Complaints
What we do for our customers
Friends Life is committed to giving you the service you need. If you tell us about a problem, we’ll try our best to put it right. We appreciate your feedback as it can help us to improve our future service and products. When contacting us with your complaint we will, wherever possible, take action to resolve the issue.
Contacting us with your complaint
To help us address all your concerns quickly and accurately, please give us full details of your complaint, provide us with any supporting documentation and let us know what we could do to resolve the matter to your satisfaction. You can complain by telephone, letter, email or fax - whichever is easier for you.
Complaint procedure
When we receive your complaint we will either:
- Resolve your concerns immediately and respond or
- Send you a written acknowledgement promptly and tell you the name of the person or team that will be dealing with your complaint.
Within four weeks of receiving your complaint we will either:
- Issue a final response to your complaint or
- Update you on the investigation and let you know when we will contact you again.
Within eight weeks of receiving your complaint we will either:
- Issue a final response or
- Tell you why we are not in a position to provide a final response and indicate when we expect to be able to do so.
Final Response
On receipt of a final response or on reaching the eight week point we will tell you about your option of referring your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Pensions Ombudsman (as appropriate) if you remain dissatisfied.
If you are satisfied with our final response, you need take no further action.
If you feel we have not addressed all your concerns in our final response, please tell us what we can do to resolve these to your satisfaction, before approaching the Ombudsman.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)
The Financial Ombudsman Service provides an independent and free service to consumers. Their role is to settle disputes between financial businesses and their customers.
The FOS will not normally review your complaint until we have issued our final response or until eight weeks have passed since we received your complaint. Referring your complaint to the FOS does not affect your legal rights.
We will, at the appropriate time, inform you when you may refer your complaint to the FOS and will send you a consumer leaflet that tells you about the service provided by the FOS.
If you refer your complaint to the FOS, you should do so within six months of receiving our final response.
If your complaint is about the administration of an occupational or private pension arrangement, the FOS may refer your complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman.
The Pensions Ombudsman (PO)
The Pensions Ombudsman investigates complaints about how pension schemes are run. Their service is free and open to people who have a complaint against those responsible for the running or administration of pension schemes.
In the first instance, the PO may refer your complaint to the Pensions Advisory Service. TPAS will help anyone who has a problem, complaint or dispute with their occupational or private pension arrangement. If they are unable to help resolve your complaint, it will be passed to the PO.
We Listen leaflet
We Listen leaflet – Heritage Friends Provident and Friends Life customers (opens a new window)
We Listen leaflet – Heritage AXA customers (opens a new window)
We Listen leaflet - Heritage Bupa Health Insurance customer and Friends Life Individual Protection customers (opens a new window)
The We Listen leaflet outlines our complaints procedure and we will provide you with a copy of it with our letter acknowledging your complaint.