1. DEFINITIONS

1.1 – In this Complaints Policy the following expressions have the following meanings:

2. Purpose of this Complaints Policy

2.1 Green Retreats Ltd welcomes and encourages feedback of all kinds from our customers. If you have a Complaint about our goods and/or services, our customer service, or about our employees, not only do we want to resolve it to your satisfaction but we also want to learn from it in order to improve our business and customer experience in the future.

2.2 It is our policy to resolve Complaints quickly and fairly, where possible without recourse to formal investigations or external bodies. In particular, the aims of this Complaints Policy are:

2.2.1 To provide a clear and fair procedure for any customers who wish to make a Complaint about Green Retreats Ltd, our goods and/or services, our customer service, or about our employees;

2.2.2 To ensure that everyone working for or with Green Retreats Ltd knows how to handle Complaints made by our customers;

2.2.3 To ensure that all Complaints are handled equally and in a fair and timely fashion;

2.2.4 To ensure that important information is gathered from Complaints and used in the future to avoid such a situation arising again.

3. What this Complaints Policy Covers

3.1 This Complaints Policy applies to the sale of goods and/or the provision of services by Green Retreats Ltd, to our customer service and to our employees.

3.2 For the purposes of this Complaints Policy, any reference to Green Retreats Ltd also includes our employees.

3.3 Complaints may relate to any of our activities and may include (but not be limited to):

3.3.1 The quality of customer service you have received from us;

3.3.2 The behaviour and/or professional competence of our employees;

3.3.3 Delays, defects or other problems associated with the sale of goods by us;

3.3.4 Delays, defects, poor workmanship or other problems associated with the provision of services by us.

3.4 The following are not considered to be Complaints and should therefore be directed to the appropriate department:

3.4.1 General questions about our goods and/or services;

3.4.2 Matters concerning contractual or other legal disputes;

3.4.3 Formal requests for the disclosure of information, for example, under applicable legislation.

4. Making a Complaint

4.1 All Complaints, whether they concern our goods and/or services, our customer service, or our employees, should be made in one of the following ways:

4.1.1 In writing, addressed to Customer Care, Green Retreats, Hangar 4, Westcott Venture Park, Aylesbury, HP18 0XB;

4.1.2 By email, addressed to the Customer Care Team at customercare@greenretreats.co.uk;

4.1.3 By contacting us by telephone on 01296 653078.

4.2 When making a Complaint, you will be required to provide the following information in as much detail as is reasonably possible:

4.2.1 Your name, address, telephone number and email address (We will contact you using your preferred contact method as your Complaint is handled);

4.2.2 If you are making a Complaint on behalf of someone else, that person’s name and contact details as well as your own;

4.2.3 If you are making a Complaint about a particular transaction, the Sales Order number or Invoice reference number;

4.2.4 If you making a Complaint about a particular employee of ours, the name and, where appropriate, position of that employee;

4.2.5 Further details of your Complaint including, as appropriate, all times, dates, events, and people involved;

4.2.6 Details of any documents or other evidence you wish to rely on in support of your Complaint;

4.2.7 Details of what you would like Green Retreats Ltd to do to resolve your Complaint and to put things right. (Please note that whilst we will make every reasonable effort to accommodate such requests, we are not bound to take any action beyond that which we may be contractually or otherwise legally obliged to take.).

5. How We Handle Your Complaint

5.1 Green Retreats Ltd operates a three-stage complaints handling procedure. Following our Complaints Procedure, our aim is to always resolve Complaints to your satisfaction at Level One without further recourse to Level Two or Level Three.  If you are not satisfied at the end of Level One, you may escalate your Complaint to Level Two.  If you are not satisfied at the end of Level Two your Complaint may be escalated to Level Three at which point it will be handled by a Senior Member of the Management Team.

5.2 Level One:

5.2.1 Upon receipt of your Complaint, the Customer Care team identified above in Section 4.1 will log the Complaint in our complaints log and will acknowledge receipt of it in writing within 1 working day, giving you a Complaint Reference.

5.2.2 When we acknowledge receipt of your Complaint we will also provide details of your Level One Complaint Handler. This may be the Customer Care Advisor to whom your original Complaint was directed (as above) or your Complaint may be referred to another appropriate member of our team.

5.2.3 If your Complaint relates to a specific employee, that person will be informed of your Complaint and given a fair and reasonable opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the employee in question should take place only via the Level One Complaint Handler and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the employee in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.

5.2.4 If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Level One Complaint Handler will contact you as quickly as is reasonably possible to ask for it. We ask that you use reasonable efforts to supply any such information or evidence quickly in order to avoid delaying the complaints handling process.  If you are for any reason unable to provide such information or evidence we will use all reasonable efforts to proceed without it, however please be aware that we will not ask for further information or evidence unless we consider it important to the successful resolution of your Complaint.

5.2.5 We aim to resolve Level One Complaints within 5 working days, however in some cases, particularly if your Complaint is of a complex nature, this may not be possible. If this is not possible for any reason you will be informed of the delay, the likely length of the delay and the reasons for it.

5.2.6 At the conclusion of the Level One complaints procedure, regardless of the outcome, we will provide you with full details of our investigation, our conclusions from that investigation, and any action taken as a result. You will also be reminded of your right to appeal our decision and escalate the complaint to Level Two.

5.3 Level Two:

5.3.1 If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint at Level One, you may request that the Complaint be escalated to Level Two within 2 working days, where your Complaint will be handled by the supervisory level members of our team (typically, our Customer Care Supervisor or Manager).

5.3.2 Escalation requests, should be directed to your Level One Complaint Handler who will forward the request to an appropriate Level Two Complaint Handler. Receipt of escalation requests will be acknowledged in writing within 2 working days.  When we acknowledge receipt of your escalation request we will also provide details of your Level Two Complaint Handler.

5.3.3 If your Complaint relates to a specific employee, that person will be informed of your Level Two Complaint and given a further opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the employee in question should take place only via the Level Two Complaint Handler and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the employee in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.

5.3.4 If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Level Two Complaint Handler will contact you as quickly as is reasonably possible to ask for it. We ask that you use reasonable efforts to supply any such information or evidence to us quickly in order to avoid delaying the complaints handling process.  If you are for any reason unable to provide such information or evidence we will use all reasonable efforts to proceed without it, however please be aware that we will not ask for further information or evidence unless we consider it important to the successful resolution of your Complaint.

5.3.5 We aim to resolve Level Two Complaints within 10 working days, however in some cases, particularly if your Complaint is of a complex nature, this may not be possible. If this is not possible for any reason you will be informed of the delay, the likely length of the delay and the reasons for it.

5.3.6  At the conclusion of the Level Two complaints procedure, regardless of the outcome, we will provide you with full details of our investigation, our conclusions from that investigation, and any action taken as a result. You will also be reminded of your right to appeal our decision and escalate the complaint to Level Three.

6. Dispute Resolution

Green Retreats Ltd is a member of the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman scheme. If you remain unhappy with our final response, you may be entitled to refer your complaint to Dispute Resolution Ombudsman, and we are bound to follow any decision that they make. To find out more about the Ombudsman and how you might be able to use their dispute resolution service visit their website – https://www.disputeresolutionombudsman.org/ or telephone them on 0333 241 3209.

7. Confidentiality and Data Protection

7.1 All Complaints and information relating thereto are treated with the utmost confidence. Such information will only be shared with those employees of Green Retreats Ltd who need to know in order to handle your Complaint.

7.2 All personal information that we may collect (including, but not limited to, your name and address) will be collected, used and held in accordance with the provisions of UK data protection law (including but not limited to the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003) and your rights thereunder, as set out in our Privacy Notice available from our website.