Resources
Downloadable guides
We’ve put together these guides to help provide the basics and to get you thinking. Simply provide your email address and get the information sent to your inbox.
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is still one of those subjects that can have firms scratching their heads over whether a complaint falls in or out of jurisdiction under DISP.
There are so many different areas of jurisdiction that could mean a complaint is timebarred, or whether that person is an ‘eligible complainant’ or even whether it falls under DISP 2.8.2, better known as ‘6&3’, .
We’ll help you navigate some of these tricky issues with some basic principles.
Distress and Inconvenience
If ever there was an old chestnut of a subject this is it – Distress and Inconvenience. We all know the circumstances under which it should be paid, but how much?
It’s so subjective, because one person’s £100 is a King’s ransom, while for someone else its chump change.
That’s why we’ve pulled together some information here, to help you dip your toe in the subject.
Final Response Letters
There’s no getting away from this. We’ve seen some amazing investigations by firms, and can see that they’ve put their all into resolving this complaint, to then have our hearts sink when we see the Final Response Letter.
Putting it bluntly, if your Final Response Letter doesn’t convey empathy, your working out and have the right tone, it simply won’t land well with the customer, and might as well be blank for all the good it’s doing.
This quick guide covers the basics, including why you need to make the Final Response Letter work for you and what needs to be included.
Working with the ombudsman
It doesn’t matter what size business you are, working with the Ombudsman can bring challenges, especially if you’ve not had to be involved with it before.
So, it helps to know how you can work with the ombudsman, knowing a little bit more about its processes and how you can make best use of them.
Having both worked for the Ombudsman, our quick guide can give you some insight.
Engaging with the telephone
Technology has moved at a fair old pace since the phone was invented, but they’re still here and there’s a very good reason for that.
Despite all the different communications channels we have at our disposal, data still consistently shows that people want to jump on the phone when it comes to dealing with things that have gone wrong. Why? Because they need to know you're listening and you’ve heard them, when they most need your help.
This guide will help you understand why you need to encourage your staff to pick up the phone when dealing with a customer’s complaint.
Soft skills
Ah, remember soft skills? We can’t remember when exactly it happened, but at some point they fell out of fashion, and instead were replaced with words like empathy. But here’s the thing, soft skills remain one of the key skills to help someone go from being an OK complaints handler to a great one.
In this guide, we explain what soft skills are. We also explain how to use them for good and not for evil.
A senior leader overview
Everyone needs a complaints handling process that works from start to finish. It’s not just about a complaints handling sausage machine, it needs to work well for everyone involved – customers, staff, managers and senior leaders.
Why is it then, that something that looks amazing on paper, just doesn’t work in practice? What are the bits that are easy to miss? We share our thoughts here.
The manager's overview
Being a manager in a complaints handling function can often leave you feeling squeezed – caught between the needs of your team and those of your own manager. But, actually you’re the cement that holds it all together.
This quick guide is all about those skills you need as a manager, and the key bits of information that will give you the edge.
Mental health
It’s no coincidence that this is here. The FCA among other organisations are only too aware that complaints can stem from vulnerability and that can include mental health.
As it happens this is also a passion of ours, because Sarah is a qualified counsellor and Caroline is a vulnerability expert. So this guide covers the importance of looking after our mental health, our staff’s and our customer’s including vulnerability.