Consumer service complaints procedure

Summary

Every year over 900,000 people come to the Citizens Advice consumer service for help with​ a consumer problem​. We provide practical and impartial advice on how to resolve your consumer problem. On occasion clients may come away feeling unhappy with the service they received. Perhaps you had to wait a long time for us to answer your call. Perhaps you felt that the adviser did not give good customer service. Sometimes things do go wrong and we know we are not perfect. But we do aim to be. That’s why we have a complaints procedure. Sometimes we can put things right. Sometimes we can only explain ourselves and apologise. But we want to learn from our mistakes and help improve our service for you and other clients. We will treat your complaint confidentially, quickly and seriously. It’s important that you tell us if you’re unhappy with the service you have received. Please note the consumer service is unable to make a complaint for you to a Trader, take legal action or make a complaint to Trading Standards on your behalf. Let your adviser know that you’re not happy and the adviser should be able to solve the issue straight away. If you’re still not happy with the response, you can ask.

Key information

• •Every year over 900,000 people come to the Citizens Advice consumer service for help with​ a consumer problem​. We provide practical and impartial advice on how to resolve your consumer problem.
• •On occasion clients may come away feeling unhappy with the service they received. Perhaps you had to wait a long time for us to answer your call. Perhaps you felt that the adviser did not give good customer service.
• •Sometimes things do go wrong and we know we are not perfect. But we do aim to be. That’s why we have a complaints procedure. Sometimes we can put things right. Sometimes we can only explain ourselves and apologise. But we want to learn from our mistakes and help improve our service for you and other clients.
• •We will treat your complaint confidentially, quickly and seriously.
• •It’s important that you tell us if you’re unhappy with the service you have received.
• •Please note the consumer service is unable to make a complaint for you to a Trader, take legal action or make a complaint to Trading Standards on your behalf.
• •Let your adviser know that you’re not happy and the adviser should be able to solve the issue straight away. If you’re still not happy with the response, you can ask to speak to the Team Leader.
• •If the Team Leader isn’t able to solve the problem, you can move to the more formal complaints process.
• •There are several ways to make a formal complaint about the consumer service. You can contact the local Citizens Advice Delivery Centre Manager using the details below. They have 20 working days to respond to your complaint.
• •Please note the consumer service is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (except bank holidays).
• •Your complaint will be investigated by the Delivery Centre Manager under the direction of the chair of the local Citizens Advice Delivery Centre, or by the chair if you are complaining about the Delivery Centre Manager. They will aim to respond in full to your complaint in four weeks.

Practical guidance

• •Source: [Consumer service complaints procedure](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issue/consumer-service-complaints-procedure/)

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