Complaints Procedure

Complaints Procedure for Customers

Ensuring problems are handled fairly and efficiently

At Concept Vehicle Leasing, we strive to deliver a high level of service and ensure that our customers never have cause to complain. However, we realise that sometimes things don't go according to plan, and where this results in any kind of complaint, we need to ensure we have the right procedures in place to be able to put things right quickly and amicably.

Making a complaint

If you need to complain, the first step is to give us a call 0800 043 2050 and ask to speak with our Customer Experience Team.

You can also drop an e-mail through to customerexperience@conceptvehicleleasing.co.uk or write to us at the following address:

Concept Vehicle Leasing
Riverbridge House
Guildford Road
Leatherhead
Surrey
KT22 9AD

Our Procedure

Any complaint verbal or written will at the earliest opportunity be referred to a member of the senior management team and we will follow our internal complaints procedure.

Please note that the complaint will not be handled solely by the person against whom the complaint was made, and we reserve the right, where appropriate, to refer a complaint to another firm, for example, if the fault lies with the lender’s service or to a dealer or manufacturer if there are issues with a vehicle.

We will try to resolve your complaint by the end of the next business day. However, it may always be possible if your complaint requires further investigation and we will keep you informed of the progress and we will let you have our final response as soon as possible and not later than eight weeks.

Acknowledge the complaint in writing promptly
Give details in our acknowledgement letter of the Financial Ombudsman Service
Make contact to seek clarification on any points where necessary
Fully investigate the complaint
Keep you informed of our progress
Discuss with you our findings and proposed response

If your complaint is regarding Payment Services, such as a direct debit or standing order we must respond to you with a holding response within 15 business days of receiving your complaint. If we do not do this, you are able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Investigation

The complaints handler will establish the nature and scope of your complaint having due regards to the Financial Conduct Authority’s direction to deal with complaints promptly and fairly and to give complainants clear replies and, where appropriate, fair redress.

When investigating the complaint, we will take a number of steps and these may include

Review of the facts
Retrieval of relevant documentation and correspondence
Speaking to relevant individuals
Listening to relevant phone recordings

We will consider these in conjunction with your complaint. We will endeavor to respond to and resolve your complaint straight away, which we consider being at least one business day after the day that we received your complaint. However, we may need to carry out further internal investigations which will not enable us to resolve your complaint straight away. In this instance, we will send you a notice of investigation letter within 5 working days from when we received your complaint. The notice of investigation letter will include:

The name and job title of the individual handling your complaint
A timescale for when we will correspond further, which will be no more than 4 weeks from the receipt of your complaint
A copy of our complaint handling procedure

Complaint Progress

We will keep you informed of the progress of your complaint and notify you in writing of the proposed resolution.

In the unlikely event that our investigations require longer than 4 weeks to complete, we will write to you to explain why we are not yet in a position to respond to your complaint and indicate when we will make further contact. This must be within 8 weeks of the receipt of the complaint.

If after 8 weeks we are still not in a position to make a final response, we will write to you and give reasons for the delay and an indication of when we expect to provide you with a full and final response. At this point, we must include details of the Financial Ombudsman Service (‘FOS’) who you can refer your complaint if you wish to.

Once our investigations are complete, we will write to you with our response. This will be either a final response or an offer letter depending on the circumstances of your complaint.

Final Response

A final response will set out clearly the firm’s decision and the reasons for it and is:

Where we believe that we have fully addressed your complaint;
Notified you that you may refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you remain dissatisfied with our final response and that you must do so within 6 months from the date of the final response; and

Provide the website address of the Financial Ombudsman Service and refer to the availability of further information on the website of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Offer Letter (Redress Determination)

An offer letter is:

Where we consider that you are entitled to some redress and believe that we have fully addressed your complaint. It will include information as to how we have calculated this and a page for you to state your acceptance and return to us. We will then forward the agreed redress in a final response letter.

Complaints Settled within 3 days

Complaints that can be settled to your satisfaction within 3 business days can be recorded and communicated differently.

Where we consider a complaint to be resolved to your satisfaction under this section, we will promptly send you a ‘Summary Resolution Communication’, being a written communication from us which:

refers to the fact that you have made a complaint and informs you that we now consider the complaint to have been resolved to your satisfaction.
We will tell you that if you subsequently decide that you are dissatisfied with the resolution of the complaint you may be able to refer the complaint back to us for further consideration or alternatively refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service
Indicates whether or not we consent to waive the relevant time limits, (where we have discretion in such matters)
Provide the website address of the Financial Ombudsman Service
Refer to the availability of further information on the website of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

In addition to sending you a Summary Resolution Communication, we may also use other methods to communicate the information where we

We consider that doing so may better meet your needs.
We have already been using another method to communicate about the complaint.

Closing a complaint

We will consider a complaint closed when we have made our final response to you. This does not prevent you from exercising any rights you may have to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

If you remain dissatisfied

If you remain dissatisfied, you may refer the matter to the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA). The BVRLA is approved by Government as a Consumer ADR body under the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015 and offers a free Conciliation Service.

The Conciliation Service will investigate potential breaches of the Code of Conduct, which sets out the standards the BVRLA expects from its members. The Conciliation Service can only look at matters that relate to disputes arising from the activities of BVRLA members.

The BVRLA will aim to resolve the matter using the information presented by both parties to the dispute. Any information requested from either party should be sent to the BVRLA within five working days. Based on the information available, the BVRLA will provide both parties with its findings and recommendations and as members, we must comply with their rulings. Further details may be found at: www.bvrla.co.uk/advice/guidance/using-bvrlas-conciliation-service

You may contact the BVRLA by

Email: complaint@bvrla.co.uk

Writing to: British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, River Lodge, Badminton Court, Amersham HP7 0DD

Alternatively, you may refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service, but you must do so within 6 months of the date of our final response letter, redress determination letter or summary resolution communication. We will co-operate fully with the Ombudsman in resolving any complaints made against us and agree to be bound by any awards made by the Ombudsman. The firm undertakes to pay promptly any fees levied by the Ombudsman. You may contact them by

Phone: 0800 023 4567 (free for most people ringing from a fixed line) or 0300 123 9123 (cheaper for those calling using a mobile) or 020 7964 0500 (if calling from abroad)

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

Writing to: The Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, London E14 9SR

Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

For Your Information

We are required by the FCA to report on the number and types of complaints that we have received and when these complaints have been closed. We are required to use the FCA’s standard Complaints Form and electronic reporting procedure via the Firms Online service.

We examine and evaluate our procedures following receipt of a complaint to see how we can improve our service to our customers. Any recommendations resulting from this are escalated to one of our directors who will analyse before implementation.

We retain details of complaints for a period of at least 3 years.