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1.Definitions

    • 1.1 In this Complaints Policy the following expressions
      have the following meanings:

“Appeal”

means your request to escalate a Complaint from Level One to Level Two if you are not
satisfied with the outcome at Level One;

“Appeal Handler”

means an employee of Country Connect Ltd working at Senior Management Level who will handle
Level Two Complaints;

“Business Day”

means, any day (other than Saturday or Sunday) on which ordinary banks are open for their
full range of normal business in the UK;

“Complaint”

means a complaint about goods and/or services sold by Country Connect Ltd, about our customer
service, or about our employees or subcontractors;

“Complaint Handler”

means an employee of Country Connect Ltd working at Employee Level who will handle Level One
Complaints;

“Complaints Policy”

means this document;

“Complaints Procedure”

means the internal complaints handling procedure of Country Connect Ltd which is followed
when
handling a Complaint and is available from Country Connect Ltd for your reference;

“Complaint Reference”

means a unique code assigned to your Complaint that will be used to track your Complaint;

“Level One”

means the first stage in our complaints handling procedure under which your Complaint will be
handled by a Complaint Handler; and

“Level Two”

means the second stage in our complaints handling procedure under which you may appeal the
outcome of a Level One Complaint. Your Complaint will be handled by an Appeal Handler.;

2.Purpose of this Complaints Policy

  • 2.1Country Connect Ltd welcomes and encourages feedback of all kinds
    from our customers. If you have a Complaint about our goods and/or services, our customer service,
    or about our employees and subcontractors, not only do we want to resolve it to your satisfaction
    but we also want to learn from it
    in order to improve our business and customer experience in the future.
  • 2.2It is our policy to resolve Complaints quickly and fairly,
    where possible without recourse to formal investigations or external bodies.
    In particular, the aims of this Complaints Policy are:
    • 2.2.1To provide a clear and fair procedure for any customers
      who wish to make a Complaint about Country Connect Ltd, our goods and/or services, our customer
      service, or about our employees and subcontractors;
    • 2.2.2 To ensure that everyone working for or with Country
      Connect
      Ltd knows how to handle Complaints made by our customers;
    • 2.2.3To ensure that all Complaints are handled equally and
      in a fair and timely fashion;
    • 2.2.4 To ensure that important information is
      gathered from Complaints and used in the future to avoid such a situation arising again.

3.What this Complaints Policy Covers

  • 3.1This Complaints Policy applies to the sale of goods and/or the
    provision of services by Country Connect Ltd, to our customer service and to our employees and
    subcontractors.
  • 3.2For the purposes of this Complaints Policy, any reference to
    Country Connect Ltd also includes our employees and subcontractors.
  • 3.3Complaints may relate to any of our activities and may include
    (but not be limited to):
    • 3.3.1The quality of customer service you have received from
      Country Connect Ltd;
    • 3.3.2 The behaviour and/or professional competence of our
      employees and subcontractors;
    • 3.3.3Delays, defects or other problems associated with the sale
      of goods by Country Connect Ltd;
    • 3.3.4 Delays, defects, poor workmanship or other problems
      associated with the provision of services by Country Connect Ltd;
  • 3.4The following are not considered to be Complaints and should
    therefore be directed to the appropriate department:
    • 3.4.1General questions about our goods and/or services;
    • 3.4.2 Returns of damaged, faulty, incorrect or unwanted goods
      for exchange or refund in accordance with our Sale of Goods Terms & Conditions where there is no
      further complaint;
    • 3.4.3Matters concerning contractual or other legal disputes;
    • 3.4.4 Formal requests for the disclosure of information, for
      example, under the Data Protection Act;

4.Making a Complaint

  • 4.1All Complaints, whether they concern our goods and/or services,
    our customer service, or our employees and subcontractors, should be made in one of the following
    ways:
    • 4.1.1By email, addressed to [email protected];
    • 4.1.2By contacting us by telephone on 01633 530 519;
  • 4.2When making a Complaint, you will be required to provide the
    following information in as much detail as is reasonably possible:
    • 4.2.1Your name, address, telephone number and email address (We
      will contact you using your preferred contact method as your Complaint is handled);
    • 4.2.2 If you are making a Complaint on behalf of someone else,
      that person’s name and contact details as well as your own;
    • 4.2.3If you are making a Complaint about a particular
      transaction, the order number or invoice number;
    • 4.2.4If you are making a Complaint about a particular employee
      or subcontractor of ours, the name and, where appropriate, position of that employee or
      subcontractor;
    • 4.2.5Further details of your Complaint including, as
      appropriate, all times, dates, events, and people involved;
    • 4.2.6 Details of any documents or other evidence you wish to
      rely on in support of your Complaint;
    • 4.2.7Details of what you would like Country Connect Ltd to do to
      resolve your Complaint and to put things right. (Please note that whilst we will make every
      reasonable effort to accommodate such requests, we are not bound to take any action beyond that
      which we may be contractually or otherwise legally obliged to take.)

5.How We Handle Your Complaint

  • 5.1Country Connect Ltd operates a two-stage complaints handling
    procedure. Following our Complaints Procedure, our aim is to always resolve Complaints to your
    satisfaction at Level One without further recourse to Level Two. If you are not satisfied at the end
    of Level One, you may escalate your Complaint to Level Two.
  • 5.2Level One:
    • 5.2.1Upon receipt of your Complaint, the Complaint will be
      logged in our Complaints and Compliments Log, and we will acknowledge receipt of it in writing
      within one week, giving you a Complaint Reference.
    • 5.2.2When we acknowledge receipt of your Complaint we will
      also provide details of your Complaint Handler. This may be the employee to whom your original
      Complaint was directed (as above) or your Complaint may be assigned to another appropriate
      member of our team.
    • 5.2.3If your Complaint relates to a specific employee or subcontractor, that person will be informed of your Complaint and given a fair and reasonable opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the employee or subcontractor in question should take place only via the Complaint Handler and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the employee or subcontractor in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.
    • 5.2.4If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Complaint Handler will contact you as quickly as is reasonably possible to ask for it. We ask that you use reasonable efforts to supply any such information or evidence quickly in order to avoid delaying the complaints handling process. If you are for any reason unable to provide such information or evidence we will use all reasonable efforts to proceed without it, however please be aware that we will not ask for further information or evidence unless we consider it important to the successful resolution of your Complaint.
    • 5.2.5We aim to resolve Level One Complaints within one month, however in some cases, particularly if your Complaint is of a complex nature, this may not be possible. If this is not possible for any reason you will be informed of the delay, the likely length of the delay and the reasons for it.
    • 5.2.6At the conclusion of the Level One complaints procedure, regardless of the outcome, we will provide you with full details of our investigation, our conclusions from that investigation, and any action taken as a result. You will also be reminded of your right to appeal our decision and escalate the complaint to Level Two in the form of an Appeal.
  • 5.3Level Two:
    • 5.3.1If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint at Level One, you may appeal the decision within one week, and have the complaint escalated to Level Two. Appeals are handled by senior management level members of our team.
    • 5.3.2Appeals, quoting your original Complaint Reference, should be directed to your original Complaint Handler who will forward the request to an appropriate Appeal Handler. Receipt of Appeals will be acknowledged in writing within one week. When we acknowledge receipt of your Appeal we will also provide details of your Appeal Handler.
    • 5.3.3If your Complaint relates to a specific employee or subcontractor, that person will be informed of your Appeal and given a further opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the employee or subcontractor in question should take place only via the Appeal Handler and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the employee or subcontractor in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.
    • 5.3.4If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Appeal Handler will contact you as quickly as is reasonably possible to ask for it. We ask that you use reasonable efforts to supply any such information or evidence to us quickly in order to avoid delaying the complaints handling process. If you are for any reason unable to provide such information or evidence we will use all reasonable efforts to proceed without it, however please be aware that we will not ask for further information or evidence unless we consider it important to the successful resolution of your Complaint.
    • 5.3.5We aim to resolve Level Two Complaints within one month, however in some cases, particularly if your Complaint is of a complex nature, this may not be possible. If this is not possible for any reason you will be informed of the delay, the likely length of the delay and the reasons for it.
    • 5.3.6At the conclusion of the Level Two procedure, regardless of the outcome, we will provide you with full details of our investigation, our conclusions from that investigation, and any action taken as a result. Our decision at this stage is final.

6.Confidentiality and Data Protection

  • 6.1All Complaints and information relating thereto are treated with the utmost confidence. Such information will only be shared with those employees or subcontractors of Country Connect Ltd who need to know in order to handle your Complaint.
  • 6.2We may ask for your permission to use details of your Complaint (with your personal details removed) for internal training and quality improvement purposes. If you have given such permission, you may revoke it at any time by contacting Country Connect Ltd, whose details are provided above in Section 4.1.
  • 6.3All personal information that we may collect (including, but not limited to, your name and address) will be collected, used and held in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and your rights under that Act.

7.Questions and Further Information

  • If you have any questions or require further information about any aspect of this Complaints Policy or about our Complaints Procedure, please contact Country Connect Ltd by post at Country Connect Ltd, Ash House, Llancayo Business Park, Llancayo, NP15 1HY, by telephone on 01663 530 519, or by email at [email protected].

8.Policy Responsibility and Review

  • 8.1Overall responsibility for this Complaints Policy within Country Connect Ltd and the implementation thereof lies with Mark Tomlinson, Director.
  • 8.2This Complaints Policy is regularly reviewed and updated as required.
  • 8.3This Complaints Policy was adopted on 20th June 2019.
  • 8.4This Complaints Policy was last reviewed on 17th July 2020.