1. Policy Statement

 

Authorised E-Money Issuers (AEMI) have an obligation to handle complaints in a consistent, structured and effective manner, allowing customers, potential customers, or any other individual on behalf of a customer or potential customer, the correct access to any recourse available to them, both internally within the company, and externally with the relevant authority, which is the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in the UK, or ultimately the Courts. AEMI’s should ensure that they have a written process for dealing with complaints and that all staff who deal with customers, or potential customers, are aware of the process, to ensure that all complaints are identified and dealt with correctly and effectively.  By correctly categorising and enquiry as a complaint, they can ensure:

-all regulatory and legal obligations are met

-the customer relationship is effectively handled

-complaints are properly escalated and handled within the scope of the agreed company policy

As an AEMI, Tompay Ltd (hereinafter “Tompay”) fully accepts that it has a responsibility to treat customers fairly. It is the policy of Tompay to respond to customer complaints as quickly as possible and to take each complaint seriously. The responsibility for the handling and monitoring of complaints lies with the company’s Compliance Officer, nominated Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) and Head of Support.

 

2. Aims of the Policy

 

Tompay will always strive to provide an efficient and professional service, and will aim to provide prompt, courteous, helpful, open and informative advice in respect of every communication received. Tompay is always keen to receive feedback from its customers about the services it is providing. 

Tompay will have:

-a clear and open policy on complaints

-a culture which gives the team the authority and support to resolve complaints completely and the confidence to tackle difficult customers

-a culture which rewards excellent customer service, especially complaints handling.

-a process which includes handling the many ways customers can complain efficiently - by telephone (in this case the staff member must suggest the Complainant to submit the Complaint through other interaction channel), by mail, by email, and within the regulatory framework 

-a policy which requires the provision of prompt, courteous, helpful, open and informative advice in response to every approach made by a customer

-a log of all complaints, for Root Cause Analysis and to share with the wider company.

 

3. Identification

Any customer or potential customer has the right to complain about a financial service or product.

Customer enquiries may be categorised as a complaint depending on a number of factors. Complaints should be sent to support@tompayment.com with the requirements (form of complaint) or via mail to Tompay office: 

-the way the customer feels about the service they have received;

-whether the product or service has performed as expected;

-how the member of staff interprets the customer’s comments; and

-any number of other factors.

The Complaint can be submitted also by filling the complaints form in the web page www.tompayment.com (if such an opportunity is given by Tompay) Tompay has decided that any member of staff dealing with a customer in a situation where they are unsure whether the customer is making a complaint or not, will deal with it as a complaint.  This is to ensure that no situation where a customer is unhappy is missed, and can be remedied effectively.

The definition of a complaint is:

"Any expression of dissatisfaction made to Tompay, whether oral or written, and whether

justified or not, from or on behalf of an eligible complainant about Tompay’s provision of, or

failure to provide, a financial service where the customer believes that they have been

caused to suffer either:

(a) a financial loss; or

(b) material distress or material inconvenience which cannot be resolved by an apology/explanation"

-Support team can offer a client to fill in a complaint form based on the following list of expressions:

-Requests to speak to a manager, supervisor or someone else because they are unsatisfied;

-References to a financial loss being incurred;

-References more than one contact to resolve the same issue without a satisfactory resolution;

-Indications that a customer is upset with a process, service, product, decision or resolution;

-A direct request to file a complaint;

-Allegations of discrimination or violations of laws or regulations;

-Allegations of Employee misconduct including:

-Falsifying information

-Misrepresentation of a product, service or feature

-Unauthorised account opening

-Threats to refer an issue to an external third-party customer advocate, such as the FOS or the media;

-Threats to initiate new, or references to existing litigation or arbitration; or

Therefore, all staff will be made aware of this and be fully trained in the identification of a complaint, and will know how to handle such cases and what the policy and procedure is.

4. Complaints Handling Procedure

 

Tompay will ensure all customers have access to the Complaints Policy - a procedure for settlement of disputes and complaints, published on Tompay’s website. The Complaints policy can be sent to the Complainant upon his request, and will include a copy of this document in any written acknowledgement of a complaint, to ensure the customer is aware of his or her rights in following up the complaint. 

4.1. Initial Contact Point and Handling

 

Customer / Complainant  can make a complaint by any reasonable method, and Tompay will accept all of these communications as official notification of a complaint.  These include: 

-By telephone (in this case the staff member must suggest the Complainant to submit the Complaint through other interaction channel)

-By mail

-By e-mail

-Through  Tompay  website, if such opportunity is given  

-On relevant social media

Tompay will require all customers to provide confirmation of the method of response they would prefer, and provide the relevant contact details.

Complaints from Customer support will normally be directed to the member of staff with whom they have been dealing. In complicated  cases (when the Complaint can be resolved in three business days) the  Compliance Officer will decide the responsible person for handling the Complaint or can decide that the complaint is serious enough in nature to process the complaint himself/herself. 

Where the staff member the customer has dealt with is responding to the complaint, Tompay’s policy dictates that they should use this as an opportunity to explain what actions have been taken and why, and to resolve the customers concerns so that no further issues are outstanding and the customer continues to use the service.

All complaints are recorded and statistics are used internally to improve our service offerings.

In the event that a complaint is resolved within three business days of receipt, Tompay will adhere to regulatory guidelines by not taking the complaint through the official process, however they will also issue a simplified resolution letter to the customer.  Details of the complaint will be logged alongside those taken through the process detailed below.

In this case the complaint is considered resolved where the complainant has indicated acceptance of a response from the Complainant, with neither the response nor acceptance having to be in writing.

4.2. Acknowledgement

When a member of staff receives a complaint, a written acknowledgement will be provided within 2 Business Days, starting from the day after the complaint was received (). The acknowledgement will contain details of the Complaints Procedure and of the customer’s right to refer the complaint to the FOS if they are dissatisfied with Tompay resolution, or Tompay’s failure to resolve the complaint, if applicable.

Where possible, the letter will contain a full account of the investigation activities planned, any initial findings made so far and, if appropriate, any offer of redress.

It will also state that it is assigned the responsible person for  dealing with the complaint and how to make contact with them (this will normally be the member of Customer Support), and any timescales in which the customer should hear back.

If it is possible to resolve the complaint at this stage, then this should be done, and the resolution should be included as part of this communication.  The conditions of the ‘Acknowledgement’ letter still need to be included.

4.3. Further Acknowledgement

Any further correspondence from the customer, prior to full resolution, should be responded to within 5 business days, and once again confirm who is dealing with the complaint and how to make contact with them.

 

4.4. Investigation

 

Complaints must be investigated competently in a fair and proper manner, taking all reasonable steps to obtain material information, comments and documents relative to the complaint.

To ensure the non-biased handling of a complaint, persons responsible for the investigation of a complaint must be independent from the circumstances of the case.

In investigating the complaint, Tompay must assess fairly, consistently and promptly the subject of the complaint, whether or not it should be upheld and whether or not remedial action is required for the complainant and also for any potential non-complainants.

When investigating a complaint, Tompay must have regard to the following factors:

-all the evidence available and the circumstances of the complaint;

-similarities with other complaints Tompay has received;

-relevant guidance published by the regulator.

 

4.5. Final Response

Once the assigned person  has completed the investigation, he will write to the complainant and offer a summary outcome. Where appropriate, it may also include a final offer of redress. Such letters will be marked clearly as the final response and will include details on how to contact the FOS if the complaint has not been resolved to the complainant’s satisfaction or, if the offer of redress is considered insufficient or inappropriate.

Tompay will issue and send the Final Response within 15 (fifteen) Business Days or after the day on which it received the complaint. In exceptional circumstances, where Tompay cannot send a final response within this period of time, for reasons beyond the control of Tompay, by the end of 35 (thirty-five) Business Days after the day on which it received the complaint.  In these cases, the customer will always be kept informed and Tompay will confirm their right to take the complaint to the FOS.

Tompay will always abide by regulatory guidelines in relation to a complaint and as such, Tompay will always ensure that complainants are kept informed about their complaint and activities in response to their complaint.

4.6. Ultimate Redress

As per requirements, it is Tompay’s policy that, after contacting all parties, should the complainant remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaint then they may seek redress through the FOS and ultimately the courts if they so wish.

In each instance, the assigned Person  will mark on the complaint file what advice was provided and will then reclassify the complaint as ‘Investigated but not resolved’. 

5. Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)

Together with Final Response Tompay shall explain to the complainant that if the complaint is not resolved, or the complainant is not satisfied with Tompay’s respond, the the complainant may be able to refer the complaint to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

The FOS is an independent and government-backed service designed to help complainants who find themselves in a dispute with a financial organisation.

It is a free service and it can be contacted at any point in a dispute providing the complainant has first contacted the financial organisation with whom the dispute relates to. Most cases are resolved within a 6-month period however some inevitably take longer.

The complainant does not have to accept any decision made by the Financial Ombudsman and at all times the complainant  has the right to seek redress in a court should they so wish. However if the Ombudsman decision is accepted by the complainant, then it is binding on both the firm and the complainant.

To contact the FOS, consumers are advised to write, telephone, or email their situation to:

Financial Ombudsman Service

Exchange Tower

London

E14 9SR

Telephone No.: 0800 023 4567

Email address: Complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

More information on the FOS can be obtained by visiting www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk  or by downloading the booklet entitled “Your complaint and the ombudsman” from this website.

6. Complaints to the FCA

 

Payment service users, e-money holders and other interested parties, including, for example, consumer associations and PSPs) may submit complaints to the FCA in accordance with the Guidelines on Procedures for Complaints of Alleged Infringements of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 issued by the EBA under Article 100(6) of PSD2.

7. Root Cause Analysis 

Tompay maintains detailed documentation on individual complaints - any private information will not be shared with any third parties and we comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. 

These details will usually include as a minimum;

-The nature, date and method of communication of the complaint

-The complainant’s details

-How the complaint was dealt with (outcomes)

-Whether the complaint was upheld or rejected

-Whether the complaint was closed (addressed to complainant’s satisfaction) or whether it remains open and outstanding

-What financial redress or other significant outcome resulted from the complaint

The Compliance Officer will be responsible for updating the Board on the number of complaints received, the percentage upheld and rejected, and any trends identified.

Where trends exist in the type of complaints being upheld, the Compliance Officer will be responsible for conducting a root cause analysis to establish the cause of the errors and recommend a corrective course of action. The Compliance Officer will identify and remedy any recurring or systemic problems, such as:

-analysing the causes of individual complaints so as to identify root causes common to types of complaint, 

-considering whether such root causes may also affect other processes or products, including those not directly complained of, and 

-correcting, where reasonable to do so, such root causes. 

8. Record Keeping 

It is the responsibility of all staff to ensure that records are accurate, up to date, factual and complete at all times. The Chief Compliance Officer is responsible for keeping up-to-date the Complaints Register. 

All complaints and supporting documentation will be kept for a period of three years from the date the complaint  was received  in accordance with regulatory requirements.

Records will be used to identify trends and to improve services offered to customers. This could be anything from policy reviews and process changes to re-training of front line staff, or improving customer communication methods.

9. Training

Tompay will ensure that all employees who investigate or handle complaints receive appropriate training. The training programme will provide initial and periodic training on this policy and associated procedures. Training can be delivered in person or via an online platform with use of external advisors.

10. Policy review

This policy is reviewed annually, as well as any off-cycle review as needed.