Complaints; Policy and Procedure
1. Our Aim
Canterbury Taxis is committed to providing a quality service and working in an open and accountable way that builds trust and respect. One of the ways in which we can continue to improve our service is by listening and responding to the views of our clients and stakeholders, and in particular by responding positively to complaints, and by putting mistakes right.
Therefore we aim to ensure that:
- making a compliment or complaint is as easy as possible
- we welcome compliments, feedback and suggestions
- we treat a complaint as a clear expression of dissatisfaction with our service which calls for the soonest possible response.
- we deal with it promptly, politely and, when appropriate, confidentially.
- we respond in the right way – for example, with an explanation, or an apology where we have got things wrong, or information on any action taken etc.
- we learn from complaints, use them to improve our service, and review annually our complaints policy and procedures.
We recognise that many concerns will be raised informally, and dealt with quickly.
Our aims are to:
- resolve informal concerns quickly.
- keep matters low-key.
- enable mediation between the complainant and the individual to whom the complaint has been referred.
This policy ensures that we welcome compliments and provide guidelines for dealing with complaints from members of the public about our services, facilities, staff and external self employed contractors.
2. Definitions
A compliment is an expression of satisfaction about the standard of service we provide.
A complaint is defined as any expression of dissatisfaction, however, it is expressed. This would include complaints expressed face to face, via a phone call, in writing, via email or any other method. All staff should have sufficient knowledge to be able to identify an “expression of dissatisfaction” even when the word “complain” or “complaint” is not used.
3. Purpose
We are always glad to hear from people who are satisfied with the services we offer. All compliments are recorded, acknowledged, and a copy is sent to the relevant service manager to provide feedback to the member of staff or service.
4. Complaints
The formal complaints procedure is intended to ensure that all complaints are handled fairly, consistently and wherever possible resolved to the complainant’s satisfaction.
Canterbury Taxis Ltd would need you to provide;
Your Name, Address & Telephone number
Date of incident
Booking reference number
Approximate time of incident
Complaint statement
What action would you like to be taken?
A time convenient for an appointment to discuss ?
5. Responsibilities
Canterbury Taxis Ltd. responsibility will be to:
- acknowledge the formal complaint in writing electronically or via post;
- respond within 5 working days;
- deal reasonably and sensitively with the complaint.
- Take action where appropriate.
A complainant’s responsibility is to:
- bring their complaint, in writing, to Canterbury Taxis Ltd attention, within 48 hours of the issue arising;
- raise concerns promptly and directly with a member of staff at Canterbury Taxis Ltd office 01227444444.
- explain the problem as clearly and as fully as possible, including any action taken to date following this provide written statement by email to accounts@canterburytaxis.com
- Allow Canterbury Taxis Ltd. a reasonable time 5 working days to deal with the matter and recognise that some circumstances may be beyond Canterbury Taxis Ltds’ control.
6. Confidentiality:
Except in exceptional circumstances, every attempt will be made to ensure that both the complainant and Canterbury Taxis Ltd. maintain confidentiality. However the circumstances giving rise to the complaint may be such that it may not be possible to maintain confidentiality (with each complaint judged on its own facts). Should this be the case, the situation will be explained to the complainant.
7. Complaints Procedure:
A Written record will be made by Canterbury Taxis Ltd. at each stage of the procedure.
Stage 1
In the first instance, Canterbury Taxis Ltd. must establish the seriousness of the complaint. An informal approach is appropriate when it can be achieved. But if concerns cannot be satisfactorily resolved informally, then the formal complaints procedure should be followed.
Stage 2
If the complaint cannot be resolved informally, the member of the public should be advised that a formal complaint may be made and the following procedure should be explained to them. It may sometimes be appropriate for a different member of staff, preferably a member of the Management Team, to make this explanation.
- A formal complaint must be made in writing. If in writing email to accounts@canterburytaxis.com should be used.
- In all cases, the complaint must be passed on to Canterbury Taxis Ltd. In the event of a complaint about the Canterbury Taxis Ltd. the complaint should be passed to the manager or office administrator.
- The Administrator or Manager, depending on the nature of the complaint, must acknowledge the complaint in writing within 5 working days of receiving it.
- One of the above will investigate the complaint. Any conclusions reached should be discussed any person involved and their Line Manager.
- The person making the complaint will receive a response based on the investigation within 5 working days of the complaint being received. If this is not possible then a letter must be sent explaining why.
Stage 3
- If the complainant is not satisfied with the above decision, then a review will be carried out by the Manager and a final response will be given within 5 working days.
- If the complainant remains unhappy with the final response, then Canterbury Taxis Ltd would issue a final decision notice which can be referred to the local authority for an independent assessment by business support.
- The email address for Canterbury City Council would be business.support@canterbury.gov.uk
Canterbury Taxis Ltd internal Steps for investigating Complaints
1) Record the complaint. When your company receives a complaint, it must be recorded appropriately in your complaints system. All complaints (phone calls, e-mails, hand-written comments from the comment box, etc.) should be recorded by the corresponding responsible person.
2) Analyze the complaint. All complaints should be analyzed initially in order to decide whether a quick resolution is possible or escalation is needed.
The complaints should be dealt with as soon as possible; however, a timeframe for quick resolution should be defined. If the complaint can’t be resolved in this timeframe, escalation of the complaint is required, and the customer should be informed that their complaint is being investigated.
Not all complaints can be resolved quickly to the satisfaction of both parties. The procedure should set criteria for when a complaint should be escalated. General cases when complaints are escalated for investigation are:
- when a quick resolution was tried, but the customer is still dissatisfied;
- in cases of some VIP customers;
- in cases of complex and/or sensitive complaints;
- when the complaint raises complex and/or high-risk issues, etc.
3) Resolve the complaint. There should be designated persons for dealing with complaints. The two most important things that this person should take into account are what does the customer want to achieve by complaining, and can he/she resolve the complaint or should someone else be involved?
4) Investigate the complaint. In cases when a complaint is escalated for further investigation, the decision making should be on a higher management level.
5) Close the complaint. The responsible person should communicate the resolution to the customer by their preferred method of contact and document the resolution in the system. The feedback to the complaint should address all aspects of the complaint and provide a detailed explanation of the proposed resolution.
If the customer doesn’t accept the resolution, the complaint should be re-opened and escalated for investigation.
If the customer still remains dissatisfied refer customer to external authority to look into and reconcile.
