Contents
Introduction
Purpose of code
Customer complaints handling and dispute resolution
How to contact us
What happens next?
About Ombudsman Services: Communications
Useful addresses
Introduction
Columbus Telecom Ltd (trading as Columbus UK) is a company that delivers communications and IT services to business customers across the United Kingdom. We make every effort to ensure that our customers receive outstanding services and support at all times and we take great pride in our longevity, experience and exceptional customer service. We have been trading since 1994 and we’ve built up valuable experience managing a wide array of communications and IT services for our business customers. This experience and expertise helps us deliver high quality business services to our customers accompanied by our focussed and highly engaged customer service and account management teams. Some of our services are delivered in conjunction with trusted partners including Wholesale Communications Providers and Technology Vendors. If a fault does arise with any of our services, we are responsible for resolving any issues and we work very closely with our trusted partners such as Openreach, Gamma and Colt to resolve them quickly and efficiently.
Purpose of code
We have produced our Customer Complaints Code as part of our obligations under the telecommunications regulations and in accordance with Ofcom requirements. The purpose of this Code is to provide our customers with details of our complaints handling procedures which are conveyed in a clear and straightforward manner.
Customer complaints handling and dispute resolution
We take all complaints seriously and we will do everything we can to resolve any issue speedily and to your complete satisfaction.
How to contact us
Whilst we make every effort to deliver and support our services reliably at all times and bill them accurately, an issue may arise very occasionally. If your service is affected by an issue we will communicate with you in accordance with your preference(s) which will be discussed with you when you contact us; either by telephone, email or via service status updates published on our web site. Once the issue has been diagnosed and identified we will keep you up to date on progress until the issue is fully resolved. If you are dissatisfied for any reason you can contact us using any of the following methods to make a complaint:
- By telephone: 0333 240 7755 (select option 1 for the Customer Service Team when prompted)
- By fax: 0333 240 2255
- By email: customer.service@columbusuk.com
- In writing: Customer Service Team, Columbus UK, Milngavie Enterprise Centre, Glasgow, G62 8PH.
Our office hours are 09:00 – 17:30 Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). You can also contact us by using our contact form on our web site – https://www.columbusuk.com/contact/ or use our live chat service which is also accessible from our web site.
What happens next?
- If you call us we will ask you to verify your account information to check we are speaking to a nominated account holder and ask you to provide details of your complaint. You will be provided with a case reference and we’ll do our utmost to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction quickly and effectively.
- If you make your complaint by fax, email, live chat or in writing, we will acknowledge receipt and provide you with a case reference number. We will also provide you with contact details so that you can check the progress being made to resolve your complaint. We will try to resolve your complaint quickly and efficiently and communicate updates regularly. If you use the live chat service accessible from our web site your enquiry will be forwarded immediately to our customer service team who will contact you. Please note that this service is only available during working hours (09:00 –17:30 Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays).
- We aim to resolve your complaint within 10 working days. Occasionally this may take longer depending on the nature of the issue. All complaints are logged by us and we aim to acknowledge your case within 24 working hours. Your complaint will be investigated and a case handler assigned. If we cannot resolve your complaint within the first 3 working days, you will be updated regularly by us according to your communication preference(s)
- If for any reason you are not satisfied with the progress being made to resolve your complaint you can request the complaint is escalated to the Customer Service Manager and then ultimately to the Operations Director for a final assessment and case review.
- If for any reason we cannot resolve the issue, we will write to you let you know and explain the reason(s) clearly to you.
- If it has been more than 8 weeks from the date you first contacted us to complain or you have received a letter from us saying that your complaint has reached “deadlock”, then you may ask for help from:
Ombudsman Services:
Communications
PO Box 730
Warrington
WA4 6WU
Tel: 0330 440 1614
Website: www.ombudsman-services.org
About Ombudsman Services: Communications
Ombudsman Services: Communications is an independent organisation which is approved by Ofcom to provide an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service. Ofcom-approved ADR services help resolve disputes between communications providers and their consumer and small business customers. Their job is to investigate complaints fairly by listening to both sides. They look at the facts given to them before recommending any action that may be needed to put things right. Alternatively, if at any time you are not satisfied with the progress being made on your complaint you can request an early referral to an ADR service. However, we may decline this request if the complaint is very close to resolution and / or all steps are being actively taken by us to resolve the issue in accordance with our standard complaint resolution lead time of 10 working days.
Useful addresses
Ombudsman Services: Communications
PO Box 730
Warrington
WA4 6WU
Tel: 0330 440 1614
Website: www.ombudsman-services.org
Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London SE1 9HA
Tel: 020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333
Website: www.ofcom.org.uk
PhonepayPlus (formerly Icstis)
Clove Building
4 Maguire Street
London
SE1 2NQ
Tel: 0800 500 212 or 020 7940 7474
Website: www.phonepayplus.org.uk
Telephone Preference Service
DMA House
70 Margaret Street
London
W1W 8SS
Tel: 0845 070 0707
Website: www.tpsonline.org.uk