Financial Service Provider Internal Complaints Procedure

Financial service provider internal complaints procedure

Lion - Beer, Spirits & Wine (NZ) Limited ("Lion") is a financial services provider pursuant to the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 as it provides credit under credit contracts to certain customers, and has, accordingly, joined the Financial Services Complaints Limited dispute resolution scheme ("FDRS").

One of the conditions of membership of the FDRS is that Lion must have proper internal procedures for dealing with complaints from customers of Lion in connection with the financial services provided by Lion.

The following is the process followed by Lion, and the steps that need to be taken when a complaint relating to a financial service is received.

1. Receiving a complaint

Upon receiving a complaint Lion shall:

a)         acknowledge receipt of the complaint and outline the next steps to the complainant in writing, including the FDRS                       role;
b)         capture key complaint information, including the date that complaint was made, name and details of the complainant, details of the complaint and when it occurred;
c)         allocate a unique complaint reference for each complaint; and
d)         keep information in a central secure system that is kept confidential to the parties (except with the consent of the                     complainant)

2. Investigating complaint

a)         shall investigate the complaint and decide how Lion wants to respond.
b)         The complaint shall be resolved at the earliest opportunity.
c)         The complainant shall be informed of the investigation. Lion shall set realistic timeframes for any communications concerning the complaint.

3. Resolving a complaint

Lion shall issue a decision notice in writing to the complainant that includes a reference to the complaint, with the findings from Lion's investigation together with a response/resolution proposal.  The notice should acknowledge any fault on the part of Lion and detail any offer Lion wants to make for settling the complaint (including timeframes for acceptance).

4. Where the complaint is not resolved

If the proposed resolution to the complaint set out in the decision notice is not accepted, Lion shall issue a deadlock notice in writing to the complainant confirming that the parties have reached deadlock in relation to the dispute and outlining clearly the next steps that the complainant may take to have the complaint referred to the FDRS (including time limits applicable to that referral).