Complaints
We are always learning and improving
Every year Clear Voice provides language services to thousands of people via telephone interpreting, face-to-face assignments, or written translations. However, every so often someone comes away from using our services feeling unhappy. Perhaps you had to wait too long to access an interpreter or one of our interpreters did not meet our high standards. We always aim to deliver the best language services on the market and that is why we have a complaints procedure. Sometimes we can put things right; sometimes we can only explain ourselves and apologise. But we do want to learn from our mistakes. What you tell us helps improve our service to you. We are committed to treating your complaint seriously, confidentially, and quickly.
What can I do?
Many complaints can be resolved very quickly and without having pursue a formal procedure. It is important to let us know that you are unhappy and to give us a chance to put things right. Please do not be afraid to speak to the operations team who may be able to sort out any problems straight away. If they cannot help you, and you still have concerns, then you should use our formal complaints process.
Who can complain?
Anyone accessing Clear Voice’s service may complain. We will only deal directly with you, and not a third party, unless you have given us written consent to do so.
If you need some additional help to make your complaint (such as an interpreter) then please let us know.
Making a formal complaint
There are a number of ways you can make a complaint:
You can put the information in a letter and post it to:
Clear Voice Complaints
Charlton House
Dour Street
Dover
CT16 1AT
You can email complaints@clearvoice.org.uk
You can use the contact form on our website
Complaints Procedure
Please note that your complaint does not need to be written in English. It can be written in your own language (by yourself or someone else) and we will then have it translated. Please let Clear Voice know if you will need to use our interpretation or translation services so that we can arrange that at the beginning of process.
Ideally, we prefer to have complaints sent to us in writing, for the sake of good record keeping. However, we do accept formal complaints via telephone, as a first point of logging the initial details. This can be followed by having a written account of the nature of the complaint where more details can be provided in aiding us to a swift resolution.
Your complaint will be logged onto our central complaints register and you will be sent an acknowledgement letter, with a unique reference number. The letter will let you know who is going to investigate your complaint. It is our policy that a senior member of staff deals with your complaint, as we do take them seriously. The complaint will be investigated, and we will let you know the formal outcome in writing. Clear Voice aims to respond in full to your complaint within 5 working days. However, if the issue is complicated, we will write and let you know what is happening and how long we think it will take us to reach a conclusion on your complaint.
On occasions, we might need further proof to help us investigate a complaint, such as downloading a recording of a call, where available. We might need to send these files (through a secure channel) to another independent interpreter to transcribe the call, to aid us in our investigations. Where this is the case, all interpreters who deal with transcriptions, will sign a data deletion declaration form to state that they will treat the information in the recording, in line with our privacy and data protection policies and in the strictest of confidence. They must also confirm that they have destroyed all data received from Clear Voice in relation to the complaint, in a safe and secure way from all their devices.
We will let you know whether or not your complaint has been upheld and we may be able to advise you other outcomes from your complaint. We will not comment on staff disciplinary matters due to our Data Protection commitment.
Review of your complaint
If you are not satisfied with the response you can ask for a final review by Clear Voice’s Complaints Adjudicator, who is the Director.
The Adjudicator will appoint a manager to review how your complaint was handled and the outcome of that review. Generally, this review will not re-investigate your complaint. This review will check that the original complaint was investigated thoroughly and that the conclusion was reached in a reasonable and fair way. Following the review, the manager will then write to you formally and let you know the outcome, again within 5 days.
A request for a review must be made no later than 5 working days after you have received the outcome of your initial complaint. The Complaints Adjudicator can refuse a review when it is believed that a further investigation has been requested only to cause a member of staff concern. This would be considered by Clear Voice to be harassment and the complaint’s process would be concluded at that time.