Complaints Policy

Complaints Policy

For the purposes of this policy where we refer to VAS this incorporates VPanel Limited trading as VAS.

Information About Us:

VAS’ registered / trading address is:

Riverside House, Unit 17, High Force Road, Riverside Park, Middlesbrough, TS2 1RH

1 Purpose of this Complaints Policy

1.1 VAS welcomes and encourages feedback of all kinds from our customers. If you have a Complaint about any of our services, customer service, or our employees and subcontractors, not only do we want to resolve it to your satisfaction, but we also want to learn from it in order to improve our business and customer experience in the future.

1.2 It is our policy to resolve Complaints quickly and fairly, where possible without recourse to formal investigations or external bodies. In particular, the aims of this Complaints Policy are:

1.2.1 To provide a clear and fair procedure for any customers who wish to make a Complaint.

1.2.2 To ensure that everyone working for or with us know how to handle Complaints made by our customers.

1.2.3 To ensure that all Complaints are handled equally and in a fair and timely fashion.

1.2.4 To ensure that important information is gathered from Complaints and used in the future to avoid such a situation arising again.

2 What this Complaints Policy Covers

2.1 This Complaints Policy applies to the sale of goods and the provision of services by VAS in respect of our customer services, employees, agents, and subcontractors.

2.2 This Policy DOES NOT apply to complaints regarding  any valuation services carried out by third party Valuation companies. In this instance, the complaint should be directed to the Valuation Company who will assess the complaint in accordance with their own complaints handling policy.

2.3For the purpose of this Complaints Policy, any reference to VAS, also includes our employees, agents, and subcontractors. It should be noted however that our contract is with the Lender and not the Applicant. Applicants are reminded of this when payment terms are sent to them.

2.4 The following are not considered to be Complaints and should therefore be directed to the appropriate person or department:

2.4.1 General questions about our goods and / or services.

2.4.2 Matters concerning contractual or other legal disputes.

2.4.3 Formal requests for the disclosure of information, for example, under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

3 Making a Complaint

3.1 All Complaints, whether they concern our services, customer service, or our employees and subcontractors should be made in one of the following ways:

3.1.1 In writing, addressed to Complaints Department.

VAS, Riverside House, Unit 17, High Force Road, Riverside Park, Middlesbrough, TS2 1RH
By email, addressed to VAS Complaints Department – vasmgt@vas-group.co.uk

3.1.2 By contacting us by telephone on 01642 262 217.

3.1.3 Using our ‘Contact Us’ form, following the instructions included within the form, providing as much detail under the ‘message’ section as you can.
All complaints will need to be accompanied by this form.

3.2 When making a Complaint, you will be required to provide the following information in as much detail as is reasonably possible:

3.2.1 Your name, address, telephone number and email address (We will contact you using your preferred contact method as your Complaint is handled);

3.2.2 If you are making a Complaint on behalf of someone else, that person’s name and contact details as well as your own.

3.2.3 If you are making a Complaint about a particular transaction, the job reference and or invoice.

3.2.4 If you are making a Complaint about a particular employee, agent or subcontractor, the name and, where appropriate, position.

3.2.5 Further details of your Complaint including, as appropriate, all times, dates, events, and people involved.

3.2.6 Details of any documents or other evidence you wish to rely on in support of your Complaint.

3.2.7 Details of what you would like VAS to do to resolve your Complaint and to put things right. (Please note that whilst we will make every reasonable effort to accommodate such requests, we are not bound to take any action beyond that which we may be contractually or otherwise legally obliged to take).

4. How We Handle Your Complaint

4.1 VAS has two-stage complaints handling procedure. Following our Complaints Procedure, our aim is to always resolve Complaints to your satisfaction at Level One without further recourse to Level Two.  If you are not satisfied at the end of Level One, you may escalate your Complaint to Level Two.

4.2 Level One:

4.2.1 Upon receipt of your Complaint, we will log the complaint and will acknowledge receipt of it in writing within 2 working days giving you a Complaint Reference.

4.2.2 When we acknowledge receipt of your Complaint, we will also provide details of your Complaint Handler.

4.2.3 If your Complaint relates to a specific employee, agent or subcontractor, that person will be informed of your Complaint and given a fair and reasonable opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the employee, agent or subcontractor in question should take place only via the Complaint Handler and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the employee, agent or subcontractor in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.

4.2.4 If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Complaint Handler will contact you as quickly as is reasonably possible to ask for it. We ask that you use reasonable efforts to supply any such information or evidence quickly in order to avoid delaying the complaints handling process.  If you are for any reason unable to provide such information or evidence, we will use all reasonable efforts to proceed without it, however please be aware that we will not ask for further information or evidence unless we consider it important to the successful resolution of your Complaint.

4.2.5 We aim to resolve Level One Complaints within 28 working days however in some cases, particularly if your Complaint is of a complex nature, this may not be possible. If this is not possible for any reason you will be informed of the delay, the likely length of the delay and the reasons for it.

4.2.6 At the conclusion of the Level One complaints procedure, regardless of the outcome, we will provide you with full details of our investigation, our conclusions from that investigation, and any action taken as a result. You will also be reminded of your right to appeal our decision and escalate the complaint to Level Two in the form of an Appeal.

4.3 Level Two:

4.3.1 If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint at Level One, you may appeal the decision within 7 working days, and have the complaint escalated to Level Two.

4.3.2 Appeals, quoting your original Complaint Reference, should be directed to vasmgt@vas-group.co.uk for VAS Panel. Receipt of Appeals will be acknowledged in writing within 2 working days.

4.3.3 If your Complaint relates to a specific employee, agent or subcontractor, that person will be informed of your Appeal and given a further opportunity to respond. Any communication between you should take place only via the Appeal Handler and we respectfully ask that you do not contact them.

4.3.4 If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Appeal Handler will contact you as quickly as is reasonably possible to ask for it. We ask that you use reasonable efforts to supply any such information or evidence to us quickly in order to avoid delaying the complaints handling process.  If you are for any reason unable to provide such information or evidence, we will use all reasonable efforts to proceed without it, however please be aware that we will not ask for further information or evidence unless we consider it important to the successful resolution of your Complaint.

4.3.5 We aim to resolve Level Two Complaints within 15 working days, however in some cases, particularly if your Complaint is of a complex nature, this may not be possible. If this is not possible for any reason you will be informed of the delay, the likely length of the delay and the reasons for it.

4.3.6 At the conclusion of the Level Two procedure, regardless of the outcome, we will provide you with full details of our investigation, our conclusions from that investigation, and any action taken as a result. Our decision at this stage is final, subject to your right to seek External Resolution of your Complaint.

4.4 External Resolution:

If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your Complaint at Level Two you may seek External Resolution of your Complaint from Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR).  For details of complaint and conflict resolution mechanisms available from CEDR, please contact them by post at The International Dispute Resolution Centre, 70 Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 1EU, by telephone on 020 7536 6000, by email at info@cedr-solve.com, or via their website at www.cedr-solve.com

5 Confidentiality and Data Protection

5.1 All Complaints and information relating thereto are treated with the utmost confidence. Such information will only be shared with those employees’ agents, subcontractors of VAS who need to know in order to handle your Complaint.

5.2 We may ask for your permission to use details of your Complaint (with your personal details removed) for internal training and quality improvement purposes. If you have given such permission, you may revoke it at any time by contacting us, using details are provided above in Section 3.1.2.

5.3 All personal information that we may collect (including, but not limited to, your name and address) will be collected, used and held in line with the GDPR Regulation.

6 Questions and Further Information

If you have any questions or require further information about any aspect of this Complaints Policy or about our Complaints Procedure, please contact us using the details provided in section 3.1

7 Policy Responsibility and Review

7.1 This Complaints Policy is regularly reviewed and updated as required.