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Treating Customers Fairly

Treating Customers Fairly is a core principle of our company and the way we conduct business. All firms regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must be able to show consistently that fair treatment of customers is at the heart of their business model.

Consumer outcomes

The FCA has outlined six consumer outcomes that firms should strive to achieve to ensure fair treatment of customers.

Outcome 1

Consumers can be confident they are dealing with firms where the fair treatment of customers is central to the corporate culture.

Outcome 2

Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly.

Outcome 3

Consumers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before, during and after the point of sale.

Outcome 4

Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances.

Outcome 5

Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect.

Outcome 6

Consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint.

What is Consumer Duty?

Consumer Duty is a new protection for customers using finance to purchase goods and services. It is part of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) consumer principles and will be the 12th principle.

This principle requires companies to "act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers." In short, businesses are responsible for helping customers make informed decisions on finance based on their individual needs.

Alongside the main rules of this principle, Consumer Duty outlines four key outcomes to ensure customers receive the best and most appropriate services for their needs:

  • Products and services
    The lifecycle of a product or service should have full governance and evidence that the product has been designed and marketed correctly and targeted at the appropriate people.
  • Price and value
    All pricing elements must be clear and transparent. Customers should receive fair value, particularly regarding any additional charges or fees.
  • Consumer understanding
    Businesses must provide customers with the right information to make informed decisions before purchasing a product or service. This includes clearly communicating risks and features. Organisations are also required to understand specific customer needs. For example, establishing the best communication methods.
  • Consumer support
    For customers to experience a good outcome, they must be able to use the financial product appropriately, with companies providing the necessary support. Processes may need adjustment if customers are not receiving good outcomes.

Treating customers fairly as a core principle

Our management team are very clear that treating customers fairly is central to our business. During weekly employee meetings, we highlight any trends or issues we are observing.

  • Training: All sales staff and other customer facing staff must complete online training with regard to Treating Customer Fairly and FCA Regulations.
  • Customer needs: Staff must ensure that we first find out the facts of our customer needs as part of the sales process. The benefits, risks, implications of any tie-ins must all be adequately explained.
  • Process: As part of the sales process we issue a Broker Service Agreement and provide clear and transparent information regarding our fees in our Initial Disclosure Statement.
  • Information: All our website and promotions material must be written in plain English and any abbreviations or jargon explained.
  • Review: Regular internal audits by senior management to measure and monitor TCF performance and any specific customer feedback is included as part of quarterly staff reviews.
  • Complaints: Customer complaints are dealt with efficiently and professionally and are reviewed at management meetings.

If you feel you’ve been treated unfairly we would like to hear from you

Providing quality customer service is what we have built our business on. But sometimes things do go wrong. We aim to ensure customers can easily contact us to discuss any post sale needs and can easily and simply raise any complaints and such complaints will be dealt with in a sympathetic and professional manner. If you have a complaint about any aspect of our service, we would like to hear from you.

To help us investigate and resolve your concerns as quickly as possible, you should contact our Customer Services team on 01628 899 727 or email customerservive@drive-electric.co.uk.

A full explanation of how we will deal with your complaints and what to do if you think your complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction is in our Complaints Procedure.

If you have a regulated consumer contract with us and are not satisfied with our final response, you may be eligible to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You must do this within six months of our final response.