Customer Complaint Policy

DoulaCare Academy Ltd. endeavours to put our customers needs at the very heart of the way we develop and enhance our services. We are committed to providing a high standard of service to all our customers. We welcome comments and suggestions about our performance and conduct in the discharge of our work, duties and responsibilities from clients using our service. 

DoulaCare Academy Ltd. will actively seek client feedback via feedback forms and from time to time via client surveys. We will also promote the use of customer feedback via our social media as well as face to face interaction. Customer feedback will be analysed and viewed as an opportunity to assist in the ongoing improvement of our service. 

We view feedback as an opportunity to engage in continuous service development. It enables us to examine our practises and procedures and identify areas of improvement going forward. 

All the team at DoulaCare Academy Ltd. work hard to maintain and improve the standard of service and keep errors to a minimum. However, we recognise that we may on occasion make mistakes, or that customers may feel the service they have received from us may have been unsatisfactory. As a customer of our you are entitled to make a complaint to us and if you are not satisfied with the service which you have received from us, you should let us know immediately and we will deal with your complaint in confidence.

We are committed to resolving complaints in an effective and timely manner, and will undertake to keep you informed of how we are doing with your complaint within certain timeframes (stated below). 

Where appropriate we are committed to acknowledging any mistakes we may make and endeavour to put matters right whenever possible. 

Your complaint will be treated fairly and impartially and, as far as possible, in confidence. Where an error has been made, and apology and explanation will be offered and every effort will be made to rectify the matter. It must be recognised however that customers may not always like the outcome of their complaint but this policy aims to provide reassurance that a thorough investigation of the issues raised will be undertaken and provides a pathway to support a customer through a resolution process.

Definitions

In this Complaints Procedure references to “We” are to DoulaCare Academy and references to “You” are to an individual bringing or appealing a complaint under this Complaints Procedure. 

For the purpose of this procedure, a “client or customer” is anyone who contacts DoulaCare Academy (DoulaCare) to request a service, class or training course from us or anyone who is currently receiving a service or taking part in a training or class with us. This definition also applies to anyone who has received a service / training from us in the past (within a specific time frame). 

DoulaCare defines a complaint as 'any expression of dissatisfaction or grievance (with DoulaCare Academy Ltd., with a member of staff, independent contractor (facilitating courses or training days) or with another client) that relates to DoulaCare and that requires a formal response’.

Definition of a Complaint: 

“A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction by one or more members of the public about an organisation’s action or lack of action, or about the standard of service provided by or on behalf of the organisation”.

Procedures and Policies for a Customer Complaint

Who can complain?

Any service user /customer / course participant of DoulaCare Academy Ltd. 

What can you complain about?

The following outlines our policy and procedures for the handling of complaints. 

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction with the way in which DoulaCare Academy has conducted their business. 

Your complaint may relate to : 

• failure to provide a service

• inadequate standard of service

• dissatisfaction with company policy

• dissatisfaction with an aspect of our training or course material

• treatment or attitude by a member of our staff / management

• treatment or attitude from an Independent Contractor/Facilitator we use in our classes or courses to you.

We are unable to accept complaints relating to matters listed below:

• Any matter which is the subject of proposed or ongoing independent inquiry or legal proceedings

• A complaint or feedback which is considered to be vexatious or frivolous.

How to make a complaint?

We always do our utmost to resolve your issue as quickly as possible to everyone’s satisfaction. 
We would recommend that where possible, you talk to your contact at our company first to see if your complaint can be resolved in this manner.  Our objective is to resolve the vast majority of enquiries and complaints during a customers first call or email to us. 

If this is not possible then you can complain to us by emailing us to info@doulacare.ie outlining the nature of your complaint.

A complaint should be made as soon as possible after the action giving rise to it, - normally within three months of the event. 

However, in exceptional circumstances, if a complainant can demonstrate that they only became aware of the circumstances relating to the complaint up to six months after the event, the company (if it is deemed to be in the public interest to do so), can extend this time limit to a period not exceeding 12 months.

All complaints will be handled in confidence.

If someone has difficulty with spoken or written English, or your first language is not English, we will provide assistance to you in making your compliant 

We can also provide assistance if you are visually impaired or a member of the Deaf Community

The Complaints Handling Process

We aim to resolve the majority of complaints through our early resolution process - an immediate and informal process whereby a complaint can be dealt with to the satisfaction of both parties quickly without a need to become formalised. 

Early resolution process

Where possible an employee will deal quickly with any issue or complaint from a client or customer. Our employees will aim to resolve the matter and (if necessary) involve a Manager as appropriate. 

All our employees will be aware of and trained in, the operation of the complaints handling process and be empowered to deal with and resolve complaints as they arise. They are empowered to provide a level of service recovery which is appropriate and proportionate to resolving the complaint.

With this process you talk to your contact at our company first to see if your complaint can be resolved in this manner.  Our objective is to resolve the vast majority of enquiries and complaints during a customers first call or email to us. Please contact a member of our admin team via email to let them know about your complaint and allow them time to resolve it quickly (within 5 working days). 

If you are unhappy with the response from the person you contacted,  if you do not feel comfortable bringing a complaint to this person,  or if your complaint relates to this person, then you can either ask to deal with another member of our staff or request a more formalised process (Stage One) - outlined below. 

Stage One: 

If you wish to proceed to Stage One (or bypass the Early Resolution Process), you can fill in our Customer Complaints Form on our website: www.doulacare.ie/complaint-form 

Once received, we will acknowledge your complaint by email within seven working days. We may need to follow up with you to get further information to help with our enquiries or we may offer to phone you to discuss your complaint further. The goal is to establish all of the facts relevant to the points raised and provide a full, objective and proportionate response to the customer’s complaint. 

Once we fully understand your complaint and how you would like to see it resolved, we will respond to you within 30 working days of your complaint being acknowledged. We will tell you what we have done and if we feel it is possible to resolve this issue for you. If there is a reason that we cannot resolve your complaint either at all, or that we may need longer to resolve the issue - we will notify you of this and the reason for it. If you are not happy with the outcome of this process you can ask us to review the decision. This then becomes Stage Two.

Complaints going straight to Stage 1

Some complaints will go straight to Stage 1 (i.e bypass Early Resolution Process) 

Examples of this would be:

• when the complainant doesn’t want to engage with the employee or contact at DoulaCare Academy Ltd.

• When the complainant does not wish to undertake an Early Resolution Process

• If the complaint is more complex than one that can be handled by Early Resolution.
  
  

Stage Two:

If you are unhappy with the decision reached at Stage One, you must respond to the email you receive from us with our decision on your complaint, and ask for a formal investigation of your complaint. 

You must state why you are unhappy with the result and how you would like to see the matter resolved. You must ask for this review within 20 working days of receipt of the Stage One resolution decision. 

We will acknowledge this request within seven working days and a Manager of DoulaCare Academy Ltd. will then examine the details of the complaint and the response you received at the Stage One process. Once again, the Manger may contact you to get a greater understanding of the issues or may ask to meet with you to discuss further. 

The reviewer may also need to examine documentation and / or talk to other people involved. 

This process can take up to 30 working days and you will be notified of the decision once the review is complete. If, in exceptional circumstances, we need more time we will inform you as soon as possible and will provide updates to you every 20 working days thereafter. 

Complaints going straight to Stage 2 

Some complaints will go straight to Stage 2 (i.e bypass Stage 1) 

Examples of this would be

• when the complainant doesn’t want to engage with the employee

• When the complainant requests that their complaint be addressed to the manager

• For more serious issues that require management input.

  
  

  Ombudsman

  
  If we do not succeed in resolving your complaint, you may complain to the Ombudsman (or Ombudsman for Children, if appropriate). The Ombudsman is independent and can look into your complaint if you believe that you personally, or the person on whose behalf you are complaining: have been treated unfairly or received a bad service through some failure on our part have been disadvantaged personally by a service failure.
  
  The Ombudsman expects you to bring your complaint to our attention first and to give us a chance to put things right. You can contact the Ombudsman by:
  

  telephone: 01 6395600 Lo-Call: 1890223030
  email: ombudsman@ombudsman.ie
  the website: www.ombudsman.ie
  writing to: The Office of the Ombudsman
  18 Lower Leeson Street Dublin 2 

Recording and Reporting of Complaints

It is important to identify areas of learning from complaints so that we can improve performance and reduce the likelihood of any recurrence of the issues giving rise to the complaint. As a result, we keep a confidential record of all complaints received and we share the learning anonymously within the organisation. 

We will record the following for each compliant: 

• Details of the complainant and the nature of the complaint 

• Date lodged

• Action taken

• Date of resolution and reason for decision 

• Indication of complainant being notified of outcome 

• Complainant response and any further action. 

  
  Copies of correspondence and other materials received by DoulaCare Academy in connection with any complaints will be kept for 7 years and files will be confidential.

Data Protection

All personal information received by the company in relation to a complaint shall be stored in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 (as amended, superseded, or replaced from time to time) and the General Data Protection and the Freedom of Information Act 2014

For further information, please read our Data Protection Notice and Confidentiality Policy which are available on our website, www.DoulaCare.ie

Issues that fall outside of this complaints policy

In times of trouble or distress, some people may act out of character. There may have been upsetting or distressing circumstances leading up to a complaint. We do not view behaviour as unacceptable just because someone is forceful or determined.  We believe that all complainants have the right to be heard, understood and respected. 

However, we also consider that our staff have the same rights. We, therefore, expect you to be polite and courteous in your dealings with us. We will not tolerate aggressive or abusive behaviour, unreasonable demands or unreasonable persistence 

DoulaCare Academy employees will not deal with telephone calls if the caller is considered aggressive, abusive or offensive. They will explain that the behaviour is unacceptable and terminate the call if the behaviour does not stop. Likewise we do not deal with correspondence that is abusive or contains allegations that lack substantive evidence. When this happens, we will tell a complainant that we consider their language offensive, unnecessary and unhelpful. We will ask you to stop using such language and state that we will not respond if this does not stop. All correspondence in this manner will be referred onto a DoulaCare Manager. 

Finally if you are an Irish Life Health Policy Holder and your complaint relates to an issue with your policy or with Irish Life Health themselves this is not something we can investigate. Your issue must be directed towards Irish Life Health. We can only deal with complaints relating to the service you received from DoulaCare Academy Ltd.