 20 working days following a thorough investigation of the points raised.
If an investigation will take longer than 20 days, we will let you know and keep you updated on our progress.
| The Energy Ombudsman’s process can be found here; https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy
|
MICROBUSINESS
If 8 weeks have passed since you first made the complaint or if we have reached the end of the complaint process and have been unable to mutually agree a resolution (known as “deadlock”), you have the right to access the Alternative Dispute Resolutions Scheme by raising the dispute with Ombudsman Services. In both instances we will inform you of your rights to access the scheme.
Ombudsman Services provide an independent and impartial Alternative Dispute Resolution service that is free for customers to use. They’ll ask you to provide all of the details of your complaint and any supporting information you can, before asking us for the same. They then consider all of the information to reach a conclusion on how to resolve your case.
Resolutions can include: an apology; an explanation of what went wrong; a practical action to be taken to correct the problem; and/or a financial award. You can choose to reject their resolution, but if you accept it, we have to act, and resolve the dispute in the way they propose.
You may contact the Ombudsman in any of the following ways:
Ombudsman Contact Details
Website: www.ombudsman-services.org
Phone: 0330 440 1624
Email: enquiry@ombudsman-services.org
Post: Ombudsman Services: Energy, P.O. Box 966, Warrington, WA4 9DF
Further Advice
For free, impartial advice relating to your business’ energy supply you can contact Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133 or by visiting their website: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer
Confidentiality and data protection
We will comply with all applicable legislation when managing your complaint. This includes maintaining your confidentiality and confidentiality in relation to all information relating to the complaint and any third parties that are involved.
This should not prevent us from being open and transparent, as far as possible, in how we handle complaints. This includes sharing as much information with the complainant (and where appropriate, any affected staff member) as we can. When sharing information we should be clear about why the information is being shared and our expectations on how the recipient will use the information.
Quality Assurance & Continual Improvement
We value your feedback and will use complaints and feedback to improve our service and processes. Our complaints procedure helps us to build positive relationships with customers and rebuild trust when things go wrong.
As part of our Quality Management system any complaints raised will be managed via our Corrective Actions procedures. We will monitor both the effectiveness of the complaints process, and how complaints information is being used to improve the services offered.
Compliance with this procedure is monitored by the Head of Business Standards and Performance.
