Marston Recovery – Complaints policy

Introduction

Marston (Holdings) Limited and its subsidiary businesses (“The Organisation”), sometimes referred to herein as “we”, “our” or “us” undertakes enforcement activity for its clients and we view any individual who we deal with in the process of enforcement as our customer. This means that we have customer service obligations which we strive to uphold, ensuring customers receive the service they are entitled to expect. We are therefore committed to excellence in complaint resolution.

Our aims

We realise that contact from us or a visit from an Enforcement Agent can be an unusual, and sometimes difficult, situation for any person or family. We are keen to learn from your experience and will take all feedback seriously; we know we can always improve what we do.

We take all complaints or any expression of dissatisfaction very seriously. We will investigate in accordance with our procedure set out below and will aim to reach a resolution as quick as we can. We do our best to carry out our work fairly and effectively, however, we understand that there may be times when you feel unhappy about our service.

This policy lets you know what you can do if you’re unhappy with our service and explains our procedure and approach to the resolution of customer complaints. If we’ve got something wrong, please tell us so we can put things right, learn from it and improve our service. We ensure a consistent approach is applied through a transparent complaints process.

Our promise to you

Professionalism

We are committed to achieving the high standards expected of us, and that we expect of ourselves, so your feedback is valuable.

Accountability

We will take ownership and investigate your complaint thoroughly, keeping you informed about progress and putting right anything that’s gone wrong.

Respect

We will treat you as an individual, listen to you, remain impartial, and ensure we answer your concerns.

Transparency

We will explain the details of our investigation, how we reached our decision and what we will do to put things right.

Innovation

We will learn from your feedback and the lessons learnt to help us improve the customer experience.

Approach

We welcome your feedback if we have not met your expectations, or you are unhappy with our service in any way. If we’ve made a mistake, we will say sorry. Our customer contact team are happy to help if you wish to talk through any concerns, they are empowered to put things right, and to find resolutions for you.

If, for any reason, you remain unhappy, then your complaint will be passed to our customer resolution team who, in the first instance and where appropriate, will review your complaint informally to try and find a prompt resolution. If you remain unhappy, they will investigate your concerns formally in a fair and consistent manner and explain what happened and put things right as quickly as they can. If you’re still unhappy, we will signpost you to relevant trade associations and authorities who can review your complaint and the decision of Marston.

You can contact us through our customer app, by phone, email, post or by using our online form. The ‘contact us’ section on our website, explains how to get in touch with us.

This process does not apply to the collection of debts formed under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (amended 2006). The collection of such debts is subject to different regulations, including Financial Conduct Authority protections, and the right of customers to report complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details of how complaints relating to the collection of such debts can be found on our website.

Information that will help us

Please include the following information to help us understand and investigate your complaint:

• your full name and address, including postcode
• your contact number, or preferred method of contact
• what went wrong and why
• when it happened
• who you spoke to
• how you would like us to put it right
• copies of any documentation that confirms the information you’ve told us

Important: if you are writing to or calling us on someone else’s behalf, you will need to give us authorisation from the person to let us share confidential information about them.

What you can expect from us

Informal review and resolution

We will acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days.

We try to resolve complaint in full at this informal stage.

Your complaint will be allocated to a customer resolution officer, who will review your complaint and try to find a resolution. They may contact you if they need further information or clarification, or to discuss your complaint to ensure they fully understand the situation.

We aim to resolve your complaint informally within 5 working days. If, we’re unable to do this, the customer resolution officer will progress your complaint to the next stage.

Stage 1 – formal investigation and resolution

If you’re not happy with the outcome of the informal review or we have been unable to resolve your complaint within 5 working days, we will review your complaint formally at stage 1.

At the formal stage, one of our experienced customer resolution officers or a senior member of the team will thoroughly investigate the complaint itself, and (if appropriate) how it was handled at the informal review stage. They will not have been involved in the earlier investigation; this ensures that their review is objective.

They may contact you to discuss your complaint or to provide an update and will aim to respond to you within 20 working days with a final response, by phone or in writing.

Once the investigation is concluded, the customer resolution officer will explain their findings and decision to you; this will include the remaining options available to you.

Independent review

If you’re not happy with the outcome of the Stage 1 formal review, you still have the right to refer your complaint to the Enforcement Contact Board or the relevant Ombudsman.

If all or part of your complaint is about data protection it is outside the scope of this complaints process. This aspect of your complaint will be forwarded to our data privacy team to investigate, and they will write to you with a final response within one calendar month.

Enforcement Conduct Board:

ECB
10 Queen Street Place
London
EC4R 1BE
Telephone: 0844 893 3922
Email: contact@enforcementconductboard.org
ECB guidance to the standards on complaints: Click here

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO):

You can find more information about how to complaint on their website: Click here

Public Services Ombudsman (PSO) (Wales only):

You can find more information about how to complaint on their website: Click here

Support available to our customers

It is essential that you have access to support and assistance if you need it. The following organisations will be able to provide advice and support:

Citizens Advice Bureau:

Citizens Advice Bureau offers free, independent, confidential, and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities.

www.adviceguide.org.uk

England: 0345 404 0506 / 0344 411 1444

Wales: 0344 477 2020

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StepChange:

StepChange Debt Charity provides free advice to individuals who need assistance in managing their debt. Once referred our customers receive priority service.

www.stepchange.org

0808 138 1111

StepChange offers a 60 second debt test which helps determine if you need debt advice.

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Advice UK

AdviceUK is the UK’s largest network for free, independent advice centres.

www.adviceuk.org.uk/money-debt-advice

0300 777 0107 or 0300 777 0108

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National Debtline (free debt advice)

National Debtline provides free, confidential, and independent advice via the telephone or email. (Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm, and Saturday 9.30am to 1pm).

www.nationaldebtline.org

0808 808 4000

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MoneyHelper

MoneyHelper brings together the support and services of three government-backed financial guidance providers: the Money Advice Service, the Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise.

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk

0300 500 500