Compliments and complaints

The Isle of Man Office of Fair Trading is a Statutory Board that provides appropriate legislation, advice, and compliance services to benefit and protect the Island’s consumers and businesses from unfair trading practices.

We are committed to providing a wide range of services to meet our statutory obligations.

The standards contained in this leaflet apply to all of our services, including how we deal with:

• Enforcing legislation
• Advising on civil legislations
• Advisory and mediation services

We aim to:

• Achieve the highest standards of credibility, character and capability
• respect our clients’ confidentiality
• act impartially, fairly, objectively and consistently in all our work
• be open with our clients
• be courteous and helpful at all times
• act promptly
• provide value for money
• be accountable for what we do

Your responsibilities:

• Give complete and accurate information when you contact us
• Respond as soon as possible if we ask you for more information
• Keep appointments and arriving on time
• To be considerate to our staff and other customers in our waiting area

Feedback and comments

Your comments are welcome as they will help us to improve the service we offer. If you have any comments about the services we provide or those you feel we should provide, please write to the address at the end of this document.

If you believe that we have not met our aims or you are unhappy about any other aspect of our service you may wish to use our complaints procedure.

Please note that we cannot consider a complaint if:

• You are the subject of a prosecution by the OFT. In that case the courts will make the decision on whether we have acted correctly or not
• You are unhappy with an agreed policy that the OFT operates. However, the OFT will consider any views you may have on its policies and their effectiveness
• Your complaint relates to dissatisfaction with a process decision, if the review process for that decision has been fully exhausted
• Your complaint relates to a decision under statute which is open to challenge through the Courts or an appeal mechanism   

If you are not happy with our service:

1. Ask the officer who is dealing with you to explain the situation
2. If you are still unhappy with our service ask to speak to a more senior officer of the OFT who will review your case
3. If you remain dissatisfied with our service you can raise a Formal Complaint
4. If you are unhappy about an issue relating to equality, you should follow the steps above you but should also refer to the information on our Equality Act pages.

Formal Complaint

If you wish to take your concerns further you may make a Formal Complaint.  You should write or email, providing the following information:

• The date of any incident/occurrence relating to your complaint.
• Who or what is the subject of your complaint (officer, process, timescale, etc)
• Full details of the nature of your complaint or issue
• Identify all relevant documents, correspondence and any witnesses to your concerns
• How the actions you complain about have affected you
• Any positive solutions you believe can resolve your complaint
• Any additional comments you believe would be useful in considering your complaint

Our procedure is then as follows:

• On receipt of your written complaint, your complaint will be acknowledged.
• The Director will appoint an Investigating Officer who will have had no connection with the matter.
• The Investigating Officer will carry out the investigation in a full and unbiased manner and will interview any person they see as necessary.
• The Investigating Officer will prepare a report for the Director which may include suggested recommendations for action.
• The Director will review the contents of the report and will notify you of the outcome of the investigation. (Note: If the outcome of the investigation involves matters of discipline and/or capability these remain confidential).
• The Director will ensure that the recommendations he has accepted are implemented.

If the complaint is about the personal actions of the Director, the Complaints Officer will invoke a separate procedure.

All Formal Complaints should be made in writing (letter or email) and addressed to:

If you are unable to submit a complaint in writing, please contact us to discuss your needs.