Hopefully all your dealings with HL Partnership Limited and our Appointed Representatives will be positive
experiences. However, sometimes things go wrong and if that happens, we operate a structured Complaints
Procedure to ensure we get things back on track as quickly as possible.
This document is a summary of that procedure which is designed to ensure any complaints are dealt with in
a professional manner, are handled fairly, effectively and promptly, and are resolved at the earliest
possible opportunity.
Our commitment to you…
- 1. We will endeavour to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible and will work
within the following timescales:
- • Three Business Days – Once we receive your complaint, if we are able to resolve the matter by
close of business on the third working day following its receipt, we will simply do so and advise
you in writing with our Summary Resolution Communication.
- • Five Business Days – If we are not able to resolve the matter as above, we will write to you
within five business days acknowledging your complaint, confirming our understanding of the
situation, and providing you with the name of the individual handling the complaint.
- • Four Weeks – If we haven’t been able to resolve the complaint sooner, after four weeks we will
send you either our Final Response letter (please see below) or a progress report explaining why we
are not yet in a position to resolve the complaint.
- • Eight Weeks – If we still haven’t been able to resolve the case before hand, at eight weeks we
will send you either our Final Response letter (please see below) or an explanation why we are not
yet in a position to resolve the complaint, giving the reason for the delay and indicating when we
expect to be able to provide a final response.
- PLEASE NOTE: A business day is a Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm, excluding bank
holidays. When a complaint is received on a non-business day, or on a business day outside business
hours, we will treat the complaint as being received on the next business day.
- 2. We will ensure the person dealing with your complaint has the required skill,
knowledge and authority to respond to your complaint. Our staff are fully trained and we operate a
structured and robust complaints procedure to ensure all complaints are dealt with fairly.
- 3. We will ensure the letters we send are clear and explain things properly. When we
resolve a complaint you will either receive:
- • Summary Resolution Communication – Where we have been able to resolve a complaint within three
business days, we will issue a Summary Resolution Communication explaining that we believe the
complaint to be resolved. This will include details of how to escalate the case if you remain
dissatisfied.
- • Final Response Letter – Once we have completed an investigation, we will issue our Final Response
Letter to you. This will detail the complaint, explain our investigation, and confirm our findings.
The Final Response letter will either ‘Uphold’ your complaint or ‘Reject’ your complaint and explain
why. If there is any settlement or redress awarded, an explanation of how this was calculated will
also be included.
- • We will give you access to the Financial Ombudsman Service which is a free service set up by
Parliament to sort out individual complaints that consumers and financial businesses are not able to
resolve themselves.
If, once we have issued a Summary Resolution Communication or Final Response Letter (or after 8 weeks if
we have yet to issue a Summary Resolution or Final Response letter), you remain dissatisfied with the
outcome of our investigations, you may have the right to approach the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6
months of the date of the letter.
If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your
complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman
believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.
Details of how to get in touch with The Financial Ombudsman Service will be issued with our Summary
Resolution and Final Response letters along with a leaflet explaining how the service works. If you
require more information, the Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted as follows:
Address:
Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London E14 9SR
Telephone: 0300 123 9123
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Your commitment to us…
- Tell us what happened – We need to understand the situation as clearly as possible so we may ask you to
provide your side of the story or let us have documents and information which may help our
investigation. These can be provided by post, email, verbally or through any other means that you
prefer.
- Help us find the right solution – It is in everyone’s interests to get complaints settled amicably so if
there is a particular outcome you believe would be suitable, tell us and we will assess if this is
possible. We may not be able to resolve the case the way you would like but we can try. And if we can’t,
we will explain why it is not possible and offer an alternative solution.
- Respond to us as soon as you can – Hopefully we won’t need to come back to you too often but we may need
further information or clarity on certain points. If we do need more information, we simply ask you to
come back to us as soon as you can so that we can get things resolved quicker. If you can’t come back
straight away, that’s fine too – just let us know.
- Treat us with respect – Whilst it can be frustrating if something’s gone wrong, our job is to find out
what happened and where appropriate, put things right. Our staff will do everything we can to help so we
ask you give them the time to do their work and treat them with respect.
How to Complain
If you wish to register a complaint, you can do so by contacting our Complaints Department using the
following methods:
By post:
The Complaints Department
HL Partnership Limited
6 Merus Court
Meridian Business Park
Leicester
LE19 1RJ
By email: complaints@hlpartnership.co.uk
By telephone:
03300 552 651