Complaints policy

CompareEquityRelease is a trading style of Equity Release Supermarket who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FCA no 584063.

Complaints Policy - What if things go wrong?

At Equity Release Supermarket, we do everything we can to ensure that the advice and services we provide to you are the best they can be. Which is why we are very proud of our 100% customer rating on feefo - the leading online review platform.

If you are unhappy with our advice or any aspect of our services, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible. We will do our best to resolve your concerns.

Here we let you know –

• Who to complain to
• How we deal with your complaint
• What to do if you’re not happy with the outcome of your complaint

How do you make a complaint?

In the first instance, you can contact us by either –

Calling us: On 0800 802 1051 (lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm; calls may be monitored or recorded for security and training purposes)

Writing to us: Mark Gregory, Equity Release Supermarket, 304 Bridgewater Place, Birchwood Park, Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 6XG.

Emailing us: [email protected]

What happens if you do make a complaint?

Once we have received your complaint, the first thing we’ll do is write back to you to let you know that we’ve got it and that we’re in the process of dealing with it.

The next steps we’ll take are to –

• Investigate the complaint – assessing and considering all the relevant factors.
• Decide if the complaint should be rejected or upheld, and what remedial action or redress (or both) may be appropriate.
• Offer redress or remedial action if we decide it is appropriate and explain to you our assessment of the complaint, our decision on it and any offer or remedial action or redress.

We always try to resolve a complaint as quickly as we can, and if it is straightforward, we aim to get back to you within 3-working days of receiving your complaint.

If we don’t achieve this, we will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 working days and keep you up to speed on our progress and the steps we’re taking to resolve your complaint.

If, for whatever reason, we cannot get back to you with a resolution within 4 weeks, we will send you a letter, detailing the progress of your complaint.

But within 8 weeks of receiving your complaint we’ll do one of 3 things.

1. Explain to you why Equity Release Supermarket cannot yet make a final response and indicate when you can expect to receive a final response.

2. Send you a final response which offers you redress or remedial action.

3. Send you a final response which rejects your complaint, and which explains the reasons why.

What should you do if you are still unhappy?

At this stage, if you are still unhappy, you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). You have 6 months in which to do this – which begins on the day we send you our final response.

The FOS settles disputes between financial services business and their clients, it is free to refer your complaint to the them and they can be contacted by telephoning - 0300 123 9 123.

You can visit their website www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Or e-mail them using: [email protected]

If you don’t contact the FOS within 6 months, they will only be able to review the complaint in very limited circumstances. For example, if they believe the delay was a result of exceptional circumstances.