Complaints Policy

What is a complaint?

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made to us, related to our products, services, or the complaints handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected.

Who do you contact if you have a customer complaint?

Firstmac welcomes all feedback from all our customers. If you have a concern that can’t be resolved straight away, we will investigate your case and keep you informed of the progress.

If you have a complaint, please contact Firstmac at:

Phone: 13 12 20, 7am - 7pm Monday to Friday
Email: customerrelations@firstmac.com.au
Postal address: GPO Box 7001 Brisbane, QLD 4001

What is our process in dealing with complaints?

Firstmac has an Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) process to investigate and respond to all customer complaints within the following timeframes:

Our complaints handling process is in accordance with ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 271, ensuring that we investigate, assess, and resolve complaints promptly and fairly.

Our IDR process is detailed below.

Acknowledgement of your complaint

We aim to acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 24 hours (or 1 business day).

Referral

When we receive a complaint, the matter is referred to a manager with the appropriate knowledge and authority to undertake the investigation. Our aim is to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.

Assessing and Investigation

The manager completes a thorough investigation of your complaint and sources any supporting documentation if required. We will explore resolution options as a matter of priority as part of this process. Once their investigation is completed, full details and results are returned to the Customer Relations team for assessment.

Response

Once we receive the completed complaint investigation, we will then provide the outcome of the investigation and the reasons for reaching that decision to you in the same way you contacted us whether that’s by post, email (if submitted via our website), or telephone. This is known as an internal dispute resolution (IDR) response.

The IDR response is a written response informing you of the following:

• The final outcome of your complaint
• Your right to escalate your complaint to the Australian Complaints Authority (AFCA) if you are not satisfied with our IDR response
• The contact details of AFCA.

Please note, that if we resolve your complaint to your satisfaction or give you an explanation and/or apology when we can take no further action to reasonably address your complaint within the end of the fifth business day after receiving your complaint, we will not provide you with an IDR response.

If your complaint is resolved and closed by the end of the fifth business day and you require a written IDR response, we will attend to doing so.

If you aren’t satisfied with our final response to your complaint, you have the option to contact the external dispute resolution scheme, Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) with your concerns.

Before you contact AFCA, you must give Firstmac the opportunity to investigate and respond to your complaint. You can contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority at www.afca.org.au or on 1800 931 678 or email info@afca.org.au.

Customers that might need extra help and support

At Firstmac, we consider complaints as a valuable opportunity to enhance our customer service to you and strive to improve our products and services. In doing so, we offer additional support to our customers when they are experiencing unexpected events and other vulnerabilities, such as domestic or family violence, financial abuse and/or exposure to events such as natural disasters, floods and fire.

Additional Assistance

If you require additional assistance, such as an interpreter or have any special requirements, please advise us so we can support you further.