Vendside are fully committed to offering all of our clients a high quality service throughout the management of their claim. However, in the unlikely event that you become dissatisfied with the service that you have received, we offer a clear complaints procedure.

A complaint may be raised with any departmental member of staff, or directly to our Complaints Manager, either in writing, over the telephone, in person, or electronically via email (complaints@udmoffices.co.uk).

All complaints are referred to our Complaints Manager for their independent investigation. They will write to acknowledge a complaint within five working days of the complaint first being received. Their acknowledgement letter will confirm the following:

• The contact details of the Complaints Manager investigating your grievance.
• The Complaints Manager's understanding of the concerns raised within the complaint, for which you will be invited to inform them of any misunderstandings.

We aim to investigate and resolve all complaints within four weeks of receipt. If after this time frame we are unable to provide you with a full response, we will write to you in order to inform you of the reasons why we have been unable to resolve the complaint and when we will contact to you again.

In the unlikely event that we have still not concluded our investigation after eight weeks, we will write to you again to explain the reasons why. At this time we will also provide a date for when we expect to be able to provide you with a final response, whilst also notifying you of your right to refer the matter to the Claims Management Regulator, if you are dissatisfied with the progress that has been made.

Upon concluding our investigations into a complaint, we will send you a Final Decision Letter confirming:

• The outcome of our investigation.
• Details of any appropriate redress that the company is prepared to make.
• Details of how you can refer your complaint to the Claims Management Regulator, if you are not satisfied with the outcome of our investigation.

A large proportion of Vendside clients are referred directly to panel solicitors who undertake the management of their claim. Whilst we are committed to ensuring that a high quality service is maintained in such cases, we subscribe to the principles of the professional regulations governing solicitors. In doing so we must not attempt to influence the manner in which any client is advised by that solicitor.

All solicitors are bound by professional regulations to operate a complaints handling procedure and to notify the clients of these procedures from the moment they begin to work for the client.

Consequently, if a client registers a complaint about any aspect of the work being carried out for them by an appointed panel solicitor, the Complaints Manager will ensure that the following procedures are adhered to:

-Acknowledge the client's complaint within five working days, informing them that their concerns have been forwarded to the solicitor to whom the complaint relates, as Vendside are unable to comment on their actions.

-Forward a copy of the client's complaint to the solicitor in question with details of the response forwarded to the client.

-Ensure that the grievance is recorded as a solicitor's complaint.