Complaints Procedure

Write to [email protected] and tell us what went wrong. You do not need a form, a solicitor or a particular wording: if you tell us you are making a complaint, it is recorded and reviewed as one.

You can also raise it through support and ask that it be treated as a complaint rather than a question. If you would rather write on paper, the address is 1801 Peninsula Verde Dr.

The platform is pre-launch. Trading is not enabled and no orders are being settled, so there are no order complaints yet. This procedure is live regardless, and applies to anything you deal with us about now — registering an account, an enquiry, correspondence, or something on this website you believe is wrong.

What to include

A complaint is easier to resolve when it contains the facts. If you have them, include:

• the order reference, or the email address on the account;
• the date, and the approximate time if it matters;
• the voucher brand and face value, if the complaint concerns an order;
• what you expected to happen;
• what actually happened;
• what you would like us to do about it;
• copies of any correspondence, screenshots or receipts.

Do not send a voucher code in a complaint. If you already submitted the code with an order, we hold it encrypted and the operator working the order can read it — sending it again adds risk and nothing else. If you have not submitted it, do not put a code in an email, a chat window or a photograph. Never read a code to anyone who has contacted you about it; if that has already happened, read what to do if you have sent a voucher code.

If something makes complaining harder — you would rather write in another language, you need a different format, you want a family member or a representative to write for you — say so. We accept complaints from a representative where you have authorised them in writing.

You may complain anonymously. Be aware of the limit: if we cannot identify the order or the account, we can act on what you tell us about how we operate, but we cannot investigate a specific transaction or write back to you about it.

What happens next

It is recorded

Your complaint is entered in the complaints register with the date and time it arrived and given a reference. You receive written acknowledgement with that reference, so there is a record on both sides that it exists.

Someone uninvolved reviews it

The review is carried out by a person who was not involved in the decision you are complaining about. Because approving an order and releasing its money are done by two different operators, neither of those two reviews a complaint about that order. Where the complaint concerns the compliance officer, it goes to the person to whom the compliance function reports.

This is the point of the procedure. A second look by the person who made the first decision is not a review.

The reviewer works from the record

The reviewer reads the order record, the notes taken when the operator contacted the voucher issuer, the correspondence, and the audit log showing who accessed the voucher code and any identity document, and when. If your account of events and ours differ, the audit trail is what settles it, and it is not editable by the staff whose conduct is in question.

We may come back to you with questions. Answering them usually shortens the review.

You get an answer in writing

The outcome sets out what we found, what we are doing about it, and what you can do next if you remain dissatisfied. Where we were wrong, we say so plainly rather than describing it as a misunderstanding.

How long it takes

This page does not state a number of days, because no such period has been fixed. What governs the timing is how much has to be checked, whether we must contact the voucher issuer or a bank and wait for them, and whether the matter touches an open compliance case.

If a review is taking longer than expected, we will tell you that it is and why — unless the reason is one we are not permitted to give, which is described below.

What a review can change

A reviewer has real authority. The outcome can:

• reverse a refusal that was wrong on the facts;
• correct a commission, an exchange rate applied, or an amount paid;
• release an order that was held for a reason that turns out not to hold;
• correct inaccurate records, including identity records;
• change how we do something, where the complaint has shown a process to be poor;
• apologise, where an apology is owed.

If your complaint is that a voucher failed verification and you believe it should not have, say so and say why. That is a factual question about the issuer's response, and it is reviewable. What happens when a voucher fails verification explains the process the reviewer will be checking against.

What a review cannot change

Three things sit outside the reach of this procedure, and it is more useful to say so now than after a month of correspondence.

Verification. A complaint cannot waive the verification requirement, and no reviewer has authority to release money to a person who has not completed it.

Restricted countries. Where we do not serve a country, that is a question of authorisation and law rather than of customer service. The restricted countries page sets out which markets are affected and why.

Compliance holds. Where an order is held because a compliance case is open, the complaints process cannot lift the hold.

A freeze on settlement while a compliance case is open is an obligation on the operator. It is not a service decision, and there is no one here with the authority to overrule it.

There is a harder part to this. Where a matter has been reported to the authorities, we may be legally prohibited from telling you that a report exists, from explaining why an order is held, or from confirming the nature of the enquiry. In that situation you will receive an answer that is visibly incomplete, and we will not be able to say why it is incomplete. We will not manufacture a different explanation to make the letter read better.

Read that for what it is. The prohibition applies to every matter of that kind, including those that end with nothing found and no action taken against anyone. Our silence is a requirement of law, not a statement about you or a finding against you.

A compliance case does not run indefinitely. When it closes and the constraint no longer applies, the order proceeds or is dealt with, and we will tell you.

Escalation

If the outcome does not satisfy you, reply and say so, and say which part of it you think is wrong. The complaint is then escalated within the operator to the person responsible for the function concerned, and — where it involves identity, screening or a hold — to the compliance officer. That is a genuine second stage, not the same letter with a different signature.

Beyond us, the route depends on the subject:

• Data protection. Take it to the data protection authority with jurisdiction over us or over you. The privacy policy explains what we hold and why, and [email protected] handles data questions directly.
• Payments. Where a bank, a card issuer or a payment provider is involved in what went wrong, that firm will have its own complaints route, and it can act on things we cannot.

Nothing in this procedure limits your legal rights, and using it first does not prevent you from taking a matter elsewhere.

If your complaint is about fraud

If you believe you have been defrauded — someone told you to buy a voucher and read them the code, or an order was placed on your account without your authority — write to [email protected] rather than waiting on the complaints route, because speed matters more there.

Report it to the police in your own country as well. A complaint to us is not a substitute for a police report, and in most jurisdictions only a report to the authorities starts the process that can trace money.

If someone is pressuring you right now, stop and read voucher scams before you do anything else. No tax office, court, bank, utility or technical support service asks to be paid in prepaid vouchers.

Complaints about how you were treated

Not every complaint is about an order. If a member of staff was rude or dismissive, if you were asked for a document you had already provided, if you were left without a reply, or if you believe you were treated unfairly for a reason that has nothing to do with the merits of your order, that is a complaint and it is reviewed in the same way. Say what happened and when, and we will find it in the record.

Records

Complaints, the evidence considered and the outcomes are retained for five years, alongside the order records to which they relate. Your rights over that data, and the reason a deletion request cannot shorten the retention period, are set out in the privacy policy.

Complaints are also read in aggregate. A single complaint that reveals a bad process is worth more to us than the individual outcome, and changes made as a result are recorded against the complaint that prompted them.

Contacts

• Complaints: [email protected]
• Everyday questions and order help: [email protected]
• Suspected fraud: [email protected]
• Data protection: [email protected]
• Compliance and identity verification: [email protected]

Writing to the right address first is usually the fastest thing you can do. If you write to the wrong one, we will pass it on and tell you we have.