Customer Care
In the unlikely event that you are dissatisfied with the service
provided by an NSI approved company and a complaint to the company
has not been dealt with to your satisfaction, it may be possible
for you to use the NSI complaints service. For further information
and to see if you are eligible to use this service, please see
below.
Who is Covered?
If your security or fire system is currently covered by a
maintenance agreement or is under guarantee with an NSI approved
company, the complaint may be investigated by NSI.
Please check "Find an NSI
approved company" on the Home page to check if a company
is approved by NSI.
What is Covered?
NSI is concerned mainly with the investigation of technical
complaints relating to electronic security and fire systems,
ensuring they are installed and maintained in accordance with NSI
codes of practice and the appropriate British and European
Standards.
NSI will not investigate and does not have power over:
- legal liability
- consideration of questions of a financial settlement between an
NSI approved company and its customer
- discussions and negotiations regarding loss of claims or
potential loss claims
- outstanding payments, or interpretation of NSI approved
companies' terms and conditions of contract
- other financial, commercial and contractual disputes which fall
outside of NSI's remit or jurisdiction
First Steps
In our experience many complaints can be resolved without the
need for NSI intervention. Initially, to avoid protracted
discussions and to retain as much goodwill as possible, we would
encourage you to raise the issue with the company's local
office. If that does not lead to a solution, you should then
raise the issue with the company's head office at whatever level
is appropriate, confirming your points. (You should keep
copies of the correspondence).
If that fails
You should complete an on-line complaint
form. The official NSI complaint procedure can then
commence. As part of the process, information and comments
you make to NSI will be passed on to the NSI approved company.
The complaint process
Please bear in mind that during our investigation of a complaint
we need to give both parties (i.e, the person making the complaint
and the NSI approved company) an opportunity to put their viewpoint
and we may need to put to you comments made by the NSI approved
company, for your response.
The fact that we put to you comments that have been made by
the approved company, which may possibly conflict with what you
have told us, should not be taken as meaning that we have taken the
'side' of the approved company, or that we believe the approved
company's version of events in preference to your version. In
those instances where the facts are disputed, we do usually
need to give each party the opportunity of commenting on the
other's position.
The outcome of the complaint process
In the vast majority of cases, complaints are resolved amicably
by agreement and without too much difficulty. In
a minority of cases, progress may not be made and an agreement
not reached and in some circumstances, disputes may ultimately
become cases for a court of law to deal with.
Where material facts are disputed and agreement cannot be
reached, we may be unable to take either party's side if
corroborating evidence is not available. We are not in a
position to uphold a complaint against an approved company unless
our decision would be likely to "stand-up" if the approved company
makes an appeal.