Complaints procedure

1. How to make a complaint

Email info@abookslife.co.uk and tell us what has gone wrong. If the complaint concerns personal information, please put Data protection complaint in the subject line where practical.

Please include enough information for us to understand the issue, such as the relevant date, page, message or interaction, what you are unhappy about and what you would like us to look into. Please do not send unnecessary sensitive information.

2. General service complaints

For complaints about a book bank, donation experience, host location, website information or another part of our service, we will review the facts and respond as soon as reasonably practicable. Where another organisation is responsible for the issue, we may explain that and, where appropriate, direct you to them.

3. Data protection complaints

If you believe we have not complied with data protection law when handling personal information, you can complain directly to us.

For a data protection complaint, we will:

• provide a clear route for you to raise the complaint;
• acknowledge receipt within 30 days of receiving it;
• take appropriate steps to investigate the complaint without undue delay;
• keep you informed of progress where the investigation is ongoing; and
• tell you the outcome without undue delay once the investigation is complete.

We may ask for further information where it is reasonably necessary to understand the complaint or verify identity, but we will not ask for more information than is needed.

4. Complaints made on behalf of someone else

If you make a data protection complaint for another person, we may need evidence that you are authorised to act for them before we discuss or investigate their personal information. This might be a signed authority or another appropriate form of evidence.

5. Records and learning

We may keep a proportionate record of a complaint, our investigation, correspondence and outcome so that we can demonstrate how it was handled, identify repeated issues and improve our processes. Complaint records are handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

6. If you remain unhappy

If your complaint concerns personal information and you remain dissatisfied after giving us the opportunity to investigate, you can complain to the UK data protection regulator, the Information Commission, which continues to use the ICO name and website.

Visit the ICO complaints service.

You may also have rights through the courts. If you are considering legal action, you may wish to obtain independent legal advice.

7. Accessibility

If you need to make a complaint in a different format or need reasonable assistance to communicate with us, email info@abookslife.co.uk and tell us what would help.