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11. Complaints and their
Redress
11.1 Members must have an internal
written complaints procedure formally in
place.
11.2 All recommendations and
decisions relating to complaints must be
approved and sanctioned by a director or
senior manager of the member.
11.3 Members, should within their
literature and correspondence, make it
clear to clients to whom they should
complain and the address to which
complaints should be sent together with
the procedure for handling complaints.
11.4 Initially, all complaints should
be put in writing by the complainant to
the member, who must acknowledge its
receipt promptly, investigate it and
give a written response and where
appropriate, an apology and/or offer of
compensation and/or other form of
redress as soon as practically possible
to the complainant.
11.5 If the complainant is
dissatisfied with the response, then the
member must make them aware of the
following options and procedures. The
matter can be referred either to:
a) the Chairman of the Society's
Standards Committee for investigation
and an amicable resolution between the
parties; or
b) the Independent Funeral Directors
Arbitration Scheme, administered by the
Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. A
completed signed application for
arbitration is required for each case.
c) All correspondence should be
addressed to either the Standards
Chairman or The Independent Funeral
Directors Arbitration scheme, as
appropriate, at SAIF Business Centre, 3
Bullfields, Sawbridgeworth,
Hertfordshire. CM21 9DB
d) The Independent Funeral Directors
Arbitration scheme consists of two
stages, conciliation and arbitration.
The first stage, which consists of an
informal process of conciliation, can be
bypassed if one or both of the parties
expressly opt to proceed directly to
arbitration.
e) If the parties do not settle the
dispute within six weeks of the
Conciliator's appointment, the dispute
may be referred to arbitration. If at
any stage the Conciliator considers
conciliation inappropriate the matter
may be referred to arbitration under the
rules of the scheme.
f) The award of the Arbitrator will
be generally final and legally binding
on both parties. If however, either
Party considers the Award is one that no
reasonable Arbitrator should have
reached on the basis of the documents
presented, any payment ordered should
still be made, but they may write
requesting that the matter be referred
to review.
g) An application for Review by the
Appellant will only be considered if:
- The Institute receives it within 21
days of the date that the Award was
dispatched to the parties by the
Institute.
- It is accompanied by a copy of the
Arbitrator's Award together with a
statement setting out the reasons why
the Award is one that no reasonable
arbitrator should have reached on the
basis of the documents presented.
- A cheque accompanies it for the sum of
£300, made payable to the "Chartered
Institute of Arbitrators". This fee is
known as the "Review Fee"
h) Once the Review Procedure has been
completed, no further steps can be taken
by any Party under these Rules. Any
Party considering the possibility of an
appeal to the courts, if indeed such an
appeal is legally possible, is strongly
advised to seek legal advice.
A complete copy of the Independent
Funeral Directors Arbitration scheme
rules, is available free of charge from
the Society at the address referred to
above.
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