Complaints Policy

1 March 2022, Ver 2.1

Cheqdin is committed to providing quality service to our customers. If you are not satisfied with the level of service you have received from us, we would like you to tell us about it.

All complaints are taken seriously and any feedback is appreciated as it allows us to improve our standards. Our support and product development teams consider and review all complaints and feedback received.

1. Complaint Definition

'An expression of dissatisfaction with any individual, service or lack of service whereby a response is reasonably expected and has not been resolved by an informal approach'.

2. Introduction

The following describes the Cheqdin Childcare Software Complaints and Escalations Policy. This document will apply to all customers (childcare centres and/or centre staff, admins) who are dissatisfied with the provision of Cheqdin's service and wish to make a formal complaint. Any existing and prospective Cheqdin customer may use the procedure.

3. Principles

Cheqdin constantly seeks to improve services and aims to deal thoroughly, objectively and fairly with any complaint about business services and to offer an appropriate remedy to anyone adversely affected by a service which fails to meet our standards.

- Customers, individually or collectively, are entitled to raise legitimate complaints. Cheqdin will not penalise anyone for making a legitimate complaint. This entitlement is balanced by the requirement that the rights are not misused and that the professional reputation of employees is protected. Action may be taken if a complaint is shown to be malicious, frivolous, or vexatious.

- The correspondence generated during the complaint procedure will remain confidential and that all parties will respect this.

- Cheqdin cannot deal fully with anonymous complaints, as a personal response would no longer be an option. If the complainant is concerned about revealing their identity, advice may be sought from a Cheqdin employee who is familiar with the customer.

- Customers are advised to raise the issue informally and only once. It is anticipated that the vast majority of complaints will be resolved at this stage. This is the first and preferred method of resolution, without recourse to formal procedures. Informal complaints will be recorded at this stage, which will override any further informal approach made by any other individual subsequent to this.

4. Customer Complaints Procedure

The Cheqdin leadership team has overall responsibility for the complaints procedure. It monitors the complaints, tickets and comments received and the effectiveness of this procedure in addressing them. Subject to complaints being dealt with on a case-by-case basis, the Senior Leadership team will review any common causes, patterns and emerging trends of complaints.

The Complaints Team are responsible for arranging, recording and ensuring that decisions are conveyed to the Senior Management team. All detailed documentation will be kept confidential.

5. How to make a complaint

We take all complaints very seriously and aim to deal with any issues quickly and fairly. We also want to learn and improve the experience we give to our customers each time we resolve a query.

Our complaint procedures cover all aspects of our services, including:

• Products
• Sales
• Support services
• Training services

If you feel we haven’t addressed your concerns, please follow the steps below:

Step 1

If you are unhappy with a specific aspect of our service, our customer support team is here to help. Please contact them here by raising a support ticket. Our team will respond as quickly as possible. During busier times, responses may take longer than usual. However, we always aim to respond within 5 working days.

Step 2

After a technical or support ticket is received, please allow us up to 15 - 20 working days to resolve your request and fix any open issues. All support tickets raised with us are monitored and tracked internally for quality assurance and training purposes using Atlassian JIRA Software. There might be situations or use cases where it might take longer to arrive at a resolution. Under such circumstances, the support team will communicate to you that your ticket is being worked on. We will provide updates on a case-by-case basis depending on the ticket's priority. According to the ticket raised and the details provided, we, at our sole discretion, classify the tickets as P1 (Priority One - Highest), P2 (Medium) and P3 (Low) priority. We aim to deal with and update the status of all P1 tickets within 15 working days and all P2 and P3 tickets within 20 working days.

Step 3

If you have already contacted our support team, raised a technical or support ticket, allowed us the opportunity to resolve the matter and feel that your query has not been resolved, you can escalate your issue through our complaints process by informing your account manager by email. Your account manager is your first point of contact for escalation. The account manager will keep you updated on the progress of your tickets and help resolve any outstanding issues or queries.

Step 4

If you still feel that the resolutions provided or updates received on a query are unsatisfactory, your ticket will then be escalated as a complaint to the leadership team of both the support and the product leadership teams. The points you raised will be investigated thoroughly within the following timescale:

• Acknowledgement of your correspondence within 5 working days
• A thorough review of the issue and response within 10 working days outlining what we have done to help resolve or address your query.

Should the issue be complex and require additional or further investigation, we’ll advise you about this within 15 working days.

While assessing and responding to your complaint, we’ll:

• Ensure your query is kept confidential
• Deal with your query in a polite and helpful way
• Give you a contact name and telephone number
• Learn from complaints and use them to review and improve our services in the future

You can also make a complaint by post to:

Cheqdin Childcare Software, 6 International Avenue, Cirrus Building, ABZ Business Park, AB21 0BH, United Kingdom

You will need to provide:

• - your full name
• - a contact address (preferably telephone and email address)
• - Cheqdin Customer ID
• - the date on which the problem arose
• - the response you would like from us
• - all supporting evidence.
• - Cheqdin is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity. You are encouraged to inform us at the earliest opportunity of any disability, enabling us to make the appropriate adjustments and support throughout the complaint process.

6. The investigation

Your account manager will first undertake the investigation and then escalate if required. They will aim to respond within fifteen working days of receiving your complaint to let you know the outcome of the investigation and details of any action taken. If Cheqdin is unable to provide you with a response within these timescales, you will be informed.

If you would like to try to resolve your complaint informally at any time during this stage or later, you can do this by contacting your account manager or the support team by emailing support@cheqdin.com.

7. Outcomes

(a). Complaint not upheld (if the complaint is felt not to be warranted)

(b). Complaint upheld in whole or in part (if the complaint, or part of it, is felt to be fair in any of its elements)

• In the event of a complaint being upheld in whole or in part, recommendations will be made in respect of the remedial action required or we will explain the remedial actions already taken in response to your complaint and tickets raised. Cheqdin will respond by detailing how the complaint has been investigated, the evidence used, the conclusion reached, and, if appropriate, the steps to be taken or taken to resolve the matter. Cheqdin may be unable to give you the precise redress requested, but you can state if you are satisfied with the proposals and resolutions.

You may appeal against the outcome. Grounds for appeal must include additional evidence to that submitted originally and indicate in writing why the response to the complaint is unsatisfactory. Considering all the previous attempts at resolution, Cheqdin will make the final decision at their sole discretion. The final review will be conducted, and a decision will be provided within 5 working days of the appeal being submitted.

If you are still unsatisfied with the outcome and have exhausted Cheqdin's complaint procedures, you can escalate to whomsoever it may concern as appropriate.

8. Terms of Service:

By using our website, you agree to be bound by, and to comply with, our Terms of Use. If you do not wish to continue using Cheqdin, you may cancel your subscription with us anytime by emailing support@cheqdin.com. Our application is provided to you “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” and with all faults and defects without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted under applicable law, Cheqdin Childcare Software, on its own behalf and on behalf of its affiliates and its and their respective licensors and service providers, expressly disclaims all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise, with respect to the Application, including all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement, and warranties that may arise out of course of dealing, course of performance, usage or trade practice. Without limitation to the foregoing, Cheqdin Childcare Software provides no warranty or undertaking. It makes no representation of any kind that the Application will meet your requirements, achieve any intended results, be compatible or work with any other software, applications, systems or services, operates without interruption, meet any performance or reliability standards or be error-free or that any errors or defects can or will be corrected.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of or limitations on implied warranties or the limitations on the applicable statutory rights of a consumer, so some or all of the above exclusions and limitations may not apply to you.