Have a complaint?

Customer Complaints Procedure

If you are not completely happy with the services you have received from First Home Improvements, we would like to hear about this so we can investigate and seek to put things right.

Aims of this procedure:

• Make it easy for you to tell us what went wrong
• Give your complaint the attention it deserves
• Resolve your complaint fairly and without delay
• Make sure you are satisfied with how your complaint was handled

Step 1 – Raising a customer complaint

If you are not satisfied with any aspect of our products or service, please contact our Customer Services Team about your complaint in writing and address it to us in the following ways:

By Post to this address:
Customer Contact Centre
First Home Improvements (England) Ltd
Station Road
Lenwade
Norwich
NR9 5LY

Send Email to:
customerservices@firsthomeimprovements.co.uk

Telephone Assistance
If you wish to make a complaint, but cannot do so in writing (as required in our terms and conditions), please contact us on telephone 01603 872 707 for assistance to register your complaint with us via alternative means.

Step 2 – How your complaint will be handled

• All new customer complaints reported under this procedure, will be allocated to a dedicated Complaints Handler who will act as your main point of contact with the company whilst the company is actively investigating your complaint
• Where applicable, you will be asked what redress you are seeking and/ or to provide details of any reasonable expectations you have for resolving the matter at the earliest available opportunity
• Your dedicated Complaints Handler will help coordinate with any other teams who need to be involved in the resolution of your complaint to keep matters as simple as possible. They will also ensure you receive regular updates to explain what you can expect and when in respect to the handling of this company’s investigation of your complaint

Step 3 – How First Home Improvements will investigate and resolve your complaint

• Either your Complaints Handler will seek to investigate your complaint directly or they will engage on your behalf with the most applicable department manager within the company to commence with a suitable investigation into your complaint and, where applicable, to formulate a plan of action to resolve any accepted issues.
• It is likely that if your complaint relates to workmanship or product quality that First Home Improvements will need to arrange for one of its installation managers or service engineers to carry out an initial inspection to assess any issues before the company issues you with any plan of remedial action, which it will ask you to mutually accept or raise any concerns if you disagree.
• First Home Improvements will seek to resolve any issues identified and set out in any remedial plan as soon as reasonably possible and within the timescales agreed or set in your initial discussions with your dedicated Complaints Handler.
• First Home Improvements will seek to resolve any complaint raised as swiftly and effectively as possible. If possible, your Complaints Handler will seek to try and resolve your complaint straightway, but if this is not possible or the complaint is more complex, this company will seek to try to resolve matters within 8 weeks from when the date you raised your complaint.
• In rare circumstances, where a complaint has not been satisfactorily resolved within this 8-week period, First Home Improvements will respond in one of the following distinct ways:i. Write to you giving our reasons for any delay and to provide an explanation of when a final decision may be reasonably expectedOR

  ii. Issue its final response/ decision letter in response to your complaint

• Remember, your Complaints Handler will be in contact with you regularly during the above process so you are kept informed what is happening and so the company can consider any flexible adjustments or changes that may be applicable as the complaint progresses or if circumstances change.

Complaints relating to financial services (credit broking)

First Home Improvements act as a credit broker who deals with a panel of different lenders offering its customers finance agreements that can be used to purchase their orders placed with this company.

All complaints relating to how First Home Improvements has handled any issue relating to its credit broking activities, will be handled differently to the above procedure, and will instead be escalated directly to the Compliance Team to investigate and respond to, as applicable.

Where a complaint has been made jointly to this company and to the finance lender of your agreement, First Home Improvements will seek to either update you directly or via a coordinated response via the lender, to ensure you receive regular updates and communication regarding your finance related complaint.

First Home Improvements will ordinarily seek to resolve any complaint raised as swiftly and effectively as possible within a maximum period of 8 weeks from when the complaint is raised.

If this is not possible, for any reason or the matter is particularly complex, First Home Improvements will either:

i. Write to you giving our reasons for any delay and to provide an explanation of when a final decision may be reasonably expected
OR
ii. Issue its final response/ decision letter in response to your complaint

Further Options when we still cannot agree:

If we cannot agree a solution within 8 weeks and/ or First Home Improvements has issued its final written response to your complaint, you may be able to take either of the following further steps if you remain dissatisfied with the outcome.

Visit www.myglazing.com, the consumer website for the Glass & Glazing Federation, for further details of how-to make a complaint via their Conciliation Scheme.

OR

You may refer any complaint relating to our activities as a credit broker to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to ask them to investigate, but if you wish to do so, this must be within six months from the date of our final response letter. We will not give our permission to investigate any complaints referred after this time.

Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR
Telephone: 0800 0234567
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Further helpful information can be obtained from visiting their web site at: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk