Our Complaints Procedure
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about our business, our Investment Partners, Associates, or anyone acting on our behalf.
Complaints can be received by telephone, by email or in writing.
Policies
Our complaints policies are to:
- Provide a fair clear and easy to use procedure for anyone wishing to make a complaint.
- Publicise the existence of our procedure so that people know how to contact us to make a complaint.
- Ensure everyone at K2 Business Partners knows what to do if a complaint is received.
- Ensure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely way.
- Ensure wherever possible complaints are resolved and that relationships are repaired.
- Handle all complaint information sensitively, communicating details only to those who need to know or be involved in resolving a complaint, and following any relevant data protection requirements.
- Use complaints to gather information to help us to improve.
Procedure
The person who receives a complaint should:
- Record the complaint – take down:
- The details of the complaint.
- The contact details of the complainant.
- The complainant’s relationship to K2 Business Partners.
- Inform the complainant – tell the complainant:
- That we have a complaints procedure.
- What will happen next and how long it will take.
Where appropriate, the complainant should be asked to send a written account by post or by email so that we record the complaint in the complainant’s own words.
Resolving Complaints
We operate a three stage complaints procedure
1 Resolution
Any complaint will be formally acknowledged and entered onto our complaints within 2 working days.
The acknowledgement will:
- Confirm who is dealing with the complaint.
- Propose a date within 5 working days for a meeting to seek to resolve the complaint, or state when the complainant can expect a reply and/or a proposed meeting date.
- Be accompanied by a copy of our complaints procedure.
The person dealing with the complaint:
- Will generally be the person responsible for the issue being complained about unless this is inappropriate for any reason.
- In which case responsibility will move to an Investment Partner.
If the complaint is not resolved within 5 working days of acknowledgement, responsibility will in any event move to an Investment Partner.
Within 2 days of any meeting we will write to the complainant to confirm the contents of the meeting and any resolution agreed.
If the complainant does not want a meeting or it is not possible, within 10 working days we will send
- a detailed reply to the complaint which will include a proposal for resolving the matter,
- or a timetable for completion of any further investigation which is required prior to issuing a detailed reply including a proposal for resolving the matter.
2 Escalation
If a complainant feels their complaint been not satisfactorily resolved by the issue of the detailed reply and proposal for resolving the matter, they can request that the complaint is escalated for review by the Senior Investment Partner.
The request for review will be acknowledged within 2 business days of receipt stating who will deal with the case and when the complainant can expect a reply.
Escalated complaints will receive a definitive reply within 10 working days.
If this is not possible because for example, an investigation has not been fully completed, a progress report will be sent with an indication of when a full reply will be given.
The decision taken at this stage is final.
3 Continuous Improvement
We will monitor and review the level of complaints received, if any, and the effectiveness of our complaints procedures by way of metrics of complaints resolved at stages 1 and 2.
Each complaint received will be reviewed by the directors at the time of resolution to ensure any immediate improve actions required ae carried out.
Complaints are reviewed annually to identify any trends which may indicate a need to take further action.