Complaints Procedure for Customers
Customers are the heart of our company’s culture and the key to our reputation and success. We aim to give you a trouble-free and great level of service and whilst we will always do our absolute best to achieve this, we know that sometimes things go wrong. If this happens, we want to do everything that we can to put this right and to prevent it happening again. That is why we take every complaint very seriously and will deal with any issue quickly, effectively and in a positive manner.
What to do if you are not happy
Please let us know as soon as possible, so that can get straight on to it. The quickest way to do this is by
Calling: 01298 383030
Emailing: hello@harmoto.co.uk
Or you can write to us at: Harmoto Vehicle Leasing Limited, Unit 20 Tongue Lane Industrial Estate, Dew Pond Lane, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 7LF
What happens next? – The condensed version
We want happy Customers, so we will do our absolute best to try and resolve the issue by the end of the next working day. If we cannot, we will send you a formal acknowledgement within 5 days and start looking into the problem for you. We may need to ask you some questions to help their investigation and we would ask that you respond to them promptly. If your dissatisfaction is with a third party, for example it is about your vehicle or finance provider, we will need to forward it to them. If it is about our service, you will get a written response from us within 8 weeks of your initial contact with us, with information about our investigation and decision as to whether we are upholding or rejecting your complaint. This is called a ‘Final Response Letter’. If you are still not happy, or if you have not received a Final Response Letter within 8 weeks, you may be able to ask the Financial Ombudsman Service or the BVRLA to review your complaint. The exception is for complaints about Discretionary Commission Arrangements, and we ask you to read the separate section in the extended version below.
What happens next? – The extended version
We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We adhere to the FCA’s complaint handling rules and whilst their rules apply to consumers, it is our policy to treat all complainants the same.
Dissatisfaction with your vehicle, finance provider or other third party
If you are not happy with your vehicle, your finance provider or another third party, this should be taken up with them directly. We will either let you have information about how to reach them or we will forward your complaint to them on your behalf. We will let you know by sending you what is known as a ‘Forward Letter’.
Dissatisfaction with us
We record our complaints on a Complaints Register and we will always try to establish the root cause so that we can make any necessary changes to prevent this happening again. We want happy Customers, so we will do our absolute best to try and resolve the issue by the end of the next working day.
If we can make you happy within 3 days
If we can make you happy by resolving the issue within 3 days, we will contact you in the same way as you have contacted us or in another way if that suits you better. We will also send you, usually by email or in the post if that is what you would prefer, what is known as ‘Summary Resolution Communication’. This will contain information about how we’ve resolved your complaint to your satisfaction and will let you know that if you change your mind about the resolution that you may be able to refer the complaint back to us for further consideration or alternatively, if you’re a consumer, refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service and provide you with their details.
If we need a little longer than 3 days
If we think we will need a little longer than 3 days, we will respond to you within 5 days, usually by email, to let you know that they have received your complaint and provide you with a copy of our Complaints Handling Procedure. They will let you know who is looking into your complaint and as part of their investigation, they will speak to anyone who you have had dealings with, listen to phone calls and review emails, review notes and documents on our systems and they may also ask you for some more information. You can be assured that all evidence is reviewed carefully, fairly and with an open mind!
If the investigation takes longer than 4 weeks to complete, we will contact you to let you know how the investigation is progressing and try to give you an idea of when this will be completed. They will let you have the findings within 8 weeks, and this will either be an ‘Offer Letter’ or a ‘Final Response Letter’ depending on the circumstances of your complaint.
Final Response
When we have finished the investigation, we will write to you with the findings. Giving you as much information as we can from the investigation to
support the decision and whilst they will not always agree with a complaint, by being transparent, you will be able to see how and why we reached the decision. We will also let you know what you can do if you do not agree with the decision. This is also explained below.
Offer Letter
If following the investigation, we agree with your complaint and think that we need to offer you some redress, we will send you an ‘Offer Letter’. This will give you information from their investigation and if we are offering monetary redress, it will explain how they have calculated this. If this makes you happy, you will need to accept the offer and you will then receive a ‘Final Response Letter’ as confirmation.
We will consider a complaint to be closed once the ‘Final response Letter’ has been issued.
If you are not happy with our decision
If you are not happy with our response, you may be able to ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to investigate your complaint. You must do this within 6 months of the date of our ‘Final Response Letter’. You can find out more and check if you are an eligible complainant by looking on their website www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk or calling 0800 023 4567. If you want to make a complaint to them you should download the complaint form from their website and email it to complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk or post to The Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9SR.
Alternatively, as we are a member of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), who are approved by Government as a Consumer ADR body under the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015, you can refer the matter to them. They offer a prompt and free Conciliation Service for members and details of this can be found on their website at: www.bvrla.co.uk/advice/guidance/using-bvrlas-conciliation-service. You can contact them by either emailing complaint@bvrla.co.uk or writing to British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, River Lodge, Badminton Court, Amersham, HP7 0DD
Discretionary Commission Arrangements
In January 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority banned discretionary commission arrangements on vehicle finance purchase agreements such as Hire Purchase, Lease Purchase and Personal Contract Purchase. Under the discretionary commission arrangement, motor dealers and brokers, like ourselves, were able to increase interest rates to earn commission which in turn impacted the cost to customers for their finance agreements. Due to an increase in complaints from customers who claimed that they were mis-sold and not aware of the existence of commission, on 11 January 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority announced that it was undertaking a review of historic motor finance commission arrangements. They expect to announce their findings on 24 September 2024. Because of this, the Financial Conduct Authority have announced an extension to the usual 8 weeks’ that we must issue a Final Response to a complaint if it is about discretionary commission arrangements if we were or are contacted between 17 November 2023 and 25 September 2024. Rest assured that during this time we will be carrying out an investigation and if appropriate, we will make an assessment and let you know our decision with a Final Response letter. The period of time to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service from receipt of our Final Response from 6 months to 15 months if you received this after 12 July 2023 and before 20 November 2024. If you have questions about Discretionary Commission Arrangements, please contact us.
Finally
We always look to improve the level of service that we provide you with and a complaint may highlight an area that we can do better. Whilst no-one likes to receive complaints, we will always thank you for bringing something to our attention as your happiness is what makes us happy.