Please note: This complaints procedure applies to all Vincents services excluding Financial Advisory. For complaints specifically related to Financial Advisory services, please refer to the dedicated Financial Advisory Complaints section.

Objectives

Vincents strive to provide you with a professional service. However, we understand that there may be times when you may not always be satisfied with every aspect of your interaction, or the service provided.  To ensure that you have the means to raise with us any concerns you may have and to assist us in handling them fairly and efficiently, we provide the following guidelines on how the firm will receive and manage complaints made against it, its Directors or its employees.

How can a complaint be made?

You can raise your concerns with us in person or by telephone, however, so the details of your complaint are fully understood and can be handled as quickly as possible by the most appropriate person, it is preferable that your concerns are made in writing. This can be by email, letter, facsimile.

Where a complaint relates to a particular job or service, you can direct it to the Director or Manager responsible for carrying out the work.

If you are not sure who to refer your complaint to, or you are more comfortable raising your concerns with someone you don’t normally deal with, please address your complaint to:

The Complaints Officer
Vincents
PO Box 13004
Brisbane QLD 4001
Email: complaints@vincents.com.au
Phone: 1300 766 563
Fax: +61 7 3228 4099

What information should you provide?

The following information will assist us in determining the issues and details of your concerns and enable us to respond as quickly as possible.

• Your name and position
• Your current address, email, and telephone number
• The entity or individual for whom the work was carried out if applicable
• Your relationship with Vincents (client, supplier, affiliate)
• The date or period of the action that gave rise to the complaint
• The nature of your concerns or complaint
• The name of the Director or employee involved in the matter if applicable
• Copies of any documentation that supports your concerns
• What you would like the outcome of your complaint to be

Privacy and Confidentiality

We understand the importance of privacy and confidentiality. Any information you provide will be used solely for the purpose of addressing your concerns unless you explicitly consent to its disclosure. All personal information will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

How and when we will respond

We will endeavour to address your complaint or concern promptly.  Any significant health and safety issues will be addressed immediately. Otherwise, we will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 3 working days via email, facsimile, or, if necessary, by mail within 5 working days.

Once we receive your complaint, we will initiate a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding it. We will address your concerns in a fair, objective, and unbiased manner. If additional information is required to fully assess the situation, we will contact you accordingly.

We will try to reach a satisfactory resolution within 20 working days of receiving your complaint, but this may not always be possible. If we are unable to meet this timeframe, we will write to you to let you know the reasons for the delay and provide an estimated completion date for our review.

Once we have completed our review of the circumstances of your complaint, we will provide you with a written response addressing each of your concerns.

Also, refer https://vincents.com.au/tax-pracitioners-board-code-of-conduct in relation to any complaints relating to our Tax Agent Services.

What if you are not satisfied with our response?

Our aim is to resolve the issues to your satisfaction, however, if you are unhappy with the response or outcome received, you can ask for it to be reconsidered. Such a request should address the specific reasons for your dissatisfaction and be made in writing to the Complaints Officer and forwarded by post, email or fax to the address provided above.  We will acknowledge receipt of your request in writing within 3 working days via email, facsimile, or, if necessary, by mail within 5 working days. A final written response will be provided within 10 working days of receipt.

If you are still dissatisfied with the response or the way we handled your complaint, you are able to refer the matter to the following professional or regulatory bodies.

Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CA ANZ)
Phone: 1300 137 322
www.charteredaccountants.com.au

Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA)
Phone: (+61) 2 9290 5700
www.arita.com.au

Tax Practitioners Board (TPB)
Phone: 1300 362 829
www.tpb.gov.au

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
Phone: 1300 300 630
www.asic.gov.au

Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)
Phone: 1800 931 678 (free of charge)
Website: www.afca.org.au

The Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA)
Phone: 1300 364 785
www.afsa.gov.au

Our commitment to you

The quality of the service we provide, and the satisfaction of our clients and others is very important to us.  We take the complaint handling process seriously and consider it as a valuable opportunity to improve our service and the way we interact with our clients and others. All complaints will be analysed by Management to identify recurring issues, and changes will be made to systems and processes as considered necessary.

Should you have suggestions to improve the process please let our Complaints Officer know.  We will review our complaints handling process on a regular basis and make changes based on feedback.

Assistance

If you need help in putting together the information or any other aspect of these guidelines, please contact the Director or Manager working on your matter, or our Complaints Officer.