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Customer Agreement stage two: Submission of detailed complaint

At this stage, so we can continue to review your complaint, we need you to agree to some additional terms and conditions set out below.

Things to remember:

  • As we mentioned at [Stage 1], you may need to think about legal time limits (for example, if you want to bring legal action, generally you must do so within 6 years after the problem arose). If you’re not clear what this might mean for you, please ask us and we’ll try to help.
  • Our service has been designed so that you do not have to use any professional assistance (e.g. an accountant, lawyer, etc.) to bring your case (or cases) to us. This means you will not be able to recover any costs you incur by using your own advisers unless we have approved such expenses in advance.
  • If at any time whilst we are dealing with your complaint, you break any of the above agreements you have made with us, or behave in an abusive or threatening way to anyone at the BBRS or working on our behalf, we may stop considering your case.

Things to note:

  • If your case goes through our formal adjudication process – rather one of our other dispute resolution methods such as mediation – we will make a decision on your complaint based on what is fair and reasonable. This decision is called a ‘Determination’.
  • As we work towards making a Determination, we will continue to assess the eligibility of your case.
  • If we uphold your complaint, we can make an award for fair compensation for loss caused by the bank, which the bank will be required to pay up to certain limits. We can also recommend awards above those limits.
  • Once we have made a Determination in your case, if you want to accept it, you will have to tell us by the deadline we set out in the Determination.
  • If you accept the Determination, your complaint will come to an end and will be fully and finally settled between you and your bank. You will be required to sign a document to this effect when accepting the Determination. We will explain it to you further when the time comes because it is very important you understand that it means you will not be able to take any further action against the bank about your complaint.
  • If you want to reject the Determination, you will be free to do so and can then pursue other action outside the BBRS if you wish to do so. This will be made clear to you when you receive the Determination.
  • If you wish to appeal the Determination, you will have to do so by the deadline we set out in the Determination. We will explain this to you further when the time comes because it is important that you understand that you can appeal only for certain reasons, not simply because you do not like the outcome.

Personal data

You agree with the BBRS that:

  • you have read and understood our Privacy Policy which sets out how your personal data, and that of other people whose personal data you provide to us, will be processed for the purpose of dealing with your case and you acknowledge that this may include us passing such personal data to your bank where that is necessary to deal with your case.
  • you will comply with all applicable data protection laws when sharing personal data with us.
  • in particular, you agree that you will not give us any personal data about anybody else (including their email addresses, phone numbers – and especially not sensitive personal data such as their financial position or state of health) unless you have processed their data lawfully, and have their permission or another legal basis to do so in accordance with data protection laws. If you do have such permission, we will need to see it.
  • all the information you provide to the BBRS is accurate to the best of your knowledge.
  • the BBRS and your bank may rely on these agreements by you.

Your agreement with the BBRS

This agreement replaces the one you made at [Stage 1]/when you registered your complaint.

As with your [Stage 1] agreement, this is an agreement between your business and the BBRS.

If you are not sure about what this or anything else below means, please ask your customer champion.

When we use the words “we”, “us” and “our” we mean the BBRS.  “You” and “your” refer to the business whose complaint we are looking at.

You agree with the BBRS that:

Scheme Rules

  • During the BBRS process, you will comply with our full Scheme Rules.
  • If you do not, we may cease to consider your complaint, or use any other rights we have.
  • You can find the full Scheme Rules here and summaries of the key points of them here.

Please talk to your customer champion if there is anything about the Scheme Rules you are unsure of, or don’t understand.

  • We can contact your bank to ask for relevant personal and confidential information about you; and
  • your bank can release such information to us; and
  • we can share with your bank relevant information you give us.

Confidentiality

  • For the purposes of this agreement, all information, evidence or documents that you receive from us during the process of dealing with your complaint, whether it is from the bank or anyone else, is confidential information.
  • You must keep confidential information confidential at all times, and must only use it for the purposes of the BBRS dealing with your complaint
  • You must not publish or disclose any part of any confidential information, but you may discuss your case and any confidential information you receive with any person advising or representing you when bringing your complaint to us, but the same rules about confidentiality will apply to that person too.
  • Your obligation of confidentiality applies to you at all times while the BBRS is dealing with your complaint, and will continue after the BBRS stops dealing with it for whatever reason, but you may use confidential information:
    • if you are required to do so by law, or
    • to enforce a BBRS determination in a court, or
    • for the purposes of any other legal proceedings between you and the bank in relation to the subject matter of your complaint
  • We may publish, for the purpose of informing the public about the nature of our work and likely users of the scheme about our approach:
    • aggregate or thematic data about Complaints or their outcomes; or
    • summaries of Determinations or Final Determinations, provided that the names of all of the parties to the Complaint, and all of the individuals referenced in the Determination or Final Determination, are anonymised and (to the extent relevant) any other personal data relating to any individual is removed.

No liability

  • The BBRS, including any organisation working on its behalf, will not be liable to you in damages for anything it does in the course of dealing with your complaint, unless you can show that we acted in bad faith.
  • No individual, including our Chief Adjudicator, any other staff member of the BBRS or any organisation working on our behalf will be liable to you in damages or otherwise for anything done in the course of dealing with your complaint.

No defamation

  • BBRS proceedings will be treated the same as court proceedings for the purpose of defamation law. In other words, no-one will be liable in defamation for things said or written during the course of our dealing with your complaint.

You can withdraw your case at any point during the BBRS process – just let us know.

If you withdraw, or your complaint comes to an end for some other reason, most of this agreement will no longer apply to you.

However, the following parts of this agreement will continue to apply even after you have finished dealing with the BBRS:

  • those relating to handling of your personal data
  • confidentiality
  • no liability
  • no defamation
Click here to confirm you have read, understood and agree with all the above and that you would like us to proceed with your case.

A copy of this agreement will be stored in your case file with the BBRS so you will be able to refer to it all times as we deal with your complaint.