Complaints Procedure

We are sorry that you feel the need to make a complaint. We take complaints seriously — they tell us where we have got things wrong and help us put them right. This procedure explains how we will deal with your complaint and how to escalate if we cannot resolve it together.

1. How to make a complaint

Get in touch in whichever way is easiest for you:

• Email: hello@afterlifetechnologies.co.uk
• Phone: 0800 [number to be confirmed]
• Post: Complaints Office, AfterLife Technologies Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ

If you would prefer to speak to someone other than the Concierge co-ordinator you were working with, please say so — we will assign a different person.

2. What to include

To help us investigate, please tell us:

• Your name and how to reach you
• The dates of the events in question
• Who you were dealing with (if known)
• What happened
• What you would like us to do to put it right

If you can't remember names or dates, please share as much as you can. We will work with what you have.

3. What happens next

Once we receive your complaint:

1. Within 3 working days: we acknowledge receipt of your complaint by your preferred contact method.
2. Within 10 working days: a senior member of the AfterLife team (someone not involved in the original case) will review the matter, contact you to gather any further information, and aim to give you a substantive response. If the case is complex and we need more time, we will tell you and give you a new date for our response.
3. Within 8 weeks: we will provide a final response in writing. This is the maximum time, per Financial Conduct Authority guidance even for non-FCA-regulated services we follow as best practice.

4. Our commitments

When you complain, we will:

• Treat you fairly and with respect, however difficult the situation
• Tell you who is handling your complaint and how to reach them
• Be honest about what went wrong and what we will do about it
• Tell you in plain English, not jargon
• Apologise sincerely where we have made a mistake
• Where appropriate, offer a refund, a goodwill payment, or other practical remedy
• Learn from your complaint so the same thing doesn't happen to someone else

5. If you're not satisfied with our response

If our final response doesn't resolve things for you, you can escalate to an appropriate external body. Which one depends on what the complaint is about — see the next section for the right contacts.

You generally have six months from our final response to escalate to most ombudsmen, so don't delay.

6. Regulators and ombudsmen

Funeral and end-of-life services

For complaints about a funeral director we recommended:

• National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) — for NAFD members. nafd.org.uk
• National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) — for SAIF members. saif.org.uk
• Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — for matters of price transparency under the Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021

Pre-paid funeral plans

• Financial Ombudsman Service: 0800 023 4567, financial-ombudsman.org.uk
• Financial Conduct Authority: 0800 111 6768, fca.org.uk

Legal services (probate, wills, LPAs)

• Legal Ombudsman: 0300 555 0333, legalombudsman.org.uk
• Solicitors Regulation Authority: 0370 606 2555, sra.org.uk

Data protection / privacy

• Information Commissioner's Office: 0303 123 1113, ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Consumer rights

• Citizens Advice consumer helpline: 0808 223 1133, citizensadvice.org.uk
• Trading Standards: via Citizens Advice

7. Serious safeguarding issues

If you believe a vulnerable adult or child is at risk of harm, please call:

• 999 in an immediate emergency
• Local council adult social services for adult safeguarding concerns
• NSPCC: 0808 800 5000 for child safeguarding concerns

If you raise a safeguarding concern with AfterLife, we will treat it confidentially within our team and may have a legal duty to share it with appropriate authorities.