Hydrogen Equity Partners UK Limited (“HEP” or the “Firm”) is committed to providing a high level of service to its clients. Nonetheless, there may be occasions where clients feel that they have an issue that they would like to be addressed in relation to such services. The Firm takes such concerns seriously and endeavours to promptly respond to and resolve complaints. The Firm has established, implemented and maintains complaints management policies and procedures aimed to facilitate the settlement of disputes quickly and fairly and to fulfil the Firm’s obligations as set by its regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”).

Please see below for a summary of the Firm’s complaints procedure.

 

What Is A Complaint?

A “complaint” is any oral or written expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, from, or on behalf of, a person about the provision of, or failure to provide, a financial service or a redress determination which alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience.

What Should I Do If I Want To Make A Complaint?

If you have a complaint, you may make a notification to the Firm either in writing or verbally (by phone or in person). Contact details are as follows:

You will need to provide us with:

• your name;
• the phone number and email address;
• information about the problem that led your complaint and when it arose; and
• information on how you would like us to put things right.

 

How will my complaint be handled?

Complaint acknowledgement

We will send to you a prompt written acknowledgement and by no later than close of business on the third business day following the day on which we received your complaint, providing reassurance that we have received your complaint and are dealing with it.

We will ensure that you are kept informed thereafter of the progress of the measures being taken for your complaint’s resolution.

When handling your complaint, we will communicate with you in English and will reply to your complaint without undue delay.

Complaint assessment

Once we have received a complaint from you, we will investigate your complaint competently, diligently and impartially in an independent manner, obtaining additional information as necessary.

We will specifically assess:

• the subject matter of your complaint;
• whether your complaint should be upheld;
• what remedial action or redress (or both) may be appropriate; and
• if appropriate, whether we have reasonable grounds to be satisfied that another respondent, such as a third party, may be solely or jointly responsible for the matter alleged in your complaint.

 

Factors that may be relevant in our assessment of your complaint include the following:

• all the evidence available to us and the particular circumstances of your complaint;
• similarities with other complaints we have received;
• relevant guidance published by the FCA, other relevant regulators, the Financial Ombudsman Service or former schemes; and
• appropriate analysis of decisions by the Financial Ombudsman Service concerning similar complaints we have received.

 

Complaint resolution

We endeavour to conclude our investigation and provide you with a written ‘Final Response Letter’ via email, within eight (8) weeks.

In our Final Response Letter, we will make clear our position on your complaint and inform you about your options, including that you may be able to refer the complaint to an alternative dispute resolution entity, i.e. the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”), or that you may be able to take civil action.

Our explanation will, among other things, also refer to the fact that you have made a complaint, as defined earlier, inform you that we now consider your complaint to have been resolved, and inform you that, if still dissatisfied with the resolution of the complaint, you may be able to refer it to the FOS.

Where you refer a complaint against us to the FOS, we will cooperate fully with the FOS and comply promptly with any settlements or awards made by it. We will also comply promptly with any offer of remedial action or redress that you accept.

Complaint escalation

If we are unable to resolve your complaint within the 8-week timeframe mentioned above, we will provide to you:

• a response detailing the reasons for this;
• an estimated timeline for reaching a conclusion; and
• our Final Response Letter as early as practicable.

At this stage, you may be able to refer your complaint to the FOS in case you are unhappy with our response.

Please note that the FOS can only consider a complaint if we have already sent our Final Response Letter to you or, in every case, if 8 weeks have elapsed since we received your complaint.

Please be aware that the FOS usually cannot consider a complaint if you refer it to the FOS more than six (6) months after the date on which we sent our Final Response Letter to you.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the FOS will not have permission to consider your complaint, except in very limited circumstances. For example, the FOS might accept to hear your complaint if it believes that your delay in referring a complaint to it was the result of exceptional circumstances.

 

Information about the Financial Ombudsman Service

Address: The Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR.

Phone from UK: 0800 023 4567.

Phone from outside UK: +44 20 7964 0500.

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

You can find more information on the website of the FOS.