In the unlikely event of a problem or misunderstandings we are keen to resolve any issue promptly. We try to be honest and fair. We do make our contract terms very clear to avoid any confusion, and we are happy to update them if there is some confusion. We think it is fair that if you have suffered an outage in a service because of something we did wrong you should get your money back. However, we also think it is fair that you understand that things can break (usually because of matters outside of our control) and so you have to take your own precautions against this. For this reason we offer at most your money back for the period each specific service was unusable. Please do read the terms carefully before considering any sort of formal dispute.
You must be a current customer in order to make use of our customer complaints code and hence any ADR service. Whilst the Communications Act does allow a prospective customer to take a matter to ADR, the fact that customer service is specifically excluded from the contract, and there are no implied terms that apply until you are an actual customer, and no service yet provided, and no bills yet raised, there are clearly no areas that are within scope that could be validly taken to ADR by a prospective customer and as such we do not consider complaints from such people.
The first step is to talk to us. If you have an issue and are in touch with any of our staff, ask them to resolve the problem for you. You can email or call as you wish. Our staff will be frank and honest with you and will try and help address your complaint if at all possible. Even if you are not starting a dispute of any sort, we are happy to take any feedback from you.
If you get nowhere with a member of staff then ask to speak to or be referred to a team leader. All of the departments have a team leader who can help resolve any dispute. Our team leaders have some discretion to offer good will credits in some cases, and will try to be reasonable.
We set ourselves very high standards for the quality of service we provide, both technically and in the way staff deal with customers. If we have let you down in any way in terms of quality of service, been slow to reply to your questions, been rude, or if you just want to just let off steam, please do give us feedback. We are always looking for ways to improve the service we offer. We may, at our discretion, offer a good will gesture of some sort, and, of course, an apology.
It is important to realise that whilst internally we have high standards for the quality of customer service we offer, and we welcome feedback, this is explicitly not something we offer in the contract terms. As a customer you have agreed that zero compensation applies for "poor customer service". Indeed, you will see in our terms that to prospective customers (that have not yet taken a service) we specifically offer to be rude and unhelpful. So whilst we appreciate your feedback on any poor customer service, it does not constitute a valid dispute. We consider the quality of customer service to be down to perception so if you feel you had poor customer service we agree with you that you have had poor customer service. As such, any customer service complaint is not in fact a dispute as we are not disputing or disagreeing with what you say. We also hereby apologise for any poor customer service you have had so that is not a reason to ask ADR for an apology from us. If you are unhappy with customer service, please give us constructive feedback so we can improve it.
Please think carefully about what you want to achieve by taking matters further. Ultimately money, and an apology, is all you can get - you cannot force us to provide a service to you or force us to fix a fault if we simply cease your services. Making a formal complaint means we have to work "by the book" to minimise any risk of compensation or cost, so it is by far the least likely way to get things "fixed" or get a "good will" credit. We'd rather be nice to each other and try and find an amicable resolution.
If you are still having a problem you can start a more formal complaint by emailing our escalations department at escalations@aa.net.uk. We suggest you include the whole story in the email, but feel free to simply quote the ticket number of previous emails as we can look up the conversation to help deal with your matter. The escalations department will look in to the matter, and if necessary involve a company director in making a decision. We will reply by email explaining our decision and reasoning. We aim to respond to complaints within a week, but some may take longer. If you are unable to send an email you can send a complaint by post addressed to "Escalations".
Customers in the EU may also make use of the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform. This may involve processing of personal data outside the UK as part of that process.
If you are simply making a complaint and not making any sort of claim then you can simply send us feedback. We'll be happy to accept your feedback without dispute and hence without need for dispute resolution.
IMPORTANT
To start a formal claim, which could later be taken to ADR or court, you will need to provide some specific details of your claim:-
Because of the history of large telecommunication companies messing customers about, even as a small family business we have to participate in an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme. However, we have great faith in the County Court Small Claims Track (small claims court). As ADR is much more costly for us we would rather resolve any dispute using the small claims court, and their Alternative Dispute Resolution process.
The English court service provide a free arbitration service by telephone - they call you and then us in turn for up to an hour to come to an agreement. This is available once a small claims track case is issued, so does need the small claims process to be started. It does not, however, need a hearing in front of a judge and so is much easier and cheaper for all concerned.
If you are a domestic and small business customer that could take us to ADR, you actually have a dispute with us, and we have not resolved your dispute within 8 weeks of a formal complaint (as above) - we may offer to let you take the matter to the small claims court without paying court fees. This allows you to make use of the court service arbitration call totally free of charge as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
Ask us for a deadlock letter at 8 weeks and state that you would be happy to use the small claim court at our expense.
We will look at the matter, and may offer to pay your court fees for taking us to small claims court. Once you have our agreement, simply file the claim on Money claim, pay the fee, and tell us the bank details to which the fee is to be repaid to you. Within 5 working days of us receiving the county court claim and your bank details we will credit your account with the court fees paid. Obviously if the arbitration call does not resolve the matter you could then take the case on to a hearing if you wish, for which the court make a small fee.
Defining your claim clearly (in step 4, above) will make completing the claim form on-line very quick and simple. The small claims court process is not complicated and well worth learning as it can be invaluable in resolving disputes in all areas. If you have never used small claims before, we highly recommend it.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, we don't expect you to repay the payment we made to cover your court application. Obviously if we lose the case, that payment is part of the settlement.
For customers that are domestic and small business customer (as defined by 52.6 and 405 of The Communications Act 2003), you actually have a dispute (i.e. we are not agreeing with you), and if your dispute relates to contractual conditions, or to the performance of a contract for the supply of an electronic communications network or service, and is not resolved within 8 weeks of making a formal claim (as above), you can take the matter to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). We advise you of this fact in the reply to your email to escalations and advise which arbitrator you can use. Alternative Dispute Resolution is a process allowing a dispute to be resolved without going to court, and the arbitrator does not charge you for this. The arbitrator is a separate company, and not a court, and they charge us for the service of resolving disputes (much more than small claims court), so please do consider the above offer to resolve a dispute via the small claims court arbitration service instead. Additional costs for us mean higher prices for all of our customers in the long run.
Again, defining your claim clearly (in step 4, above) will help you provide clear details of your exact claim to the arbitrator.
If you are not a domestic and small business customer as defined by 52.6 and 405 of The Communications Act 2003, or if you have not followed our customer complaints code, or you don't have an actual dispute (i.e. we are agreeing with you), or if your dispute does not relate to contractual conditions, or to the performance of a contract for the supply of an electronic communications network or service (e.g. broadband, phone line, mobile), then our contract with you does not allow you to use the arbitrator. Note that the definitions in the Communications Act exclude anyone with more than 10 individuals doing work for you, excludes anyone that is a communications provider, and anyone that is no longer a customer.
Claims the arbitrator will not consider
There are a number of types of complaint that the arbitrator will not consider.
The arbitrator can consider billing disputes, disputes over the services we provide, and could consider customer service complaints if we did not (a) agree such complaints with you, meaning they are not a dispute and (b) exclude them from the contract, as we do.
If, for any reason, you are unable to take a claim to ADR (e.g. a communications provider, or a business over over 10 employees), you are welcome to use the small claims court at your expense. Notify us of your intentions first as per normal court procedures.
There are various ways a dispute can be resolved:-
In any case, if you have started a formal claim/dispute, and it is resolved by one of the above means, we will ask you to confirm that you agree the dispute is now resolved and that you will not take the matter any further. Credits for good will, billing errors or compensation are conditional on your agreement that the dispute is resolved by that credit. If we owe you money as a result, it will not be paid until you confirm the dispute is resolved. If you do not, then we will cancel credit issued and you will have to take the matter further to court or ADR.
Note that we cannot use ADR to resolve a dispute we have with you (i.e. where you owe us money). In such cases we will issue proceedings in the county court small claims track if you refuse to pay as per normal business practice. You cannot use ADR once we have started a court case against you.
