Support available to our customers
It is essential that you obtain support and assistance if you need it. The following organisations can provide advice and support:
StepChange
StepChange Debt Charity provides free advice to individuals needing assistance in managing debts and dealing with any issues or concerns about their cases. The organisation’s expert advisors can help on a range of matters.
Telephone: 0800 138 1111 (Freephone)
Citizens Advice
Free, independent and impartial advice can be obtained from your local Citizens Advice branch.
Our customer charter
Foreword
Marston undertakes a wide range of activities. They include acting as High Court Enforcement Officers, Certified Enforcement Agents and providing Litigation Services. These services are provided to solicitors, insolvency practitioners, surveyors, financial institutions, landlords and private clients.
We will:
Give consideration for customers in financial hardship.
We will give consideration to the circumstances of customers who are experiencing financial difficulties and treat them with forbearance. This means that we will not pressurise customers to:
- Make one single or very few repayments or in unreasonably large amounts, when to do so would have an adverse impact on their financial circumstances.
- Pay a debt within an unreasonably short period of time.
- Encourage customers to raise funds to repay debts by selling their property, borrowing money or increasing existing borrowing.
We will work with customers to reach a sustainable repayment arrangement wherever the remit from our client allows us to do this. We provide link to an Online Budgeting Tool (that can produce a Common Financial Statement to help form the basis of a discussion of repayment options) and signpost to free debt advice agencies for customers who need extra help to assess their finances.
We will always try to bring about the best outcome for customers. This may, in some cases, mean returning assets on finance or selling goods to reduce the customer’s liability under a finance agreement.
Encourage vulnerable customers to seek advice
The debt collection process can be a daunting experience, particularly for people suffering from mental health conditions or other vulnerability issues that make it difficult to understand the process or deal with the consequences of being in debt. We actively encourage customers to disclose any relevant mental health conditions or vulnerabilities to us and to consider appointing an authorised friend, family member or advice agency to work with us. Details of these advice sources can be found above.
Where there is evidence of vulnerability, we will make allowances for customers. This might include suspending activities to allow the customers to take advice.
Work with customers to resolve disputes
Where a customer disputes either that the debt is owed or that the amount claimed is incorrect, we will actively work to resolve the dispute and to clarify any uncertainty.
Deal with customers in a clear and reassuring manner
When contacting customers for the first time, we will ensure that they know:
- Who we are as a business and who they should deal with at Burlington;
- The name of the creditor we are representing;
- The reason for our contact and what action is required
We will do what we can to avoid confusion and provide customers with information to assist them with making decisions.
We will be mindful of the fact that customers may not have experience or competency in handling debt situations. We will not take advantage of customers who may lack knowledge of the debt collection process.
Contact customers at reasonable times and in a manner convenient to them
We will not contact customers at unreasonable times and will do our best to accommodate any special requirements that they may have regarding when and how we make contact. We will do our best to adopt contact methods that work best for customers, provided that they continue to deal with us using the agreed method.
Safeguard customer data and privacy
We will not disclose or threaten to disclose personal customer data to third parties, except as legally permitted and reasonably required in order to legitimately to pursue a debt. We will take steps to ensure that we keep debt matters confidential.
Treat customers with respect
We will treat customers with respect at all times to the extent that we expect to receive the same treatment in return. We will deal courteously and professionally with customers and will not discriminate unfairly on any grounds. We will listen and work to understand and appreciate individual customer circumstances.
Deal effectively and thoroughly with complaints
We will investigate all complaints and actively try to reduce complaint levels by analysing common causes and continual improvement. Wherever possible, we try to resolve complaints as soon as possible. Where a customer requires that a complaint is investigated further, we will carry out that investigation. Where we are at fault, we will attempt to reach a resolution that meets with the customer’s approval.
