Complaints handling procedures
Our aim is to provide you, at all times, with a first class standard of service. However there may be occasions when you feel that this objective has not been achieved. If for any reason you are not entirely satisfied with the service provided, then we would appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention. We take all complaints seriously and details on this page explain how any complaints received will be dealt with by us.
Please note: If your complaint is regarding Armstrong Watson Financial Planning and Wealth Management services please scroll further down the page for our specific procedures relating to financial planning services.
Complaints relating to Armstrong Watson LLP
We take all complaints seriously and will deal with your complaint in the following manner;
- We will acknowledge your complaint promptly following receipt enclosing a copy of these procedures.
- If you make an oral complaint, our written acknowledgement will set out our understanding of your complaint.
- We will ensure that you are regularly kept informed of our progress with regards to the investigation into your complaint.
- We will endeavour to send you our Final Decision Letter; addressing your concerns and providing you with our decision within 8 weeks or keep you informed of the progress of your complaint if not resolved before then.
- Where we are unable to provide you with our Final Decision Letter, we will send you confirmation of this in writing along with an explanation as to why we have been unable to complete our investigations within this time scale. We will confirm when you can next expect contact from us.
- We will continue to investigate the complaint until we are in a position to send you our Final Decision Letter
- Once you have received our Final Decision Letter, if you are unhappy with our handling of your complaint; you can refer the matter to the ICAEW.
We shall deem the matter closed when;
- Our investigation has been completed and a Final Decision Letter has been sent to you, or;
- Where you have indicated, in writing, acceptance of any earlier response, where appropriate.
We try our best to ensure that every client is happy but in the unlikely event that you wish to complain, we’d like to hear about it.
You can write to us at:
Ruth Grears
Executive Assistant to Chief Executive
Armstrong Watson LLPArmstrong Watson LLP
James Watson House
Rosehill
Carlisle
CA1 2UU
By Telephone: 01228 690 100
By e-mail: Customerservice@armstrongwatson.co.uk
Complaints relating to Armstrong Watson Financial Planning and Wealth Management
The following relates specifically to Armstrong Watson Financial Planning and Wealth Management services only. Please see above for complaints procedure relating to all other services.
How to make a Complaint
We are happy to accept complaints via a means that is most convenient to you. This may be direct to your adviser our alternatively you may wish to raise your concerns with our Management Team, who are ultimately responsible for handling complaints. If you wish to raise you concerns with the Management Team, then you can contact them in the following ways:
In writing:
You can write to us at:
Ruth Grears
Executive Assistant to Chief Executive
Armstrong Watson Financial Planning Ltd
James Watson House
Rosehill
Carlisle
CA1 2UU
By Telephone: 01228 690 100
By e-mail: Customerservice@armstrongwatson.co.uk
Investigating Your Complaint
On receipt of your complaint a full review of the circumstances surrounding your concerns will be undertaken by staff who are independent and experienced in dealing with such matters. We will always endeavour to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.
It should be noted that most complaints we deal with fall within the FCA Disputes Resolution rules, although where this is not the case (unregulated) we will confirm this to you and detail any associated implications.
Where it is possible to resolve your complaint within three working days, we will write confirming receipt of your complaint and outline details on its resolution. While we will have already sought your agreement to the resolution, the purpose of this letter is to ensure you are satisfied with the outcome.
Where we are unable to resolve your complaint within the three working days, we will write to acknowledge your complaint. This will also provide contact details of who is dealing with your complaint, how to contact them and details of how your complaint has been categorised.
Resolving your Complaint
Following our investigation, we will send you our final response letter which outlines details on our investigation and the conclusions drawn.
If we have been unable to resolve your complaint within 8 weeks, we will write to you giving reasons for the delay and when we expect to issue our final response. While unregulated complaints fall outside these requirements, we still adopt the same approach, providing the same details also at this 8-week point.
If your complaint relates to data protection issues, then we will again provide an update on why we have been unable to resolve your complaint after 40 days.
If you Remain Dissatisfied
Our aim is to ensure that we can resolve all complaints to our clients’ satisfaction internally. However, for regulated complaints where following receipt of our final response you remain dissatisfied or we have not issued our final response within 8 weeks, you can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
If you wish to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, then this should be done within 6 months of our final response letter. The Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted:
In writing
The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR
By Telephone: 0800 023 4567
By E-mail: Complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Or you can access their website here. where you will also be able to access their online complaint form.
While unregulated complaints will fall outside the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service, we will still provide details of your right to refer your complaint to them in our final response letter, as they will make their own decision on whether your complaint falls within their jurisdiction or not.
