Make a Complaint | Quality Service | Avalon Funeral Plans

Ensuring all customers are treated fairly

Avalon is committed to providing a quality service and working in an open and accountable way that builds trust and respect with customers and stakeholders. One of the ways in which Avalon can continue to improve our service is by listening and responding to the views of our customers and stakeholders, by responding positively to complaints and by putting mistakes right wherever appropriate.

What is a complaint?

A regulated complaint refers to any expression of dissatisfaction where you have suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience from any stage of your journey conducted by Avalon or any other connected third-party.

Financial Loss: Financial Loss is a term used to describe a situation where you may have suffered financially due to the actions or perceived actions taken by Avalon. It’s important to note that upholding a contractual term that you have agreed to would not be considered a financial loss.
Material Distress: Where the actions of Avalon have materially and directly affected your emotional state.
Material Inconvenience: Where the actions of Avalon have had a material and direct impact to your life, causing a disproportionate amount of disruption or difficulty.

A non-regulated complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction but doesn’t meet the above definition of a complaint (e.g., you are dissatisfied but there’s no financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience). We will deal with any non-regulated complaints in the same way as a regulated complaint, but you may not be able to refer these to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

How to complain

If you wish to make a complaint, please contact us in the following ways:

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: UK +44 (0) 161 486 2020 or Europe +34 966 799 070

In writing:

Complaints Department, Avalon Funeral Plans, Brooke Court, Lower Meadow Road, Handforth Dean, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 3ND, UK

or Complaints Department, Avalon Funeral Plans, Calle Albatera 1-68, Urb La Finca Golf. 03169 Algorfa, Alicante, Spain.

What happens next?

We aim to assess any complaint, consistently, and promptly to determine whether it should be upheld and, if so, what remedial action or redress may be appropriate. We will always communicate with you regularly throughout our investigation.

We will aim to deal with your complaint as quickly as possible. If we don’t resolve the complaint at the first point you contact us, we aim to formally acknowledge your complaint within 3 business days.

We will always aim to provide you with a final response within 8 weeks of receipt of your complaint, unless there are extenuating circumstances that don’t allow that to happen. Our final response may be sent with our acknowledgement. In our final response we will tell you whether we uphold your complaint, and where appropriate, offer redress or we will reject your complaint and give you the reasons for doing so.

Financial Ombudsman Service

If you are not happy with how we’ve dealt with your regulated complaint and would like to take the matter further you may have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), free of charge – but you must do so within six months of the date of our final response.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.

You will not be given the option to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman for a non-regulated complaint. Avalon will not give the Ombudsman permission to investigate non-regulated complaints or any complaint that falls outside the compulsory jurisdiction.

Address: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London. E14 9SR. UK

Telephone: +44 (0) 300 123 9123 or +44 (0) 800 023 4567

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Restrictions of the Ombudsman Service

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) operates according to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Dispute Resolution: Complaints Rules (the DISP Rules). These rules determine, amongst other things, who can bring a complaint to them and what types of financial products and/or activities they can look at.

They can consider complaints about a Funeral Plan Provider where the act or omission being complained about happened on or after 29 July 2022. This is when the Funeral Plan industry came under the Financial Conduct Authority’s regulation. They can also consider complaints about acts or omissions that happened before 29 July 2022 if the complaint could have, but hadn’t, been referred to the Funeral Plans Association (FPA) – the successor scheme which had a voluntary code of conduct.

The Avalon Trustee Company Limited was a member of the FPA, however Avalon (Europe) Limited was never subject to the FPA code of conduct. That means this FOS has no power to investigate or decide how complaints should be resolved for Avalon (Europe) Limited plans sold before 29^th July 2022 if the reason for the complaint predates the FCA regulation.

Eligible complainants for Funeral Plans under the FCA rules are only plan holders (or their estate). As a result, complaints about used funeral plans can only be reviewed by the Ombudsman service to determine whether the funeral plan that was sold was delivered and whether the value of plan sold had been diminished. It is only an eligible complainant that can receive an award from a business. That means that the FOS cannot ask a Funeral Plan provider to offer any compensation for distress or inconvenience to an estate.