Farmhill Vets Complaint's Policy
1. Purpose of this Complaints Policy
1.1 Farmhill Veterinary Clinic welcomes and encourages feedback of all kinds from our customers. If you have a Complaint about our goods 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.
1.2 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:
1.2.1 To provide a clear and fair procedure for any customers who wish to make a Complaint about Farmhill Veterinary Clinic, our goods or services, our customer service, or about our employees, agents or subcontractors;
1.2.2 To ensure that everyone working for or with Farmhill Veterinary Clinic knows how to handle Complaints made by our customers;
1.2.3 To ensure that all Complaints are handled equally and in a fair and timely fashion;
1.2.4 To ensure that important information is gathered from Complaints and used in the future to avoid such a situation arising again.
2. What this Complaints Policy Covers
2.1 This Complaints Policy applies to the sale of goods or the provision of services] by Farmhill Veterinary Clinic, to our customer service and to our employees, agents or subcontractors.
2.2 For the purposes of this Complaints Policy, any reference to Farmhill Veterinary Clinic also includes our employees, agents or subcontractors.
2.3 Complaints may relate to any of our activities and may include (but not be limited to):
2.3.1 The quality of customer service you have received from Farmhill Veterinary Clinic;
2.3.2 The behaviour and/or professional competence of our employees, agents or subcontractors;
2.3.3 Delays, defects or other problems associated with the sale of goods by Farmhill Veterinary Clinic.
2.3.4 Delays, defects, poor workmanship or other problems associated with the provision of services by Farmhill Veterinary Clinic.
2.4 The following are not considered to be Complaints and should therefore be directed to the appropriate person:
2.4.1 General questions about our goods and or services;
2.4.2 Returns of damaged, faulty, incorrect or unwanted goods for exchange or refund in accordance with our terms and conditions where there is no further complaint;
2.4.3 Matters concerning contractual or other legal disputes;
2.4.4 Formal requests for the disclosure of information, for example, under applicable legislation;
3. Making a Complaint
3.1 All Complaints, whether they concern our goods and or services, our customer service, or our employees, agents or subcontractors, should be made in one of the following ways:
3.1.1 In writing, addressed to Joanna Davidson, Branch Manager, Farmhill Veterinary Clinic, 62-64 Larne Road, Carrickfergus, Co.Antrim BT38 7EF
3.1.2 By email, addressed to Joanna Davidson, Branch Manager at farmhillveterinaryclinic@yahoo.co.uk
3.1.3 Using our Complaints Form, following the instructions included with the form
3.1.4 By contacting us by telephone on 02893351455 or 02893351180
3.2 When making a Complaint, you will be required to provide the following information in as much detail as is reasonably possible:
3.2.1 Your name, address, telephone number and email address (We will contact you using your preferred contact method as your Complaint is handled);
3.2.2 If you are making a Complaint on behalf of someone else, that person’s name and contact details as well as your own;
3.2.3 If you are making a Complaint about a particular transaction, the invoice number;
3.2.4 If you are making a Complaint about a particular employee, agent or subcontractor of ours, the name and, where appropriate, position of that employee.
3.2.5 Further details of your Complaint including, as appropriate, all times, dates, events, and people involved;
3.2.6 Details of any documents or other evidence you wish to rely on in support of your Complaint;
3.2.7 Details of what you would like Farmhill Veterinary Clinic 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.)
How We Handle Your Complaint
3.3 Farmhill Veterinary Clinic operates a two-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. If you are not satisfied at the end of Level One, you may escalate your Complaint to Level Two. If you are still not satisfied at the end of Level Two, Complaints may progress to External Resolution as detailed below.
3.4 Level One:
3.4.1 Upon receipt of your Complaint, the Branch Manager identified above in Section 4.1 will log the Complaint in our complaints system and will acknowledge receipt of it in writing within 14 days.
3.4.2 If your Complaint relates to a specific employee, agent or subcontractor, that person will be informed of your Complaint and given a fair and reasonable opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the employee, agent or subcontractor in question should take place only via the Branch Manager and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the employee, agent or subcontractor in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.
3.4.3 If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Branch Manager 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.
3.4.4 We aim to resolve Level One Complaints within 30 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.
3.4.5 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 in the form of an Appeal.
3.5 Level Two:
3.5.1 If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint at Level One, you may appeal the decision within 60 days, and have the complaint escalated to Level Two. Appeals are handled by Rosalind Booth, owner of Farmhill Veterinary Clinic.
3.5.2 Appeals, should be directed to your original Complaint Handler who will forward the request to an appropriate Appeal Handler. Receipt of Appeals will be acknowledged in writing within 14 days. When we acknowledge receipt of your Appeal we will also provide details of your Appeal Handler.
3.5.3 If your Complaint relates to a specific employee, agent or subcontractor, that person will be informed of your Appeal and given a further opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the employee, agent or subcontractor in question should take place only via the Appeal Handler and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the employee, agent or subcontractor in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.
3.5.4 If we require any further information or evidence from you, the Appeal 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.
3.5.5 We aim to resolve Level Two Complaints within 30 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.
3.5.6 At the conclusion of the Level Two 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. Our decision at this stage is final , subject to your right to seek External Resolution of your Complaint.
3.5.7 As we are regulated by The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons you, as our customer, have the right to seek External Resolution of your Complaint from that organisation if you are not satisfied with the outcome of your Level Two Complaint.
3.6 External Resolution:
3.6.1 If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your Complaint at Level Two you may seek External Resolution of your Complaint from The RCVS. For details of complaint and conflict resolution mechanisms available from The RCVS, please contact them by post at The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, The Cursitor, 38 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1EN, by telephone on 02072222001, by email at advice@rcvs.org.uk, or via their website at www.animalowners.rcvs.org.uk
4. Confidentiality and Data Protection
4.1 All Complaints and information relating thereto are treated with the utmost confidence. Such information will only be shared with those employees ,agents or subcontractors of Farmhill Veterinary Clinic who need to know in order to handle your Complaint.
4.2 We may ask for your permission to use details of your Complaint (with your personal details removed) for internal training and quality improvement purposes. If you have given such permission, you may revoke it at any time by contacting Joanna Davidson, Branch Manager, whose details are provided above in Section 4.1.
4.3 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 reception.
4.4 This Complaints Policy is regularly reviewed and updated as required.
4.5 This Complaints Policy was adopted on 01st August 2023.
4.6 This Complaints Policy was last reviewed on 01st August 2023.