Format of complaints
You can make your complaint to Plan Insurance Brokers by any method including telephone, e-mail or post. By detailing your complaint or concerns in a letter you can help our complaint officer understand the issues you have experienced, however we may register and investigate a complaint even if you do not explicitly ask us to do so.
Investigation of complaints
Where a complaint is received we will investigate it immediately, and aim to provide a resolution by close of business on the third working day following after the complaint was received. Our Complaints Officer will endeavour to investigate your complaint fairly, consistently, and promptly to determine whether it should be upheld, and if so, what remedial action or redress may be appropriate.
Referring complaints to Third Party firms
We work with a number of partners who are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and in certain circumstances, your complaint may relate to one of these companies. In these instances, we will refer your complaint to the third party’s complaint department to investigate. Should the complaint relate to both Plan Insurance Brokers and one of our Partners, we will refer the matter to the third party and provide our own reply to your complaint.
The timescale for initially responding to complaints
We will acknowledge your complaint promptly within three working days from the day on which it was received, in writing (by text or by email). Should your complaint take longer to deal with, you will be kept informed of the progress of the investigation in writing which will include written details of our complaints handling procedures.
Final or other response within 8 weeks
We will either send a final response within 8 weeks or, at the end of that period, a response explaining that we are not in a position to make a final response, giving reasons for the delay and indicating when we expect to be able to provide a final response. This response will inform you whether you are entitled to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. If you are dissatisfied with the delay we will include details of how to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Final response
This will either:
- uphold the complaint and, where appropriate, offer redress or
- reject the complaint and give reasons for doing so.
The final response will advise you whether you may refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are not satisfied. It will include details of how to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Referring complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service
Should you still not be satisfied by our final response, you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman for its consideration. Where you wish to do so, you should do so within 6 months (from the date the final response was issued) as your complaint may otherwise be time-barred under the Ombudsman’s rules.
The Ombudsman can be contacted at the following address:
Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower,
Harbour Exchange Square,
London
E14 9SR
Phone: 0800 023 4567
