Bringing a complaint to us about a claims management company (CMC) is straightforward and won’t cost you anything.
This page explains the stages of our complaint process, outlines the information you need to complete our forms and what to expect when we’re looking into your complaint. You can also find links to our online complaint forms.
What’s the process?
Our timeline below shows what should happen and when.
Talk to the CMC first
You should give the CMC a chance to sort things out before bringing your complaint to us.
Let them know what you’re unhappy about, and how you’d like them to put things right.
If you’re not sure how to do this, call us on 0800 023 4567 and we can help. The CMC needs to give you their final response within 8 weeks at the most, depending on what you’re complaining about.
If you’re still not happy, bring your complaint to us
If you’re not happy with the response you get from the CMC – or they don’t get back to you – you can ask us to get involved.
You need to get in touch with us within 6 months of the date of receiving the CMC’s final response to your complaint (though there are some exceptions to this rule – find out more about time limits affecting your complaint).
When you get in touch, we’ll need to know:
- some basic information, including your name and address
- what the problem is, and how you want things put right
- any relevant reference details that relate to your complaint
We’ll look into your complaint
Once we’ve checked your complaint is something we can help with, we’ll start to investigate.
When we look into your complaint we'll:
- ask the CMC for their side of the story
- weigh up the facts of what’s happened, fairly and impartially
We'll let you know what we think
Once we’ve got all the information we need, we’ll let you know what we think.
If we think there’s just been a misunderstanding – or you haven’t lost out – we’ll explain why. But if we decide you’ve been treated unfairly and have lost out because of this, we’ll tell the CMC to put things right.
If you want to take things further
If you or the CMC disagree with our initial assessment of your complaint, you (or the CMC) can ask for a final decision from one of our ombudsmen.
Our ombudsmen can look at things afresh, and have the power to make legally binding final decisions. If you don’t accept our final decision, we can’t take your complaint further – but you can still go to court instead.
Putting things right
If we decide the CMC has done something wrong, we’ll ask them to put things right.
We can do that in a number of ways – including asking the CMC to pay you compensation.
Make a complaint
You can make a complaint online or by calling our helpline, but we’re unable to speak to you in person at any of our offices or regional hubs.
Make a complaint online
You can make a complaint using one of our online complaint forms, including complaints about financial businesses, complaints about PPI or packaged bank accounts.
Call our helpline
You can make a complaint by calling our helpline. Our phones lines are open between 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday and 9am and 1pm on Saturday. At times, you might need to wait to speak to someone.
0800 023 4567
Make a general enquiry
Find out more about contacting us, if you have an enquiry about an ongoing complaint.