Abacus’s Customer Complaint's Procedure

If you feel you need to complain about the company.

The Company takes pride in customer service and takes pains to ensure you understand the advice we give you, the actions we suggest and the fees we charge.

We aim to give you appropriate advice wherever possible and always do our best to deal with your affairs in a timely manner.

If you are concerned about any aspect of the service we provide, please talk to your personal debt adviser, who will do their best to explain things to you.

Part of our commitment to customer service is to have a complaints procedure, which you can use if you continue to be dissatisfied with any aspect of our service.

We want to deal with any complaint you may have fairly and quickly and, if you are dissatisfied with our treatment of your complaint, we will give you the information necessary to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service or relevant governing body. For complaints specific to PPI claims please see below.


How to complain

Whilst we will try to resolve any issues you have on the telephone, if you wish to make a formal complaint, you must set it out in writing. We suggest you contact us either by writing to:

Abacus (Complaints)
Nelson House
Park Road
Timperley
Cheshire
WA14 5BZ

Or by emailing complaints@abacusfinance.co.uk


What Abacus Will Do With Your Complaint

We will send you a written acknowledgement of your complaint by the end of the next business day.

We will aim to resolve your complaint, which will be reviewed by both a supervisor and a manager, as soon as we can. We will keep you informed of the progress of your complaint. If the complaint involves an organisation other than us, we will inform them too and ask them to deal with their part of the complaint by contacting you directly.

We will aim to resolve your complaint within eight weeks of first receiving it in writing. Only in exceptional circumstances will we not do so and we will inform you of those circumstances in writing. If you believe the delay is unnecessary, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service and we will give you the information necessary to do so.

If we uphold your complaint within eight weeks, we will send you a letter offering appropriate redress, which may vary from an apology to financial compensation.

In any circumstances, (other than if your complaint is resolved within the eight weeks following its receipt) the Company will send you a final response letter no later than eight weeks following the date that we get your complaint. If you disagree with this letter, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Our final response letter will tell you how to do this.

Abacus are members of the Debt Resolution Forum ("DRF"), a trade body whose members are committed to high standards. DRF has its own complaints procedure administered by an independent committee composed of experts from both inside and outside the debt industry. If you are not satisfied with our decision on your complaint you are welcome to have it considered by the DRF. For more information, please consult the DRF's website: http://www.debtresolutionforum.org.uk/complaints-procedure.php


Complaints relating to PPI Claims

  1. Complaints may be made in writing, by email, by telephone or in any other form in respect of a claims management service that we have provided and that is regulated under the Compensations Act 2006.
  2. We reserve the right to decline to consider a complaint that is made more than 6 months after you become aware of the cause of the complaint. There may be instances where we will waive this requirement, at our discretion. If we are prepared to consider a complaint that has been made outside the time limit, we will confirm this to you in writing.
  3. We will send you a written or electronic acknowledgment of a complaint within five business days of receipt, identifying the person who will be handling the complaint for the business. Wherever possible, that person will have been directly involved in the matter which is the subject of the complaint, and will have authority to settle the complaint.
  4. Within four weeks of receiving a complaint, we will send you either:
    a) a final response which adequately addresses the complaint; or
    b) a holding response, which explains why we are not yet in a position to resolve the complaint and indicates when we will make further contacts with you.
  5. Within eight weeks of receiving a complaint, we will send you either:
    a) a final response which adequately addresses the complaint; or
    b) a response which:
       (i) explains why we are still not in a position to make a final response, giving reasons for the further delay and indicating when we expect to be able to provide a final response, and
       (ii) informs you that you may refer the handling of the complaint to the Claims Management Regulator, if you are dissatisfied with the delay.
  6. Where we decide that a redress is appropriate, we will provide you with fair compensation for any acts or omissions for which we were responsible and will comply with any offers of redress which you accept. Appropriate redress will not always involve financial redress.
  7. If you are not satisfied with our response, or a complaint is not resolved after eight weeks, you may refer the complaint to:

    Claims Management Regulator
    50-60 High Street
    Burton on Trent
    Staffordshire
    DE14 9JS
    info@claimsregulation.gov.uk
    Tel: 0845 450 6858
  8. The Regulator can review the handling of the complaint and can give a direction on further handling of the complaint. However, he cannot determine a complaint or award compensation.