Global Benefits Group (UK) Ltd - External Complaints Policy and Procedure

Complaints Policy

Global Benefits Group (UK) Ltd (GBG UK) is committed to providing a quality service for all of our customers. One of the ways in which we continue to improve our service is by listening and responding to the views of our customers, and in particular by responding positively to complaints, rectifying errors we identify through our complaints handling process, learning from mistakes that may have been made and implementing change when necessary.

Therefore, our aims are to ensure that:

• Making a complaint is as easy as possible.

• All complaints are investigated competently and diligently, and when appropriate, confidentially.

• Customers are kept informed regarding the progress of our investigation.

• A fair and reasonable outcome is delivered, following a thorough investigation into the complaint.

• Feedback we receive is used to improve the service we provide to our customers.

• The complaints policy and procedure is reviewed on a regular basis.

GBG UK  is an Insurance Broker and therefore we may use a panel of different companies, who provide various aspects of a customer’s insurance requirements. We also enter into agreements with insurers to act as their agent and in these instances will deal with your complaint as per our own complaint handling process.

In the event your complaint lies with a company we use where we have not been given authority to act on their behalf, we will pass details of the complaint to them and they will investigate the complaint, and contact you directly with their response. We will also send you a letter confirming your complaint has been forwarded to the relevant company and provide you with their contact details.

Please refer to the relevant company (listed below in Appendix 1) for further details of the correct process applicable for the company your complaint relates to.

How to make a complaint to GBG UK

If you are dissatisfied with our service, you may submit your complaint via our Complaint Form, which may be accessed by visiting our website and navigating to the Forms page: https://www.gbg.com/forms

Alternatively, please contact us.

Toll-Free +1.866.914.5333 (within the U.S. and Canada)

Phone +1. 905.669.4920 (outside the U.S. and Canada)

Or write to us at complaints@gbg.com

Complaints Procedure

Recording your complaint

Upon receipt of your complaint, it will be logged on our internal complaints database. The complaint information stored is then analysed to help GBG UK identify any areas of concern and generally improve the service we provide to our customers.

Resolving complaints

GBG UK strive to resolve customer complaints as quickly as possible; our agents are often able to resolve a problem at first point of contact, if this is not achievable, our aim is to resolve your complaint by the close of business on the third day, following receipt of the complaint. If we have resolved your complaint within this timeframe, we will issue to you a Summary Resolution Communication (SRC) Letter. This letter will detail the findings from our investigation into your complaint and the outcome.

The SRC letter will detail your right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)*.

*Please refer to the FOS section of this document for further details.

Complaints that require further investigation

In the event of GBG UK being unable to resolve your complaint within this time, GBG UK will send an Acknowledgement letter to you within five business days of you initially expressing dissatisfaction. This letter will confirm receipt of your complaint and advise that we are completing an investigation. As soon as we have completed our investigation we will contact you to discuss the outcome and look to resolve and close your complaint. Once the complaint has been closed, we will issue you our Final Response letter.

The Final Response letter will detail your right to refer your complaint to the FOS*.

*Please refer to the FOS section of this document for further details.

We always aim to resolve your complaint and provide a final response within four weeks, but if it looks like it will take us longer than this, we will let you know the reasons for the delay and regularly keep you up to date with our progress.

Eight weeks following receipt of your complaint, GBG UK will either:

• Contact you to discuss the resolution to your complaint and send our Final Response letter, which will detail your right to refer your complaint to the FOS*.

• Send a further Interim resolution letter detailing why we are not yet in a position to discuss the resolution to your complaint; we will also indicate when we believe our investigation will be completed. At this point, you will also be given the right to refer your complaint to the FOS*.

*Please refer to the FOS section of this document for further details.

Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)

If you decide that you are dissatisfied with the outcome to your complaint, you have the right to refer your complaint to the FOS, free of charge, but you must do so within six months of the date of the SRC letter or Final Response letter.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the FOS 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 FOS believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.

You can contact the FOS using the methods listed below:

Phone: 0800 023 4567 / 0300 123 9123 • Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

In writing to:

Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR

Further information is available on their website - www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Appendix 1

If your insurer is Axa XL Insurance Company UK Limited (also known as Axa XL), the process is as follows:

If you have any questions or need more information about this insurance or the handling of a claim, please contact the broker/intermediary named in the Schedule through whom this insurance was arranged.

If you wish to make a complaint, you can do so at any time by referring the matter to:

Complaints Manager
Axa XL Insurance Company UK Limited
20 Gracechurch Street
London EC3V OBG
United Kingdom
Email: axaxlukcomplaints@axaxl.com
Telephone Number: +44 (0) 20 7743 8487

Complaints that cannot be resolved by the Complaints Manager may, in certain circumstances, be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service at:

Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London E14 9SR
United Kingdom
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
FOS web address: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

From within the United Kingdom

Telephone Number:
0800 0234 567 (free for people phoning from a "fixed line", for example, a landline at home)
0300 1239 123 (free for mobile-phone users who pay a monthly charge for calls to numbers starting 01 or 02)

From outside the United Kingdom

Telephone Number: +44 (0) 20 7964 1000 • Fax: +44 (0) 20 7964 1001

If you are a consumer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and have purchased the policy online, you can also complain via the EU’s online dispute resolution (ODR) platform. The website for the ODR platform is: http://ec.europa.eu/odr