Complaints procedure
In line with the Financial Conduct Authority rules regarding complaint handling, this document shows Pioneer’s Complaint Handling Procedure. It is available on our website (www.pioneerfinancialservices.co.uk) and is issued to any complainants in accordance with our regulatory obligations.
Definition
We define a complaint as any written or oral expression of dissatisfaction, concerning a service or activity relating to regulated financial services offered by Pioneer, whether justified or not.
How to make a complaint
Complaints may be made to Pioneer by the following means:
- By Telephone: 01276 855088
- By Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- In person to your personal Adviser
- In writing to our address below:
Pioneer Financial Services Ltd
Pioneer House
51 High Street
Chobham
Woking
GU24 8AF
Please provide us with your name, address, contact telephone number and account reference number together with full details of your complaint.
Our commitment to you
Following receipt of a complaint, we will ensure to respond to the complainant as soon as possible. A nominated individual within the firm will be responsible for ensuring that your complaint is recorded and handled promptly.
In circumstances where an immediate and final response is not possible, we will ensure to issue a reply within three working days.
If a final response cannot be issued within five working days (typically this may be because further details are required, or reports or information are awaited from third parties), an acknowledgement letter will be sent, indicating when a full response will be provided, along with the name of the person handling the complaint, together with this summary of our Complaint Handling Procedure.
A communication may be sent by email if the original complaint was received by email.
Within four weeks of the complaint, Pioneer will send the complainant either a final response or a further holding response, explaining why it is unable to provide a final response.
In the unlikely event that Pioneer cannot send a final response to the complainant within eight weeks of the complaint, it will provide a further holding response that stipulates the reasons for the further delay and indicates when it expects to provide a final response.
Pioneer will provide any complainant with fair compensation for any acts or omissions for which it is responsible and comply with any consequent offers of redress that the complainant accepts.
A complainant may also have the right to take their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if they are not satisfied by our final response. If so, we will send an explanatory leaflet about the Financial Ombudsman Service within eight weeks of receipt of the complaint or with our final response. The complainant may have a right of complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months from the date of the final response letter.
The Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted at:
The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR
Telephone: 0800 023 4567 and 0300 123 9123
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
All details of complaints will be held for five years from the date of receipt of the complaint. All complaints that fall within the scope of the Financial Conduct Authority complaint rules will be reported by Pioneer to the Financial Conduct Authority on a semi-annual basis. These will be broken down according to complaint category, generic product type, the number of complaints closed by the firm within four weeks and within eight weeks of receipt, and we will indicate the number of complaints that were outstanding at the end of the reporting period.
‘Next business day’ complaints
These new rules came into effect from 30th June 2016.
Pioneer’s Regulator the FCA believes that whilst a firm’s formal complaints handling process is appropriate for more complex complaints which may require escalation and involvement of other parties, the less formal approach currently applied for less serious complaints resolved by close of the next business day following receipt can be more beneficial for clients and firms.
The following rules have been added on 30 June 2016 to the current rules i.e.
- The time period for dealing with a complaint less formally will be extended from the end of the next business day following receipt to the close of three business days following receipt.
- For any complaints which the firm considers to be resolved by the end of three business days it will be required to send a written ‘summary resolution communication’ (e.g. by letter or email) to the client.
Amongst other things this written summary will:
1. Refer to the complaint and confirm that your firm considers the complaint to have been resolved
2. Make the client aware of their right to refer their complaint to the FOS if they remain dissatisfied
3. Confirm whether your firm has consented to waive the relevant time limits for referral to the FOS, by including prescribed wording
4. Provide the website address of the FOS
5. Refer to the availability of further information on the FOS’s website
This will not be the same as the ‘final response’ letter required for complaints which enter a firm’s formal complaints handling process.
This has also meant a change to current rules to allow clients to refer a complaint to the FOS immediately once your firm has resolved a complaint i.e. having received a ‘summary resolution communication’ or final response letter.
Should you require further clarification of our complaint handling procedure, please contact us using the details provided above.
