Version 30 November 2023

McLEAR are committed to providing a high-quality service to everyone we deal with. In order to do this, we need you to give us any comments about our service and to tell us when we get things wrong. We want to help you resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.

We recognise that some of our customers may be vulnerable due to various factors such as age, disability, mental health issues, or financial circumstances. We are committed to providing additional support and care to ensure that our services are accessible and fair to everyone, including those who may be vulnerable.

This policy will cover:

• How to complain
• How we handle the complaint
• If you remain dissatisfied

We treat any complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction with our service, one which deserves a response. We listen to your complaints, treat them seriously and learn from them so that we can commit to continuously improve our product and services.

An Electronic Money Services Directive (EMD) complaint is defined as:

‘Any oral or written expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, from, or on behalf of, an electronic money holder about the provision of, or failure to provide, a financial service or a redress determination:

• (a) which alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience; and
• (b) concerning the rights and obligations arising under part 5 of the Electronic Money Regulations 2011.’

Our policy covers complaints about:

• our products
• the standard of service we provide
• the behaviour of our staff

Our complaints policy does not cover:

• matters that have already been fully investigated through this complaints policy
• anonymous complaints
• complaints about access to information where procedures and remedies are set out in legislation, DPA/GDPR 2018

Our standards for handling complaints

1. We treat all complaints seriously, regardless of the medium used to complain to us by i.e. by post or e-mail.
2. You will be treated with courtesy and fairness at all times – as we would hope that you will be courteous and fair in your dealings with us.
3. We will treat your complaint in confidence.
4. We will deal with your complaint promptly and we will acknowledge receipt of a written complaint within 5 business days via the medium of the complainant’s method of communication followed by a full reply within 15 business days of receipt. However, if we are able to resolve the matter within 3 days, we will issue a Summary Resolution Communication to the complainant, again via the original method of communication.
5. If we cannot send a full reply within 15 business days of receipt, we will tell you the reason why and let you know when we will be able to provide our full and final response. However, if the complaint will potentially have a financial impact for the complainant, under the PSD2 rules, the full and final response must be within 35 business days from receipt, regardless of complexity plus we will offer redress and/or remedial action if appropriate to do so.
   
   The final response will:
   • be on paper or, if agreed with you, on another durable medium (i.e. a medium which can be stored and reproduced, such as email);
   • explain in a clear manner our assessment of the complaint, our decision to uphold or reject the complaint and any decision on compensation/remedial action;
   • promptly take remedial action as stated or pay the compensation offered;
   • include any documents referred to in the letter or requested by you the customer;
   • include the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) contact details and web link (if responding by email) or enclose the FOS leaflet (if responding by letter) and
   • inform the you that, if dissatisfied with the resolution, you may be able to refer the complaint to the FOS and again we will include their details along with a reminder that you have 6 months from the date of our letter to do so. However, If you feel you have additional information to support your complaint, let us know as we would welcome the opportunity to reinvestigate your concerns.
6. We will record the numbers and categories of any complaints we receive, along with the percentage of complaints upheld then, within 5 working days of receiving a complaint, we will review our services and procedures so as to prevent further incidents and improve our product further.

Confidentiality

All complaints received will be dealt with confidentially and in accordance with our Privacy Policy which can be viewed at https://mclear.com/about/privacy/

How to complain

You can make a complaint by email or post.

You can send an email to support@mclear.com or in writing to:
Complaints Department, McLear Ltd, Steel House, 13-17 Princes Road, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6DQ, United Kingdom.

We have a 1-stage complaints process which will help us to resolve your complaint quickly if you can give us as much clear detail as possible, including any documents and correspondence and stating that you are making a complaint in line with our policy.

We encourage you to provide us with any information that might help us understand your situation better, especially if you consider yourself a vulnerable consumer. This will enable us to tailor our response to your specific needs.

The complaints process

Once we receive a complaint, it is an opportunity for the department to resolve a complainant’s dissatisfaction and the majority of complaints will be resolved straight away. In the first instance, we will try to get your complaint resolved by the Head or Director of the area or team against whom the complaint has been made. Upon receipt of your complaint we will contact the relevant team Head or Director and ask them to deal with your complaint.

In dealing with your complaint, we will consider if there are any indications of vulnerability and ensure that our response is sensitive to your circumstances. We will take extra care to ensure our communication is clear and easily understandable, especially for those who might have difficulties such as impaired hearing, vision, or cognitive functions.

Resolving complaint within 3 business days:

Where McLear resolves a complaint within 3 business days of receipt, a formal email or letter (based on the original contact medium) will be sent to the customer stating that:

• it has resolved the customer’s complaint;
• the customer, if dissatisfied, may be able to refer the complaint to the FOS;
• the customer can find more information on the FOS website (details of the FOS are further on in this document).

The FCA call this a “Summary Resolution Communication”. This would effectively be the first and final response to be issued allowing the customer to escalate the complaint to the FOS should they remain unhappy

However, if you are dissatisfied with this response, you may request a review by the Financial Ombudsman. This request should be sent to the address given further on in this policy.
 

Timescales for handling a complaint

Target within 15 business days, PDS2 maximum 35 business days

• acknowledgement within 5 business days
• full or holding response (to advise reason for extension) within 15 business days
• full response within 35 business days

All communications will be via the medium of the original request unless otherwise specified by the customer or if we identify a more suitable method of communication for vulnerable customers.

Extending time limits

We aim to complete all complaints within the timescales above. However, if a complaint is very complex or requires input from 3rd Parties beyond our control, it may occasionally be necessary to extend the time limit. If this is the case, we will keep the complainant informed of progress with the investigation, the reasons for the delay and the new deadline (which must not extend beyond 35 business days from receipt).

Security related incidents and customer complaints:

For customers who have a complaint relating to a security-related incident, additional action will be required. This is in order to enable McLear to monitor, handle and follow up on security incidents and security-related customer complaints, in accordance with our regulatory obligations.

It is imperative that security incidents and security-related customer complaints are dealt with appropriately.

If you remain dissatisfied

If having followed our complaints process you still remain dissatisfied, you can ask to have your complaint reviewed externally by someone who does not work for McLEAR.

You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge – but you must do so within six months of our final response letter.

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

The Ombudsman’s contact details are:
Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR Telephone: 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Should the Financial Ombudsman Service decide to investigate a complaint case, they will contact PayrNet Ltd to ask for the complaint documents such as your acknowledgement and final response letters. We in turn will contact you to ask for this information, that it is why it’s vital to have all of the information saved.

Compensation

In the majority of cases, remedies other than financial compensation will satisfy the complainant. Financial compensation is therefore a final option and will only apply in cases where the loss or suffering is considered to warrant such a payment.

Recording complaints

We log all complaints that we receive so that we can monitor the types of problems, the best way to sort them out and how long we are taking to deal with them. This also helps us to take a closer look at how we can improve our own service delivery.

We will handle your information in line with data protection legislation.

We will also record any information relevant to the customer’s vulnerability, with their consent, to ensure that we can continuously improve our services and approach for all customers, especially those who are vulnerable.

Unreasonable behaviour

All complaints will be processed in accordance with this policy. However, during this process, staff may have contact with unreasonable complainant behaviour and unreasonably persistent complainants.

McLEAR expects complainants to treat our staff with respect and refrain from abusive behaviour and making personal insults while they are trying to resolve any issues or complaints.

While we expect all customers to treat our staff with respect, we also recognise that vulnerable consumers may exhibit distress or frustration differently. Our staff are trained to handle such situations with additional patience and understanding.