Do you have a complaint about Citizens Advice Guernsey?

Tell us if we’ve let you down

We want everyone who uses Citizens Advice’s services to be happy. If you’re not, we want to know why. We’ll always try to put things right, but if we can’t, knowing where we’ve gone wrong will help us to do better in the future. If you make a complaint, we’ll still try to advise you. However, if we can’t, we’ll try to find another adviser or organisation to help you.

Ask us to informally resolve the problem

If you’re unhappy with the service you’ve received from us or the way we’ve treated you, ask to speak to a Supervisor. It’s important that we know what we’ve done wrong as soon as it’s happened so that we can try to put it right. If the Supervisor can’t put it right or you’re still unhappy, you can make a formal complaint about us.

However, you don’t have to talk to us first to make a formal complaint.

Making a formal complaint about us

There are several ways you can make a formal complaint. You can either send a letter to our Chief Executive Officer explaining what’s happened, or you can give details of your complaint to Citizens Advice’s Client Services team. When they receive your complaint, they’ll send it to us to investigate.

Once we’ve got your complaint, we might talk to you informally about it instead of starting the formal complaints process. This may be quicker and less stressful. However, we may decide to formally investigate your complaint without speaking to you.

Your complaint will be investigated by someone who isn’t involved with it, usually a manager or our Chief Executive Officer. The Chair of the Trustees will send you a formal response once it’s been investigated, usually within 8 weeks of us receiving your complaint. If it’s going to take longer, we’ll let you know why.

If we uphold your complaint, we’ll say sorry for what we’ve done wrong and will let you know what we’ll do to put things right.

Review by national Citizens Advice

If you’re unhappy with our response or the outcome to your complaint, you can ask for our decision to be reviewed. To do so, you must contact Citizens Advice’s Client Services team within 4 weeks of receiving our formal response. You need to explain to the Client Services team why you’re unhappy with our formal response.

The Client Services team will review the complaint on behalf of National Citizens Advice’s Chief Executive. The review checks that we properly investigated your complaint, we responded to all of your issues and our reply was fair and reasonable. Their review is not a re-investigation of your complaint.

Review by an independent adjudicator

If you’re unhappy with National Citizens Advice’s review, you can ask for your complaint to be reviewed by an independent adjudicator. This is someone from outside Citizens Advice who will decide whether your complaint was dealt with fairly.

If you want an independent adjudicator review, you must contact the Client Services team within 4 weeks of receiving your review and explain to them the reasons why you’re unhappy with the review. The independent adjudicator’s decision is final and is the last stage of the complaints process.

Advice about debt

If we gave you debt advice, you can complain about us to the Financial Ombudsman Service. However, you can only do this once we’ve let you have a formal response to your complaint or if we don’t respond to you within 8 weeks of receiving it. Alternatively, you can ask the Client Services team to review your complaint after we’ve sent you our formal response.

Financial Ombudsman Service

You can complain online (for complaints about debt advice) at: Contact us – Financial Ombudsman service

Phone: 0800 023 4567 – calls to this number are free; or 0300 123 9123 – you need to check if you will incur a charge or if the call is free depending on your mobile phone package. Free if you use a mobile phone and pay a monthly charge for calls to numbers starting 01 and 02.

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Who to contact if you want to complain

Citizens Advice: Address your letter to The Chief Executive Officer or the Chair of the Trustees at the address below:

Citizens Advice Guernsey
GROW Hub
Les Petits Quartier Vinery
Coutanchez
St Sampsons
Guernsey
GY2 4GE

Phone: 01481 242 734
Email: admin@citizensadvice.org.gg

Citizens Advice’s Client Services team:

Phone: 03000 231 900
Email: feedback@citizensadvice.org.uk

More information about making a complaint about Citizens Advice can be found on our website here: Feedback and complaints – Citizens Advice