It is important to Amey that complaints are dealt with by the right person at the right time. Complaints provide a first-hand account of the customer's views and experience, and can highlight problems we may otherwise miss. Handled well, complaints give our customers a form of redress when things go wrong, prevent problems from occurring again and help us continuously improve our services.

This procedure summarises our procedure for dealing with complaints and how you can get in touch with us.

How to make a complaint

You can make your complaint in person, by phone or in writing via post, email or website:

Email: OCCR-southwest@amey.co.uk

Website: Report a problem form

Telephone: 0800 042 0188

By post/in person: Customer Experience Team, 150 Polmadie Road, Glasgow, G5 0HD

When complaining, please tell us:

• Your full name and address
• As much as you can about the complaint
• What has gone wrong
• How you want us to resolve the matter.

How your complaint will be handled

Written complaints are logged within our correspondence register and passed to the relevant manager for a response.

Oral complaints, by phone or in person, are answered by our administration team or control room staff, depending upon office hours. On occasion we may ask you to follow up an oral complaint with written details.

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within one working day and tell you who is dealing with it.

Where appropriate, we will contact you to discuss your complaint in more detail to understand what outcome you are looking for.

We will aim to provide a full response within 20 working days, unless there are exceptional circumstances. If our investigation will take longer than 20 working days we will agree a revised timescale with you and keep you updated.

Responses will be jargon-free with full explanations for decisions taken. If we are at fault, we will apologise and try to remedy the situation as soon as possible.

Escalating complaints

If you are unhappy with our initial response, you may escalate your complaint to the Operating Company Representative.

If, following this procedure, the complaint is still not resolved to your satisfaction, it will be subject to a final review by Transport Scotland.

If you reach the end of this process and still feel cause for complaint, you may approach the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Respect for staff

We believe that all complainants have the right to be heard, understood and respected. We also consider that our staff have the same rights.

We retain the right to restrict or change access to our service in order to ensure that other complainants and Amey staff do not suffer disadvantage from complainants who act in an unacceptable manner.

Confidentiality

However you contact Amey, your right to privacy will be respected. We will comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Frequently asked questions

What is a complaint?

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about our action or lack of action, relating to services provided by Amey.

What can I complain about?

You can complain about things like:

• Our standard of service
• Failure to provide a service
• Delays in responding to your enquiries and requests
• Treatment by or attitude of a member of staff

Your complaint may involve more than one service or be about someone working on our behalf.

What can’t I complain about?

There are some things we can’t deal with through our complaints handling procedure

• Decisions which have been made in adherence with legislative requirements
• Legal proceedings or judgements
• Issues covered by a right of appeal – for example, various orders or regulations and related appeal decisions
• Freedom of Information or Environmental Information request decisions

Complaints relating to Scottish Government policy will be passed to Transport Scotland.

How long do I have to make a complaint?

Normally, you must make your complaint within six months of:

• The event you want to complain about, or
• Finding out that you have a reason to complain, but no longer than 12 months after the event itself.

In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to accept a complaint after the time limit. If you feel that the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please tell us why.

What about anonymous complaints?

Anonymous complaints will be passed to the relevant manager to consider if the complaint is acceptable and should be investigated further.

Any anonymous complaint, written or verbal, which is considered unacceptable, such as those containing threats, verbal abuse, derogatory remarks or rudeness, will not be pursued further and in some cases may be reported to the police.

Who can complain?

Anyone can make a complaint to us relating to our role, including the representative of someone dissatisfied with our services.

Getting help to make your complaint

We understand that there may be reasons why you are unable, or reluctant, to make a complaint yourself. We accept complaints from the representative of a person who is dissatisfied with our service. We can take complaints from a friend, relative, or an advocate, if you have given them your consent to complain for you.

You can find out about advocates in your area by contacting the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance:

Phone: 0131 260 5380

Website: www.siaa.org.uk