Skip to main content
background shape

Our complaints policy

What to do I do if I want to complain?

Contact Associates is committed to providing a high quality service and achieving the highest standards of conduct from its staff. We strive to provide all of our clients with the most appropriate and efficient solutions and deliver services in a timely and professional manner. One of the ways in which we can continue to improve our service is by listening and responding to the views of our clients.

  • Contact Associates Ltd recognises that complaints are an important part of customer feedback.
  • All complaints will be investigated fully and fairly in a professional and non-confrontational manner.
  • Complaints will be dealt with in confidence. The only exception to this is when others could be put at risk by matters referred to in the complaint.
  • If the complainant is not happy with the result of the response to the complaint, he or she has the right to complain to their funding body (e.g. Student Finance England)

How to make a complaint?

You can make a complaint in writing, by e-mail or by telephone. If you are writing or e-mailing your complaint, please provide your telephone number if a response by telephone would be convenient. If you are e-mailing, please state if a reply by e-mail is required and, if not, please provide a full postal address.

If your complaint is about Contact Associates, then there are three stages that you can go through to try and resolve the problem. If you need a sign language or community language interpreter, please let the person dealing with the complaint know; every reasonable effort will be made to provide it.

The three stages are:

STAGE ONE (INFORMAL)

Speak to the individual concerned or their line manager and try to resolve the complaint informally via email or telephone. The individual concerned is required to tell you their name and who their line manager is if you ask them. Complaints made about a needs assessor will be referred on to their team leader or regional manager; this will still form part of Stage One of the complaints process.

STAGE TWO (ESCALATING A COMPLAINT)

If you are not satisfied with the response you have received at Stage One, you should follow Stage Two as set out below:

  • Outline the details of your complaint by letter or email and send it to the Office Manager, Contact Associates Ltd, Suite D5B, First Floor, Victoria House, Victoria Street, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 3FA. Alternatively, you can email it to admin@contact-associates.co.uk.

Your complaint will be acknowledged by letter or email within two working days from the date it is received. The letter will contain the following information:

  • Name and work telephone number of the person who will investigate the complaint
  • The date the investigation will start
  • What support you can receive during the process of the complaint, for example, making information accessible.

You will receive a full response to your complaint within seven working days from the start of the investigation in writing from the person appointed to investigate the complaint. The response will include the following information:

  • Details of the investigation
  • A decision about whether the complaint was upheld or not
  • The reason for the decision
  • The redress, if appropriate, which will be offered to you, for example, an apology, additional help or direction to other sources of advice or support
  • Any other action that may be taken in light of the complaint
  • If it is not possible to provide a full answer to your complaint within seven working days, the letter will outline reasons for this and give a date by which a full answer can be expected. An example of this would be when a member of staff is on annual leave and is required for the investigation.

STAGE THREE (EXTERNAL APPEAL)

If the matter is still not resolved after Contact Associates has made its final decision, then the student may appeal to their funding body (i.e. Student Finance England/NHS Student Bursaries). Their funding body would expect the student to have followed all previous stages of the procedure above before they could consider the student’s appeal.

Details of their procedures can be found on their websites:

https://www.gov.uk/contact-student-finance-england

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-bursary-students/contact-us

Complaints about related organisations

The Centre works closely with a range of agencies, organisations and suppliers. If a client has a complaint regarding one of the suppliers that we have recommended, we would like to know about this. We will where necessary advise and advocate on behalf of clients in the resolution of the issue. If a client wants to complain about some other related organisation we are only able to advise them on whom to contact where we ourselves are aware of who that may be.