Complaints Policy

As a company BCR strives for excellence in everything we do. Occasionally we will fall short of the high expectations our customers have for us. When this happens, we want to know. This is to allow us to consider what has happened and have an opportunity to rectify any mistakes we may have made. A thorough and transparent complaints procedure helps us to do this.

The company complaints policy covers all types of complaint, to ensure that all complaints are treated with due consideration, fairness and equability. It covers all services and products which we deliver directly, or are delivered by third parties on our behalf; and also the behaviour and conduct of the companies employees.

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) complaints

This privacy policy ensures BCR:

If you wish to complain to the company about how your personal information has been processed; your (GDPR) complaint has been handled, or appeal against any decision made following a complaint you can do so by contacting the BCR Data Protection Officer via email: dpo@bangorcash.co.uk or by post: DPO, Bangor Cash Register Company Limited, Llandegai Industrial Estate, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 4YH.

The complaints procedure for handling and escalation of these complaints is as follows:

  Complaints regarding how your personal information has been processed should be submitted in writing to the BCR Data Protection Officer, who will acknowledge receipt within 3 working days.
The Data Protection Office will review and respond in writing, to your complaint within 28 working days of receipt of the complaint. If an extension is required, this will be with the agreement of both parties and up to a maximum of a further 10 working days.
If you are dissatisfied with the way in which your complaint has been handled then you may write outlining your concerns to the board of Directors and a member will review your concerns responding within 28 working days.
If you remain dissatisfied you may forward your complaint to:
            Information Commissioners Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

    

Procedure:

The companies complaints procedure has three stages of escalation:

  Informal Complaints – with resolution by a staff member.
Formal Complaint – with resolution by the Data Protection Officer.
Escalation to the Board of Directors.

All complaints should go through stages 1 or 2 before they proceed further. From this point the complaint may then be escalated.

Informal Complaint

  Complainant makes a verbal complaint to the company employee.
The employee hears the complaint, agrees resolution and implements solution.
 Complainant confirms that they are satisfied with the resolution.

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, contact phone numbers, email address and other relevant information we may need to offer the services we do.

Time frame: Between 1 day and, at least, 21 working days after submission of complaint.

Method: email of written complaint submission; written response

Escalation to the Board of Directors

  Complainant confirms that they are not content with the proposed course of action, explanation or resolution.
Receipt of the escalated complaint is acknowledged within 1 working day.
The Board is advised by the Data Protection Officer of the complaint.
Within 5 working days, the complainant is advised of when the Board will be considering the complaint, which will be no more than 4 working weeks from the date of the acknowledgement of the escalated complaint, and is invited to make a verbal or written submission to the Board.
Should the board decide to seek advice from additional independent parties, the Data Protection Officer will administer all arrangements and be the minute taker for any meetings/discussions.
If attending the meeting in person, the complainant may be accompanied by an independent person for the purpose of support.
The Board will then proceed to review of the substance of the case and its handling.
The complainant will receive response from the Company within 10 working days after the Boards consideration.
The Boards decision is final.

Time frame: Between 1 working day and, at the latest, 36 working days after submission of complaint.

Method: Written response from the Board of Directors.

Formal Complaint Submission

  Complaint is received either in writing or by email.
Complaint is, logged and passed to the Data Protection Officer.
Receipt of the complaint is acknowledged within 1 working day.
Investigation of the complaint will then proceed.
Complainant will receive a response from the Data Protection Officer within 10 working days.
Complainant has 10 working days, after the response has been issued, in which to respond; after which it will be assumed that the complaint is resolved.

Time frame: Immediate to within 2 working days

General Complaints Procedure

If you are unhappy about any of the services we provide, or any representative of the company, it is important that you tell you tell us as soon as possible so that we can deal with problem you have raised quickly and effectively. Feedback really does help us to improve the quality of our work.

As a first step, we suggest that you contact the member of staff concerned to see if the problem can be resolved to your satisfaction. BCR staff will do everything they can to put things right, including reviewing procedures to stop problems happening again.

If you are not happy with the response, or if you do not know which member of staff to contact, pleasefollow the steps outlined:

All complaints should be made to the General Manager or a designated person in his/her absence in writing by email to: hayley@bangorcash.co.uk or by post to Hayley Ward, General Manager, Bangor Cash Register Company Limited, Llandegai Industrial Estate, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 4YH. This will be acknowledged within three working days.
The General Manager will investigate the issues raised and let you have BCR's response to the complaint within 10 working days.
Notify you of any changes to our services.
If you do not feel that the General Manager's response is acceptable, you have the right to request that your complaint be referred to the Board of Directors. You will be advised as to when the Board will be meeting and an invitation to attend will be sent to you. You may also bring someone with you if you wish for personal support.
You will be notified of the Boards decision within 5 working days of this meeting.
BCR employees are entitled to raise any issue in relation to the management and administration of the organisation at the Annual General Meeting which is usually held in December.

Anonymous Complaints

Complaints submitted anonymously will be considered if there is enough information in the complaint to enable the company to make further enquiries. If however, an anonymous complaint does not provide enough information to enable us to take further action, we may decide not to pursue it further. However, the company may give consideration to the issues raised, and will record the complaint so that corrective action can be taken as appropriate.

Any decision not to pursue an anonymous complaint must be authorised by the General Manager in consultation with the Board of Directors. If an anonymous complaint contains serious allegations, it should be referred immediately to the Board.

Abusive, persistent or vexatious correspondence and complaints.

It is important to note that for this complaints purpose, it is the complaint which must be vexatious and not the individual making the complaint.

It is important to distinguish between people who make a number of complaints because they really think things have gone wrong, and people who are simply being difficult. It must be recognised that complainants may sometimes act out of character at times of anxiety or distress and reasonable allowances should be made for this.

Features of the types of complaint and behaviour that this policy covers can include the following (the list is not exhaustive, nor does one single feature on its own necessarily imply that the person will be considered as being in this category)

  Persisting in a complaint after being advised that there is insufficient or no grounds for their complaint or that the company is not the appropriate authority.
Refusing to co-operate with the complaints process, without good reason, whilst still wanting their complaint to be resolved, including failure or refusal to specify the grounds of a complaint despite offers of assistance, changing the basis of the complaint as inquiries are made and introducing trivial or irrelevant new information and expecting this to be taken into account and commented on.
Submitting repeat complaints, after the complaints procedure has been completed, essentially about the same issues, with additions/variations which the complainant then insists on being treated as new complaint and put through the full complaints procedure again.
Refusing to accept the outcome of the complaints procedure after its conclusion, repeatedly arguing the point, complaining about the outcome, and/or denying that an adequate response has been given.
Harassing or verbally abusing or otherwise seeking to intimidate staff dealing with the complaint or correspondence, by using foul or inappropriate language, by the use of offensive and racist language and/or making what would appear to be groundless complaints about those staff.
Making an unreasonable number of contacts to the company, by any means, in relation to a specific complaint or correspondence including making persistent and unreasonable demands or expectations of staff and/or the procedure after the unreasonableness has been explained (such as insistence on immediate responses to numerous, frequent and/or complex letters, telephone calls or emails)
Recording meetings and conversation without prior knowledge and consent of the other person involved.

Imposing restrictions

The company will firstly ensure that the correspondence and/or complaints are being, or have been, investigated properly according to the appropriate procedure. The company recognise that failing to deal with an issue promptly or properly can lead people to behave in ways we might otherwise characterise as vexatious.

If a decision has been taken to record the complaint formally, the company then has to decide on the next steps. This is the point the company may consider whether a complaint is vexatious, persistent, repetitive or otherwise an abuse of process.

Prior to any decision to treat a complaint or correspondence as vexatious etc. the relevant member of staff will issue a warning to the complainant. The complainant will be contacted either by telephone, in writing or by email to explain why this behaviour is causing concern, and ask them to change this behaviour. They will also be warned of the actions that may be taken if the behaviour does not change.

If the behaviour continues, the General Manager (in consultation with the Board) will decide whether to limit contact from the individual and to what extent. Any restriction that is imposed on contact with the company will be appropriate and proportionate, and may be subject to review. The kinds of restriction which may be imposed:

  Limiting contact to a specific mailbox or one named member of staff.
Refusing to accept phone calls.
Only accepting telephone contact though a third party for example via a solicitor/friend acting on their behalf.
Indicating that correspondence will not be responded to unless substantially new matters are raised (this implies that all incoming correspondence will be read).
Blocking the individual's email address/telephone number so that it is not received by the company (this should only be done in extreme cases after all other avenues have been tried).

When the decision has been taken to apply this policy, the individual will be written to with reasons for the decision and what action the company is taking.

In the rare case where behaviour is considered so extreme or it threatens the immediate safety and welfare of the companies employees, the company may consider other options and the matter may then be referred on to the police.

Record Keeping

Adequate records will be kept by the General Manager of the details of the complaint and the action that has been taken, and retain a record of:

  The name and address of each individual who has made a complaint.
How the complaint has been dealt with.
If any restrictions have been imposed.
When the individual members of staff were advised of a complaint.

Document Owner and Approval

The Data Protection Officer / General Manager is the owner of this document and is responsible for ensuring that this policy is reviewed on an annual basis.

The document was approved by the Board of Directors on 19th April 2018 and issued to all company employees on 23rd April 2018.

It will also be made available on request to the General Manager by any of the companies customers or third party representatives.

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