Resolver Customer Support Agent Kester Davies explains your options and routes of complaint
It’s been a strange year. Coronavirus has changed the way that we shop, work and socialise. There have also been changes to how we complain, with unprecedented turbulence and big changes hitting just about every kind of company, from airlines and travel agents to supermarkets and online shops.
As ever, Resolver is here to help you get your voice heard, but with the recent confusion, it’s sometimes been difficult to know who you should actually be complaining to. We’ve published a lot of resources on this throughout lockdown and I’ve put together this handy guide – to our guides.
One of the issues that we’ve seen spike during lockdown has been the non-delivery of items ordered online. A missing parcel is often made more frustrating and confusing by delivery companies giving bad information, no information, or being difficult to reach.
In cases like this it can be tempting to lay the blame at the courier’s – ahem – doorstep, and there is no harm in letting them know how you feel,so by all means use Resolver to raise your issue. However if you’re looking for the quickest result, you should actually direct your complaints to the retailer who sold you the item. Your contract of sale is with that provider, so if there’s a problem with the delivery, let it know as it is down to them to sort your issue.
If your lockdown life has involved selling online and you are complaining about a package that you have sent, then your complaint is with the delivery company. Most companies will have separate contact routes for customers who are sending items, so make sure that you have indicated that you are the sender when getting in touch with them.
Travel plans have been in a chaos since the beginnings of lockdown, and the ongoing uncertainty and unprecedented nature of the crisis has meant that for a lot of people, the complaints process has been in chaos too. So, who do you turn to if your holiday has been cancelled?
If you booked your flights and accommodation at the same time, with a travel company, as part of a package, then your complaint is with that provider, who should be able to offer you a cash refund or – if you wish to accept them – vouchers for an equivalent holiday at a later date.
If you are having difficulty in getting the resolution you want from the travel company, you can check whether it is an ABTA member. If so, you can ask ABTA to step in once your complaint has been open for eight weeks.
If you booked flights directly from an airline and it then cancelled your trip, you can complain directly for a refund. If the airline isn’t being forthcoming, you can reach out to the Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The bottom line is that if a package holiday company cancels your trip, it has to refund you within 14 days. If an airline cancels your flight, you are due a refund within seven days.
A lot of Resolver users have reported that although they have been offered vouchers, they have had some difficulty in securing the cash refund alternative that they are entitled to. If this is you, and you’ve been in touch with ABTA or the CAA, you might want to consider contacting your bank or credit provider to make a Section 75 or chargeback claim.
Complaining to your bank should still be relatively straightforward (touch wood), although some banks have experienced some slow down in complaint turnaround times. Your bank has 56 days to resolve your complaint, and after this time has passed you are able to escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Escalating to the FOS can occasionally add time to your complaint rather than speeding things up, as it will need to get through all the stages of their investigation. This means that if the bank is engaged with your complaint you might be better off sticking with them and giving them some extra leeway and giving it a little bit of extra time.
Many of us have spent more time at home this year, and it is likely starting to show in our energy bills. If you feel you’re not getting the best deal available, you might have taken the opportunity to switch. We’ve written a handy guide to this process.
A switch should be a painless process, but sometimes it can go a bit wrong. It can even be rejected, and this can leave you stuck between two companies who are pointing the finger at each other. If you have had a switch rejected, then you can use our handy tool to find out where to turn to get results.
Much like banking, complaints about energy providers can be escalated if they are not resolved within 56 days of the date that you first complain. Ofgem is the regulator for energy complaints, but it’s not usually the recommended point of contact if you need to escalate. This responsibility falls to Ombudsman Services, they can review the matter and decide what the company needs to do to put things right.
More time spent at home has resulted in relying more on our broadband connection, making slow speeds or loss of service understandably more frustrating than ever before.
Broadband is a regulated service, so complain to your provider and if they haven’t sorted it in 56 days, then you can escalate your complaint. The regulator in this case is Ofcom, but it is not normally directly involved in individual complaints.
A lot of broadband companies will direct you to Ombudsman Services if they are unable to resolve your complaint, some however, use Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS). This works in the same way as Ombudsman Services; you can expect CISAS to offer a fair adjudication of your complaint and a decision on what the company should offer in terms of redress.
The good news is that Resolver is set up to automatically send your complaint to the right place, so if you complain using our tools, we’ll send it to the correct escalation point for the company concerned.
The start of lockdown brought big changes for companies, and this made some companies very hard to reach.
If getting that refund feels like getting blood from a stone, it might be time to try the nuclear option – claiming through your bank or credit provider.
This should be a last resort, and isn’t necessarily a quick or easy process, so make sure you have exhausted all of the usual routes.
If you paid using a debit card, then your bank can try a chargeback. You will need to provide evidence that the company has not kept up their side of the bargain, and the bank will contact the company and try to reclaim your funds.
If you paid on credit card and the total value of the goods or services purchased was more than £100 and less than £30,000, then you may be able to make a Section 75 claim. This is where your credit card provider refunds you the full value of the goods or services and then pursues the provider to recover their funds. Once again, you will need to provide evidence of how the company has not stuck to the agreement made (such as the cancellation of a flight).
Section 75 is quite an old piece of legislation, so there are situations where it cannot be used, for example if you bought the goods through a price comparison site or third party online marketplace. You can find more details about Section 75 here.
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