CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS POLICY

1. Definitions

1.1 In this Complaints Policy the following expressions have the following meanings:

“Business Day”

means, any day (other than Saturday or Sunday) on which ordinary banks are open for their full range of normal business in Northern Ireland;

“Complaint”

means a complaint about our goods or agents or customer service;

“Complaints Form”

means our standard complaints form;

“Complaints Policy”

means this document;

“Complaints Procedure”

means our internal complaints handling procedure which is followed when handling a Complaint and is available via email from connect@equine-x.com upon request;

“Complaint Reference”

means a unique number assigned to your Complaint that will be used to track your Complaint;

“We”/ “Us” / “Our”

means Equine-X Ltd.

2. Purpose of this Complaints Policy

2.1 We welcome and encourage feedback of all kinds from our customers. If you have a Complaint about our goods and/or agents, or customer service, not only do we want to resolve it to your satisfaction but we also want to learn from it in order to improve our business and customer experience in the future.

2.2 It is our policy to resolve Complaints quickly and fairly, where possible without recourse to formal investigations or external bodies. In particular, the aims of this Complaints Policy are:

2.2.1 To provide a clear and fair procedure for any customers who wish to make a Complaint about our goods and/or agents, or customer service;

2.2.2 To ensure that all Complaints are handled equally and in a fair and timely fashion;

2.2.3 To ensure that important information is gathered from Complaints and used in the future to avoid such a situation arising again.

3. What this Complaints Policy Covers

3.1 This Complaints Policy applies to our sale of goods and/or agents, and customer service.

3.2 For the purposes of this Complaints Policy, any reference to us, Equine-X Ltd, also includes our agents.

3.3 Complaints may relate to any of our activities and may include (but not be limited to):

3.3.1 The quality of customer service you have received from us;

3.3.2 The behavior and/or professional competence of our agents;

3.3.3 Delays, defects or other problems associated with the sale of goods;

3.4 The following are not considered to be Complaints and should therefore be addressed accordingly:

3.4.1 General questions about our goods;

3.4.2 Returns of damaged, faulty, incorrect or unwanted goods for exchange or refund in accordance with our Terms of Sale where there is no further complaint;

3.4.3 Matters concerning contractual or other legal disputes;

3.4.4 Formal requests for the disclosure of information, for example, under applicable legislation;

4. Making a Complaint

4.1 All Complaints, whether they concern our goods, agents, or customer service should be made in one of the following ways:

4.1.1 In writing, addressed to The Director, Equine-X Ltd, CIDO Innovation Centre, 73 Charlestown Road, Portadown, County Armagh, BT63 5PP.

4.1.2 By email, addressed to The Director at connect@equine-x.com;

4.1.3 Using our Complaints Form, following the instructions included with the form;

4.2 When making a Complaint, you will be required to provide the following information in as much detail as is reasonably possible:

4.2.1 Your name, address, telephone number and email address (We will contact you using your preferred contact method as your Complaint is handled);

4.2.2 If you are making a Complaint on behalf of someone else, that person’s name and contact details as well as your own;

4.2.3 If you are making a Complaint about a particular transaction, the order number and date of order.

4.2.4 If you are making a Complaint about a particular agent of ours, the name and, where appropriate, position of that agent;

4.2.5 Further details of your Complaint including, as appropriate, all times, dates, events, and people involved;

4.2.6 Details of any documents or other evidence you wish to rely on in support of your Complaint;

4.2.7 Details of what you would like us to do to resolve your Complaint and to put things right. (Please note that whilst we will make every reasonable effort to accommodate such requests, we are not bound to take any action beyond that which we may be contractually or otherwise legally obliged to take.

5. How We Handle Your Complaint

5.1 Following our Complaints Procedure, our aim is to always resolve complaints to your satisfaction.

5.2 Upon receipt of your Complaint, the Director will log the Complaint in our complaints log and will acknowledge receipt of it in writing within 3 business days, giving you a Complaint Reference.

When we acknowledge receipt of your Complaint, we will also inform you of who is to handle your Complaint. This may be the person to whom your original Complaint was directed (as above) or your Complaint may be delegated to an appropriate member of our team.

5.3 If your Complaint relates to a specific agent, that person/organization will be informed of your Complaint and given a fair and reasonable opportunity to respond. Any communication between you and the agent in question should take place only through the person handling your complaint and we respectfully ask that you do not contact the agent in question directly concerning the Complaint while we are working to resolve it.

5.4 If we require any further information or evidence from you, we will contact you as quickly as is reasonably possible to ask for it. We ask that you use reasonable efforts to supply any such information or evidence quickly in order to avoid delaying the complaints handling process. If you are for any reason unable to provide such information or evidence, we will use all reasonable efforts to proceed without it, however please be aware that we will not ask for further information or evidence unless we consider it important to the successful resolution of your Complaint.

5.5 We aim to resolve Complaints within 10 business days, however in some cases, particularly if your Complaint is of a complex nature, this may not be possible. If this is not possible for any reason you will be informed of the delay, the likely length of the delay and the reasons for it.

5.6 At the conclusion of the complaints procedure, regardless of the outcome, we will provide you with full details of our investigation, our conclusions from that investigation, and any action taken as a result. Our decision at this stage is final.

6. Confidentiality and Data Protection

6.1 All Complaints and information relating thereto are treated with the utmost confidence. Such information will only be shared with those agents who need to know in order to handle your Complaint.

6.2 We may ask for your permission to use details of your Complaint (with your personal details removed) for internal training and quality improvement purposes. If you have given such permission, you may revoke it at any time by contacting connect@equine-x.com.

6.3 All personal information that we may collect (including, but not limited to, your name and address) will be collected, used and held in accordance with the provisions of UK data protection law (including but not limited to the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003) and your rights thereunder, as set out in our Privacy Policy.

7. Questions and Further Information

If you have any questions or require further information about any aspect of this Complaints Policy or about our Complaints Procedure, please contact The Director by post at Equine-X Ltd, CIDO Innovation Centre, 73 Charlestown Road, Portadown, County Armagh, BT63 5PP, by telephone on +44(0)28 3883 2126, or by email at connect@equine-x.com.

8. Policy Responsibility and Review

8.1 Overall responsibility for this Complaints Policy and the implementation thereof lies with the Company Directors.

8.2 This Complaints Policy is regularly reviewed and updated as required.

8.3 This Complaints Policy was adopted on 09 Oct 2023.

8.4 This Complaints Policy was last reviewed on 04 Dec 2023.