Complaint Policy

We SPS are committed to effective and efficient handling of all complaints received by us (from any source) related to any aspect of the services that we provide, and in doing so we aim to comply with the 9 guiding principles of ISO10002;2004; which are:

• Visibility – Information about how and where to complain will be well publicised to all stakeholders (i.e. customers, our own personnel, and to all other interested parties) – see immediately below as to how this will be accomplished.
• Accessibility – Our complaints management system will be accessible to all stakeholders. This complaints policy, and details of how to make a complaint, will therefore be issued or referenced on our website and will be present, or referenced, in all future applicable quotations and tender submissions.
• Responsiveness – All received complaints will be promptly registered and acknowledged, and all complainants will be kept informed about the outcome of their complaint.
• Objectivity – Each complainant's input will be dealt with equitably, objectively, and in an unbiased way.
• Charges – access to the complaints handling system will always be free from any charges or fees.
• Confidentiality – Identifiable information (which may be traceable to any individual or company) will always be treated in the strictest of confidence and protected from any exposure to non-authorised personnel or those without a need to know.
• Customer-Focused approach – all complaints will be handled with the best interests of our customers at the heart
• Accountability – Lines of accountability for the prompt investigation and satisfactory closure of all received complaints will be identified within our documented procedures, processes, and job descriptions.
• Continual Improvement – our one driving objective is to bring about continual improvements to all our processes; including the complaints handling process itself; thereby ensure satisfied customers

We aim at SPS to ensure that;

• Making and registering any valid complaint is as easy as possible
• We deal with any such complaint politely, promptly, and confidently
• We respond in the right way – with either an explanation or an apology where we are shown to have got things wrong, or with the agreed action taken to solve the problem; and with a view to preventing any recurrence
• We learn from complaints, use them to improve our service, and review our systems on an ongoing basis

Our responsibility will be to;

• Log and acknowledge all received complaints in writing, preferably via email – but occasionally verbally (usually within 48 hours of any complaint receipt).
• Thoroughly investigate the validity of each complaint and respond within a stated or timely period
• Deal reasonably and sensitively with the complaint
• Take action where appropriate – both to resolve the reported issue and to also prevent any further recurrence of similar problems.

A complainant’s responsibility is to bring their own concern to the attention of SPS as soon as possible but, normally within 2 weeks of any valid incident. They should:

• Raise Concerns and directly with an office-based member of SPS (who will have access to the complaints Register)
• Explain the problem as clearly and as fully as possible, including any action taken to date.
• Allow our personnel a reasonable amount of time to deal with the issue arising – including any initial investigation to determine the validity of the complaint and its root cause.
• Recognise that in some instances circumstances may be beyond the control of our company; but that all efforts will still be made by us to satisfactorily resolve the reported situation.

Except in exceptional circumstances, every attempt will be made to ensure that the complainant and SPS maintain complete confidentiality concerning any complaint that is received – in line with relevant Data Protection Act requirements.

All complaints received by us will be handled in accordance with this – our own documented Complaints Policy, and with our own Complaints Procedure (SPS-C/P)- both of which form part of our documented Quality Management System; and which are designed to satisfy all applicable BS EN 9001:2008 and ISO 10002:2004 requirements.

There is provision for all complaints to be logged/registered immediately upon receipt (with a unique reference number allocated), and then be investigated, agreed and closed out in a timely manner and be reported on a suitable form specifically designed for this purpose- with all agreed corrective actions notified to, and agreed with, each complainant.