Unreasonable Behaviour Policy

This document sets out what we consider to be unreasonable behaviour and the actions we might take if a customer’s behaviour goes beyond what we consider to be acceptable.

An overview of our policy

Treating all our customers fairly and listening to them so that we can complete their project to a high standard and to the best of our ability is at the heart of what we do.

We recognise that the issues surrounding an insurance claim and building works can be stressful and when problems arise or delays occur it can cause further frustration and upset. But our staff always deserve to be treated with courtesy and respect – so if frustration or upset turns into unreasonable behaviour, we will take action to manage this.

This policy sets out what we consider to be unreasonable behaviour and the actions we might take if a customer’s behaviour goes beyond what we consider to be acceptable.

This policy applies to:

• • all areas of our work
  • anyone who contacts us including existing or potential customers, representatives and businesses
  • all methods of contact including telephone, face-to-face, letters, e-mails, social media and other digital channels

Before we make any decisions under this policy, we’ll conduct a review of what’s happened, and we’ll always consider the customers’ individual circumstances. If we decide to take action to manage unreasonable behaviour, we’ll explain why to the customer.

Complaints about our service

We want to provide our customers with excellent service and a high level of quality. But if a customer is unhappy with something we do, or the service we’ve provided, they should contact us.

If you want to complain to us about the service we’ve given you,

Aggressive or abusive behaviour

As the majority of our work relates to insurance claims, we often deal with customers in stressful circumstances. We appreciate the frustration caused by the length of time it may take to progress an insurance claim and that many clients are highly apprehensive about having builders working in their property, particularly when they have limited experience or understanding of the process.

We accept that sometimes problems occur and customers may be unhappy when they contact us or may not like the information that we have to relay. But it’s unacceptable for our staff to experience aggressive or abusive behaviour while at work so we won’t accept or tolerate behaviour that we consider to be violent, insulting or threatening, such as:

• • • offensive language
    • any form of discrimination
    • inflammatory statements
    • threat of physical violence

Unreasonable demands

We’ll always help our customers understand what they can expect from our service. But if a customer makes unreasonable demands, this impacts our ability to provide the service we want to everyone who approaches us.

Examples of unreasonable demands include:

• • • insisting on a response or action within an unreasonable timeframe
    • insisting on speaking to or meeting with a particular member of staff when we’ve explained they’re not available or aren’t the appropriate person to speak with
    • asking for personal information about our staff

Excessive levels of contact

We understand customers will contact us about their project to discuss any issues they have and provide information requested. But, if the frequency of contact becomes excessive it can impact on our ability to do our job.

Examples of excessive contact include:

• • • making the same request to multiple members of staff without good reason
    • repeated phone calls, emails or letters when we’ve already given a response, or we’ve set expectations about when to expect a response
    • regularly sending multiple emails to our staff throughout the day, evening and weekends which could easily be combined, without allowing our staff the opportunity to respond in between
    • unreasonable and persistent use of our complaints process

Actions we might take

Where we find the behaviour and demands of our customers to be unreasonable, we will consider whether we need to take more formal action. We’ll aim to keep the impact of this to the minimum necessary to solve the problem. The actions we’ll consider may include – but may not be limited to – the following:

• • explaining to the customer why we think their behaviour is unreasonable and what action we might take if it continues
  • stop communicating about a particular issue or question that we feel we’ve already responded to or answered
  • stop communicating with someone by phone and communicate in writing or by audio recording only
  • stop communicating with someone directly, and communicate through a representative only
  • no longer look into a complaint
  • no longer continue to work on a project
  • in circumstances we consider to be exceptional, we will notify relevant public authorities