Legal Customer Complaints Code
In the unlikely event of a dispute we are always keen to resolve the dispute promptly. We try to be honest and fair. We do make our contract terms very clear to avoid any confusion. We think it is fair that if you have suffered an outage in a service because of something we did wrong you should get your money back. However, we also think it is fair that you understand that things can break (usually because of matters outside of our control) and so have to take your own precautions against this. For this reason we offer at most your money back for the period each specific service was unusable because we did something wrong. Please do read the terms carefully before considering any sort of formal dispute.
Step 1: Talk to us
The first step is to talk to us. If you have an issue and are in touch with any of our staff, ask them to resolve the problem for you. You can email or call as you wish. Our staff will be frank and honest with you and will try and help resolve your dispute if at all possible.
Step 2: Team leader
If you get nowhere with a member of staff then ask to speak to or be referred to a team leader. All of the departments have a team leader who can help resolve any dispute. Our team leaders have some discretion to offer credits in some cases, and will try and be reasonable.
Step 3: Formal complaint
If you are still having a problem you can start a more formal complaint by emailing our escalations department at escalations@aa.net.uk. We suggest you include the whole story in the email, but feel free to simply quote the ticket number of previous emails as we can look up the conversation to help deal with your matter. The escalations department will look in to the matter, and if necessary involve a company director in making a decision. We will reply by email explaining our decision and reasoning. We aim to respond to all complaints promptly within a week.
Step 4: ADR
If a dispute relates to telecommunications services, and is not resolved within 8 weeks of making a formal claim you can take the matter to Alternative Dispute Resolution. We advise you of this fact in the reply to your email to escalations. Alternative Dispute Resolution is a process allowing a dispute to be resolved without going to courts and the arbitrator does not charge you for this.
We may offer a good will credit in respect of a dispute, but that will not be an admission of any liability and is conditional on your accepting it as full settlement and not taking us to ADR or court. If the good will credit we offer exceeds the limited liability in the contract then we would consider refusing it and taking us to ADR to be vexatious (as well as pointless).
Step 5: County Court (small claims court)
There is a long standing, perfectly good, simple and cheap system for resolving civil disputes in the UK - the county courts. They are easy to use, fair, and have the legal power to enforce a decision. We are happy to resolve a dispute via the county court if you wish. If you plan to take us to court, do ensure you follow procedures including sending us advance notice of your intentions. In any case, please try to resolve the dispute via steps 1 to 3 first. The courts would expect you to give us a reasonable time to resolve a dispute first. Again, read the terms under which you buy services from us carefully as these are the reference for resolving the matter via the courts.
In over 14 years trading we have never had a customer take a case to ADR or county court against us.
Resolutions
There are many ways a dispute can be resolved, but at the end of the day if we are unable to work together to provide the service you need then you always have the option to stop taking service from us (subject to notice periods and minimum terms). We may even waive notice periods if there is a dispute and you wish to leave. We also have the option to stop providing service to you if we wish. Neither of us has to have any reason for stopping the service. It may be that the simplest resolution to a dispute is that we simply stop dealing with each other. We would obviously prefer to resolve the matter amicably and continue to provide services to you if we can.
The county courts are cheap and are easy to use. There is even a web site to issue a county court claim on-line. The loser pays, which is only fair, but making a case is cheap, the costs are limited and lawyers are not involved. ADR on the other hand means us paying even if we were right, which is clearly unfair. If you owe us money then we cannot use ADR and will make use of the county courts. We would far rather resolve disputes fairly and amicably. Remember, whether we are right or wrong will often depend on what the contract says so please read it carefully. Even if we have done something wrong the contract limits our liability. Above all, talk to us first so we can avoid disputes.
