Complaints Procedure

We want you to have a good experience with Orchard72. If something has gone wrong, or you are unhappy with any part of our service, we would like to hear about it so that we can put things right and improve. This page explains how to make a complaint, what happens after you do, and how to take your complaint further if you are not satisfied with our response.

This procedure applies to complaints about our products and services generally. Complaints specifically about how we handle your personal data are also covered by the "Who is responsible for your data, and who can I complain to?" section of our Privacy Policy.

1. How to make a complaint

You can raise a complaint through whichever channel is most convenient for you. We accept complaints however they reach us, and you do not need to use a particular form of words or a special form.

• Contact form: use the contact form on our website and tell us that you wish to make a complaint. If you have an account, using the contact form while signed in helps us respond more quickly.
• Data protection: for complaints about how we handle your personal data, you can write to our Data Protection Officer through our contact form, which routes it to them directly.
• Post: we accept written complaints by post. If you would like a postal address for correspondence, please request it through the contact form and we will provide it.

To help us look into your complaint as efficiently as possible, it is useful (but not required) if you can tell us what happened, when it happened, the email address associated with your account, and what you would like us to do to put things right.

2. What happens after you complain

Our complaints procedure has two stages, and we publish the time limits that apply to each of them. These are the same time limits recorded in Section 11.1 of our Terms of Service.

• Acknowledgement: we confirm in writing that we have received your complaint, tell you who is handling it, and ask for anything further we need from you.
• Stage 1 response: we look into what happened, drawing on the relevant records and, where appropriate, the people involved, and give you a written response setting out our findings and any steps we are taking. If we genuinely cannot complete our investigation in that time, we will tell you before the Stage 1 time limit is up, explain why, and give you a date by which we will respond.
• Stage 2 review: if you tell us you are not satisfied with the Stage 1 response, someone who was not involved in it reviews the complaint afresh and sends you our final response. The final response says that it is final, and it is the point from which the escalation routes in section 3 are open to you.

We treat all complaints seriously and in confidence, and we will not treat you less favourably for having raised one.

3. If you remain dissatisfied

If you are not happy with our final response, you may be able to take your complaint further. The appropriate route depends on the nature of your complaint, and none of these routes replaces your right to go to court.

Alternative dispute resolution. We are not a member of a certified alternative dispute resolution scheme and we do not submit to one, so alternative dispute resolution is not available for complaints about our own services. We tell you this at the point we give you our final response, as the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015 require. We provide records of the assets you tell us about and the reports built from them; we do not give investment, tax or legal advice, and no ombudsman scheme covers this service.

You can get free, impartial advice about your consumer rights and about how to pursue a complaint from Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk).

• Data-protection complaints: you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data-protection supervisory authority. In the United Kingdom this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (helpline 0303 123 1113, ico.org.uk). If you are elsewhere, the law that may apply and the authority that hears your complaint are listed region by region in the "Who is responsible for your data, and who can I complain to?" section of our Privacy Policy.
• Independent professionals: where your complaint concerns advice or services provided by an independent legal professional you engaged through our platform, that professional's own regulator or complaints scheme may also be able to assist. Our Terms of Service and Disclaimers explain the independent nature of these relationships.

4. Related policies

This complaints procedure should be read together with our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Cancellation and Refunds policy, and Disclaimers. Nothing in this procedure limits any statutory rights you have as a consumer that cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted.