Customer Care Policy Statement & Standards

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QCF 5.33

QCA ref: 5.1

INTRODUCTION

1. The Learning Machine Ltd is committed to ensuring that customer service excellence is integral to the planning, resourcing and delivery of all its qualifications. These standards will ensure that all sections of our diverse multi-cultural community, including those with special needs, are not excluded from any area of service delivery. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that whenever customers have contact with The Learning Machine they will receive consistently excellent standards of customer service.

POLICY STATEMENT

2. This statement provides the rationale and specific elements of policy on Customer Care and related issues.

The Learning Machine Statement

3. The Learning Machine Ltd recognises that excellent Customer Service must be an integral ingredient in the delivery of high quality services. There is the straightforward moral reason that high standards of customer service are worthy goals for any organisation but in addition there are the following benefits:

Economic - Dealing with dissatisfied customers is expensive.

Conditions of work - Staff job satisfaction is considerably enhanced when Customer Service Standards are high.

Business stability Keeping customers is generally easier than getting new ones

4. The Learning Machine is committed to continually raising standards of Customer Service. The quality of Customer Care and response to issues raised by customers are the key elements of delivering Best Value in a service industry.

The Learning Machine WILL ENSURE THAT:

• The Learning Machine Customer Care Policy Strategy is implemented providing a cost effective, high quality, user-friendly, efficient service.
• Customers have the opportunity to engage in the development process through the web site discussion forums and contact with The Learning Machine personnel, especially their Account Manager.
• Customers understand the complaints procedure and can use it freely as desired.
• It provides measures of customer satisfaction levels through sampling and other means
• Customers are not bothered unduly by collection of information and data from them

In particular:

• We aim to make the web site available for use 24 hours a day seven days a week 52 weeks per year.
• The main point of contact for a Centre is the named Account Manager. The preferred method in the first instance is E-mail. Contact 01827 305940 and ask for your Account Manager by name.
• E-mail addresses take the form firstname dot surname at theingots.org
• The fee structure can be found by clicking the link here.
• We aim to respond to 100% of all customer enquiries within 24 hours and 60% within 1 hour of receiving them by E-mail.
• We aim to respond to 100% of enquiries by standard mail or fax within 10 working days.
• All issues raised by the customer will be acknowledged and responded to within the correspondence.
• We aim to always have an employee of The Learning Machine answer the telephone providing immediate direct contact.
• The Learning Machine telephones will not be left unattended during core hours 9am-5pm
• The Learning Machine answer phones/voice mails will only be used to ensure that telephone calls do not go unanswered
• Recorded messages from The Learning Machine answer phones will be audible, accurate, appropriate and provide an alternative contact number or details
• Answer phone/voicemail will give the caller an option to leave a message whenever practicable
• We aim to reply to requests about reasonable adjustments within the time scales stated and to give a decision within 24 hours unless additional information is required.
• We aim to fit visits to Centres to the needs of the Centre rather than the needs of the Account Manager
• We aim to reduce bureaucracy associated with administration to an absolute minimum and invite Centres and assessors to make suggestions to improve our procedures.
• We provide training and a practical guide for staff in how to deal with customers.
• All The Learning Machine staff are expected to be able to deal directly with customers to the required standards.
• They will be customer focused, courteous, competent, and committed to resolving enquiries as quickly as possible providing any further information that might be useful even if not directly related to the initial enquiry.
• All The Learning Machine staff must be aware of the complaints procedure and understand in broad terms its operations
• All The Learning Machine staff will aim to resolve all concerns raised by the customer immediately and informally before the matter becomes the subject of a formal complaint
• ALL The Learning Machine staff will inform the customer that if the informal resolution is not to their satisfaction, the customer may make a formal complaint and explain how to do this and what to expect.
• Customers will have an acknowledgement to their complaint within 5 days and a full written reply within 15 days
• ALL The Learning Machine staff will aim to resolve complaints at Stage 1 of the Complaints Procedure
• The CEO must analyse complaints about the service and demonstrate that when complaints identify service failures, remedial action is taken so that such problems do not recur.
• Our policy is to support UK customers in English and Spanish as we have native speakers of these languages and translations of the web site and key documents in both languages. We will provide additional language support for the web site and documents as resources allow and there is demonstrated demand.
• The remedies for substantiated complaints in relation to the service provided will be as follows:

  Monitoring and evaluation of performance

  1. Apology
  2. Provide Service
  3. Review working procedure
  4. Review policy
  5. Staff training or guidance
  6. Staff disciplinary action
  7. Financial redress
• We encourage all customers to use the forums and provide suggestions to improve the service
• We will always respond positively to E-mail and other communications with suggestions about service improvements
• The Learning Machine will inform customers when actions have been taken on suggestions via the web site forum
• The Learning Machine provides a continual customer satisfaction survey on the log in page of the certification site.
• The Learning Machine will have systems in place to log, acknowledge, process and respond to complaints
• The Learning Machine will keep records on each complaint indicating as a minimum

  The Learning Machine will ensure that all records, papers, correspondence, notes of telephone conversations and face to face meetings regarding individual complaints, are readily available and easily accessible The Learning Machine will perform an annual formal audit of the procedures and performance associated with customer care and produce a report with recommendations for improvements based on the evidence acquired.

  1. the nature of the complaint,
  2. the date received by The Learning Machine,
  3. the date responded to by The Learning Machine,
  4. the outcome,
  5. the remedy and any action required to prevent recurrence

Fees

Fees related to qualifications are provided at http://www.theingots.org/community/fees

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