Feedback and complaints

Your views are very important to us and we take any feedback that we receive very seriously. Your comments help us to learn and improve our service.

Why we have this policy

Our supporters’ views are very important to us and we take any feedback that we receive very seriously. Your comments help us to learn and improve our service.

Our definition of a complaint

We define a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction with Pancreatic Cancer Action (PCA), including the services we provide and/or the behaviour of any member of staff.

How to make a complaint to Pancreatic Cancer Action

You can contact us in whichever way is most convenient to you and we will respond by the same method unless you tell us otherwise. Our staff are ready to help you over the phone, by email or letter.

Our response

We will endeavour to respond fully and conclusively to all complaints, as soon as is reasonably possible.

From experience, we have found that the best way to resolve a problem is by telephone. This way we can make sure that we fully understand the issue and can gather the information we need to resolve the problem in a fast and effective way.

What we will do

We will work to fix problems, correct mistakes and address concerns in a fair way. Please feel free when contacting us about a complaint, to let us know how you think it could be resolved. We want to reach the best possible outcome.

We will always treat you with courtesy and respect, listen to what you say, keep you informed about our progress, provide you will a prompt response and tell you who to go to if you want to escalate your complaint further.

From time to time we receive complaints that do not relate directly to something that PCA has done or that we are not in a position to comment on. We are a charity with limited resources which we must use in the best way possible. We may therefore avoid engaging in a lengthy debate on issues that are unrelated to PCA’s work.

There may be rare occasions when we chose not to respond to a complaint at all.

These include:

  • When a complaint is about something that PCA has no direct connection to. We may choose to reply to clear our name but we are not obliged to.
  • When someone unreasonably pursues a complaint that we have already responded to. We will advise you how to escalate your complaint if you wish, but we may choose not to reply again. We will always inform you of our decision to do this.
  • When a complainant is being obviously abusive, prejudiced or offensive in their manner.
  • When a complainant is harassing a staff member or supporter.
  • When a complaint is incoherent or illegible.
  • When a complaint has clearly been sent to us and numerous other organisations as part of a bulk mailing or email. In this instance, we can choose whether it is necessary for us to reply or not.
  • PCA cannot respond to complaints made anonymously. However, we will investigate the complaint and use the information to improve in any way that we can.

Who else can help

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, your complaint will be referred to a more senior member of staff who will try to resolve your problem.

PCA is a member of the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) and is committed to the highest standards in fundraising practice. If your complaint is to do with fundraising and you feel that it has been unresolved by us, then the FRSB can investigate your complaint. The FRSB can be contacted as follows:

Fundraising Standards Board

65 Brushfield Street

London

E1 6AA

Tel: 0333 321 8803

Email: info@frsb.org.uk

If you consider that the issue is serious and you do not feel completely satisfied by our response, you can contact the Charity Commission, which can investigate in circumstances where there is a serious risk of harm to the charity, its assets or the people it is set up to benefit. You can complain to the Charity Commission at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk

Or you can contact them by telephone: Charity Commission First Contact – 0845 300 0218

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