Complaints and Disputes Procedure

The Woking & Sam Beare Hospice Lotteries are licensed in Great Britain by the Gambling Commission. The Gambling Commission defines a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction, whether spoken or written, about any aspect of the way the licensee conducts their licensed activities. For example, a complaint may be:

• About the outcome of a gambling transaction
• About the way a gambling transaction has been managed
• That concerns the way the license holder carries out its business in relation to the three licensing objectives.

Any complaints that fall within this definition will be managed in line with the following procedure.

A dispute is defined as those complaints that are about the customer’s gambling transaction (including management of the transaction) and have not been resolved at the first stage of the operator’s complaints procedure. Disputes may include, for example, those linked to the application of bonus offers or to other terms and conditions, account management, or the ability to access funds and winnings.

All other complaints regarding Woking & Sam Beare Hospice activities are to be raised in accordance with Woking & Sam Beare Hospice Complaints policy – which can be found here.

Complaints and Disputes Procedure

Woking & Sam Beare Hospice will:

• a) Make this Complaints and Disputes Procedure available to a potential or actual customer (“the customer”) via the Woking & Sam Beare Hospice website wsbh.org.uk, or upon request.
• b) Handle all complaints in accordance with this Complaints and Disputes Procedure.
• c) Advise the Gambling Commission on the status of all disputes that are referred to the Promoter (see definition below)

Stage 1

Any problems or concerns that are brought to our attention will be formally recorded.

We aim to respond as quickly as possible, but our initial response will be sent within 3 days from receipt.

If the investigation of the complaint is likely to take longer than 3 days, we will write to let you know the proposed timescales and next steps, aiming to resolve your complaint within a maximum of 21 days.

We will investigate your complaint involving relevant parties as necessary.

We will contact you to let you know the outcome of your complaint and any actions we have taken as a result.

If you are unhappy with the resolution of your complaint, you should put your complaint in writing to: Carole Miles, Lottery & Raffles Manager, Woking Hospice, Goldsworth Park Centre, Woking, GU21 3LG

The matter will be escalated to a “dispute”, if applicable.

You will then be sent an acknowledgment of your complaint in writing, within 48 hours of us receiving it and an investigation of your complaint will then begin.

Every effort will be made to complete this investigation within 10 days of receipt.

We will then contact you with our findings, recommendations and proposed actions.

Stage 2

If you are still not satisfied and we have been unable to agree a resolution to your dispute within 8 weeks (from the date we received your initial complaint), we will send you a “deadlock” letter advising you that we will be referring your dispute to The Independent Adjudication Service (IBAS) (www.ibas-uk.com)

The Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) acts as an impartial adjudicator on disputes that arise between betting / gambling operators own internal dispute procedures and if a deadlock exists.

The IBAS panel of betting experts apply their specialist knowledge to the facts and will adjudicate by reference to Woking & Sam Beare Hospice Terms and Conditions. They do not rule on complex legal issues. As well as offering effective dispute resolution procedures, IBAS also check that we have complied with the standards set by the appropriate regulatory bodies and with the IBAS Terms and conditions of registration. IBAS can be contacted at www.ibas-uk.com or via telephone on +44 (0) 207 347 5883 or via post at IBAS, PO Box 62639, London EC3P 3AS.

Woking & Sam Beare Hospice are Registered Charity Number: (Woking Hospice 1082798 and Sam Beare Hospice 1115439) and company limited by guarantee in England and Wales No: 3955487 (Woking) 5822985 (Sam Beare)