Enquiry Refund Policy
ENQUIRY REFUND POLICY
This policy has been updated as of 22/05/2023, as a result of adviser feedback.
Whilst we haven't made any core changes to our refund criteria, we have made some of the policy wording clearer.
If you have any questions or feedback about our policy, please email us:
customer_service@vouchedfor.co.uk
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VouchedFor’s primary focus is on helping good advisers prove they do a great job through checks, reviews, improved Google presence and various reputation tools. This helps build public trust in advice and drives organic revenue growth for advisers.
However, as part of your VouchedFor membership, consumers may choose to contact you in two main ways:
1) Directly - via the VouchedFor team or website directory. Some consumers may submit an enquiry after visiting one of our affiliate marketing partner websites (such as The Times or Money Saving Expert).
2) Indirectly - through your own website or contact details having viewed your VouchedFor profile.(This is the most common)
As VouchedFor is not a typical lead generator or lead qualifying service, we cannot guarantee the quality or volume of enquiries you receive.
However, we may be able to filter out some unsuitable enquiries before they reach you (i.e. spam enquiries), or provide a refund for them.
Our refund policy outlines 4 main scenarios that we are able to consider. The policy is based on the factors we can control and we will always aim to employ it consistently to ensure it is fair for advisers and consumers, as well as being commercially viable for us.
Please read our criteria carefully and if you have any questions about our policy, please contact the team.
HOW TO SUBMIT A REFUND REQUEST:
- Read our refund policy and ensure you’ve followed the steps under the criteria your request falls under.
- In the Enquiries section of your member area, select the enquiry that you’d like to report.
- Once the VouchedFor team has acknowledged your request, please ensure you’ve answered any additional questions to help our team investigate. We are unable to proceed with your request until we have received the requested information.
Please note, all refund requests must be raised within 3 working days of receiving the enquiry.
Our 3 day reporting policy is in place to ensure that we can investigate refund requests swiftly and help consumers find another adviser if needed.
We are unable to accept any refund requests outside of this timeframe, unless stated otherwise.
For Verified plan members, if your refund request is approved, this will be ‘uncounted’ from your enquiry quota. If you are on the Unlimited plan and you pay for enquiries, we will refund the cost of the enquiry back to you if your refund is approved.
CRITERIA FOR APPROVAL:
1) Uncontactable
We ask that you make 3 different attempts to contact the enquirer (via phone and email) with the first attempt being within the first working day of receiving the enquiry.
You may report this enquiry as Uncontactable, if after 3 attempts:
- You are unable to establish a connection on the phone line (i.e. the phone number does not connect)
- The enquirer has not replied to your email attempts
- The enquirer has not called you back or left a voicemail
The VouchedFor team will make further contact attempts to establish whether the enquirer is uncontactable.
We will approve a refund if our attempts to contact the enquirer are also unsuccessful.
We are unable to approve a refund in any other scenario not listed above, or if we are unable to verify the criteria has been met.
For the avoidance of doubt, because we are unable to ascertain why the enquirer chose not to proceed, we are unable to approve a refund in these situations:
- A phone or email connection has been established with you, or VouchedFor, including voicemails from the enquirer.
- The enquirer answers the phone but requests a call back later.
- The enquirer does not attend a follow up appointment or chooses not to proceed further after your initial contact attempts.
2) Incorrect Service Match
In all instances, you should follow the steps for establishing contact under the above criteria (Uncontactable).
If, after speaking to the enquirer, you feel you cannot offer the service they need, we may consider the following scenarios only:
- You are not authorised or qualified to carry out the type of service stated on the enquiry form (i.e. pensions / investments / mortgages)
- You or your firm are restricted on advising on a particular type of enquiry (e.g. British Steel related enquiries) and you have clearly stated this in the 'About Me' section of your VouchedFor profile.
We may also consider other circumstances such as:
- The enquirer has confirmed to VouchedFor (prior to a refund request being submitted) that the enquiry was submitted in error, or that they do not need a service at all.
- It is clear from the enquiry form that the enquirer is outside of the UK and your VouchedFor profile does not suggest that you offer services for international enquirers.
- It is clear from the enquiry form that the total assets/wealth level does not meet the wealth criteria stated on your VouchedFor profile.
- The enquirer is not sure what type of pension they have and you are unable to advise on specialist pension schemes (i.e. Defined Benefit / Final Salary). Specifically in relation to Defined Benefit pensions, where there is an ‘incorrect services match’ and you cannot provide advice on this pension type, we may allow advisers to request a refund outside of the usual 3 day timeframe in cases where the consumer was not initially aware they had a Defined Benefit pension. In these cases, we may allow up to 2 weeks to report the enquiry to us, but advisers must be able to evidence they have had an initial conversation with the consumer within 3 days of the original enquiry, and meet all other criteria for an incorrect service match as outlined above. The VouchedFor team will investigate and determine whether the criteria above has been met.
We are unable to approve a refund if:
- It later transpires that the enquirer is ineligible for your services or cannot proceed (i.e. adverse credit, fraud, or the source of funds is not credible).
- It later transpires that the enquirer’s wealth level is lower than that stated on the enquiry form or is below your existing wealth criteria.
- The enquirer is initially looking for general advice but doesn’t proceed further.
- The enquiry does not convert due to other reasons, such as cost, or proceeding with another adviser or provider (including their existing provider).
We are unable to approve a refund in any other scenario not listed above, or if we are unable to verify the criteria has been met.
3) Spam
We may consider the following scenarios:
- When it is clear from the enquiry message that someone is trying to sell you something
- Where the contact details provided are clearly fake (e.g. Mickey Mouse / abc@123abc.com).
The VouchedFor team may attempt to contact the enquirer via these details to establish whether the criteria has been met.
We are unable to approve a refund if:
- We determine the enquiry to be genuine.
We will not approve a refund in any other scenario not listed above, or if we are unable to verify the criteria has been met.
4) Duplicate
We may consider the following scenarios:
- An enquirer has previously contacted you through VouchedFor using the same contact details.
- An enquirer has contacted you via a different channel, prior to the VouchedFor enquiry being sent.
- If it is clear from the enquiry form that the enquirer is an existing client of yours.
- If the enquiry has gone to another VouchedFor professional in the same firm. We would refund the enquiry for one of you, not both.
The VouchedFor team may request proof of an existing relationship or contact with the enquirer to determine if the enquiry is a duplicate.
We are unable to approve a refund if:
- The evidence provided does not prove you were already in contact with the enquirer before VouchedFor sent the enquiry to you.
- The enquiry was sent to a colleague within your firm that was not on an active VouchedFor membership at the time they received the enquiry.
We will not approve a refund in any other scenario not listed above, or if we are unable to verify the criteria has been met.
PLEASE NOTE:
- We are unable to refund enquiries for scenarios not covered in the criteria above, as they are beyond what we can reasonably investigate. For example, if an enquirer changes their mind at any point, it is impossible for us to know if it was or was not a result of the actions of the adviser.
- We retain the right to recharge for an enquiry that has been refunded if it later transpires that you have provided a service for the enquirer.
- During our standard follow-up processes, if we receive evidence or information from a consumer that affects a previous outcome of a refund request, we may review our decision.
- For some enquiries, the VouchedFor team may be able to identify unsuitable enquiries before they reach you. Please see here for information on what details we capture.
- When it comes to receiving enquiries, we have different membership plans to cater for your preferences. Here’s more information on how VouchedFor enquiries work across our membership plans.
- The majority of our members are on our Verified plan where there is the ability (not guaranteed) to receive a capped number of direct enquiries at no charge beyond your monthly subscription fee. If you are on our Unlimited plan, which involves the ability to receive unlimited paid-for enquiries, and are not seeing a positive ROI, you may find our Verified plan more suitable.
