Complaints Procedure for WNS Assistance Limited

WNS Assistance Limited strive to provide a stress free, top quality service, however, there may be an instance where you feel that you have a cause for complaint. If this eventuality does occur, we are confident that our staff will do everything in their power to resolve the problem promptly and ensure that you receive a fair and impartial response to your complaint.

WNS Assistance believe that “Treating Customers Fairly” should be adopted as a cornerstone of customer service and practice, therefore minimising the occurrence of customer complaints.

If a complaint does arise, then we hope to adopt a fair system and try to resolve that complaint quickly, sympathetically and as efficiently as we can. Now some of the activities we undertake can be classed as ‘regulated activities’. Not many of our actions fall into this category, but some do. If the area you are complaining about, falls within a ‘regulated activity’ category, then not only must we abide by our own internal complaints handling rules, but we must also follow guidelines set down by the appropriate regulator.

To make things easier for customers to understand, we begin our complaints process with some basic procedures that will apply no matter what activity your complaint is about.

The basic complaints process

You can raise your complaint with us by telephone, e-mail (on complaints@wnsa.com), letter or in person. All we ask is that you clearly let us know how we can reply to your complaint, who is making the complaint and enough details about your complaint so that we can start dealing with it as soon as possible.

We will aim to acknowledge your complaint within 3 to 5 working days. That acknowledgement will advise you of what we intend to do next and who is dealing with the complaint.

Your complaint will be passed to someone internally to investigate who has received training in handling and investigating complaints. The person nominated to deal with your complaint, will not be anyone who you have named as the cause of your complaint.

We will endeavour to respond to the complainant within 21 days with a final response. Each complaint can be different and each requires investigation. If this 21 days is likely to change, we will let you know. Our final response will explain our decision and the investigations we undertook. If we are at fault, we will tell you what action we intend to put that fault right.

What differs if your complaint falls under a regulated area?

If your complaint refers to an activity regulated by the Claims Management Regulator then WNS Assistance limited operate as an agent of, and in the name of, WNS Global Services (UK) Limited. A decision will be made as to which company would be best suited to find a quick resolution to your complaint.

If the complaint refers to an activity regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority then we will deal with your complaint, even though we act as an Appointed Representative of WNS Global Services (UK) Limited.

For regulated area complaints there is a maximum time period of 8 weeks in which to provide you with a final response. If for any reason we have not completed our investigation by that time, then we would explain why that was.

If we fail to issue a final response by the 8 weeks’ time limit, then you may be able to take your complaint to the Ombudsman relevant to that regulated activity. We will give you their details further down in this web page.

If we provide you with our final response within the 8 week period and you are dissatisfied with that response, then you may be able to take your complaint to the Ombudsman relevant to that regulated activity.

So what are the regulated activities?

If during our service to you, we have carried out a regulated activity as a non-investment insurance intermediary then we have carried out those actions as a firm who is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority for non-investment insurance mediation. Insurance Intermediaries are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the ombudsman for that industry area is the Financial Services Ombudsman.

If part of our service to you was to refer you to a Solicitor because you had suffered a personal injury during the accident and wanted to claim for that injury, then that regulated activity is Regulated by the Claims Management Regulator in respect of regulated claims management activities. The ombudsman for that industry area is the Legal Ombudsman. If we were handling a claim under the legal expenses insurance, and as part of that process, referred you to a Solicitor, then that activity is likely to fall outside of the realm of the Legal Ombudsman.

How would I get in contact with the ombudsman?

Legal Ombudsman

Postal Address: PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

You will need to have sent your complaint to us first. We will either have taken longer than 8 weeks to send you our final response, or when we sent you our final response you were not satisfied with that response.

The Financial Ombudsman Service

Postal Address: Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR
Telephone: 020 7964 1000
Fax: 020 7964 1001
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

You must contact the Financial Ombudsman within 6 months of the date shown on our final response letter. If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.