Market research companies and complaints

[resources]

I worked as an interviewer for a market research company who told me that it received a complaint against me from the director of their office in another country.

This complaint was about the fact that this office in another country would have received a complaint from the customer service of their client which is in a third country who had commissioned a customer satisfaction survey to be carried out by them.

This customer service would have received a complaint from one of their customers in a third country concerning a call that I would have made from the UK to him during this customer satisfaction survey.

 

However this market research company told me that the complaint was made only by phone and as a consequence it does not have any documentary evidence of this complaint. This market research company told me also that their office in another country does not have also any documentary evidence of the complaint that they would have received. This market research company told me also that they do not have any file about this complaint, no record, no letter of reply and no report about it, even not an email even through emails cost nothing.

Hence I would like to know the following

 

• Is it possible that there is no documentary evidence anywhere of this complaint even though it has been through three different countries. (the issue is to know if this complaint really exists)
  

 

• Whether or not the market research company has to keep record of each complaint that it receives and has to write a report about these complaints that it has to keep. This market research company told me that it received a small number of complaints by year. The issue is to know if by law it is forced to keep record of these complaints.
  

 

• For how long the market research company has to keep the records and the reports about the complaints that it receive. There could be also an issue of Data Protection Act
   
  
• According to the Research Market Society (RMS) Code of Conduct a respondent (the interviewee) who is unsatisfied with a reply to its complaint from a market research company can take up further his complaint to the RSM within three months. I would like to know if this means that the market research company has to keep record of each complaint it receives in case a client take up further his complaint to the RSM.
  

 

• If the respondent cannot complain directly to the market research company because it does not have its details and instead complains to the client who will then complain to the market research company. I would like to know if the market research company has to reply also to this complaint. This market research company has to comply with the code of conduct of the RSM which says that it has to reply to a complaint. I would like to know if this obligation concerns complaint received from respondents and also from clients
   
  
• In the Draft Complaints Handling Standard of the RMS it is stated that if the complaint is not resolved within five days the market research company has to write a letter to the respondent. However in this Draft Complaints Handling Standard it is not explained whether or not the market research company has to reply in writing to all complaints it receives from respondents
   
  
• According to the RMS a respondent can make a complaint to the RMS. I would like to know if according to the RMS interviewees which are former staff of the market research company can also make a complaint to the RMS
  

[rebel11]

Your thread has been moved to the correct forum.

[resources]

What was the correct forum I had some difficulties to find it

[rebel11]

Employment.

 

What was the correct forum I had some difficulties to find it

[Emmzzi]

That's a lot of theoretical industry specific questions that I am not sure why you want answered.

 

What happened? Were you sacked? Something else? Why do you want to know? Background usually helps us help you better!

[resources]

Unfortunately yes and I am trying to come back

[Emmzzi]

Let's start with the basics then

1) how long had you worked there and

2) what procedure as followed to dismiss you and

3) were you self employed, which can be common in that industry?

[Grotesque]

Most of the OP's very specific questions would be answered by the MRS (Market Research Society) / RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major) themselves, in their own literature (but not the RMS or Research Market Society though).

[resources]

I have enough continuity service, I was not self-employed and I think that my dismissal was procedural unfair.

Yes I can contact the RMS but it is always better to have several sources of information. Moreover there is also this issue of how customer service worked maybe customer service has also to comply with a code of conduct which means that it is impossible if there was really been a complaint it would have been processed in the way alleged by my employer.

I am personally convinced that there has been no complaint made against me because if there would have been one it would not have been processed in the way my employer say it was

There are two main issues.

First to prove that the way that customer services work means that a complaint would not have been processed in the way my employer alleged by phone only through three countries and through three bodies.

Secondly to prove that a market research company has to keep record of all complaints it receives because it has to comply with the Code of Practice of the MRS.

 

I thought that these two issues concern consumer law. It is why I initially put my thread in the consumer forum

[Emmzzi]

Tell me in what way you think your dismissal was procedurally unfair please.

[resources]

My dismissal was unfair for the following reasons:

 

• I was not given a chance to improve
  
• It is debatable that my work was really bad. Moreover my employer has a rigorous process to assess the work and this was not used against me as a consequence there is no evidence that my work was bad
  
• I dismissed few day just I made myself a complaint to which I received no reply
  
• I was given any reason in writing why I was dismissed
  

But this is not the main issue the main issue is that I would like to prove detrimental treatment and I need to show that there was not complaint made against me and it is why I have posted this thread

If I have not been dismissed because the quality of my work which could be the reason of my dismissal few days only after I made myself a complaint to which my employer never replies? The only answer is that I was dismissed because I made a complaint. Why an employer is going to dismiss an experienced employee like me without any reason?

The fact that the complaint made against me was allegedly made by phone did not prevent my employer from exchanging some emails with his office abroad to have proof that there was really a complaint against me specially that I made an additional grievance and I issued proceedings against him in the Employment Tribunal. He knew that he will have to prove that there was a complaint against me. However he did not ask for any documentary evidence from his office abroad that a complaint was really received against me like a simple email which costs nothing. The only answer is that there has never been any complaint against me.

[Emmzzi]

Did you use your right of appeal?

[resources]

I was told orally why I was dismissed. I made an additional complaint in writing this time for victimisation because I consider that I was not given anymore work because I made a complaint. In this additional complaint I requested also to be given back my job but I received no reply. What I received was my P45 by post

[Emmzzi]

So you do have procedural errors in your dismissal?

 

That's the route to go.

[resources]

The issue is that I would like to claim also detrimental treatment and it is why I asked the questions about how work a customer service and the obligation that a market company has to keep record of all the complaints that it received

Moreover if dismissal is procedurally unfair but it is fair on the substance the award could be zero. It is why I need also to prove that it is very unlikely that there has been a complaint against me

[Emmzzi]

You are making it quite difficult to help you by being fixated on one point. For that answer, go and talk to the professional body for researchers. However the employer just needs to show reasonable belief, not cast iron proof.

 

It sounds to me like there are other routes that may be more profitable to explore, but if you won't go into detail, I can't do much for you. For example, a discussion about the investigatory process would be useful. But as you don't want to go there, I am sorry, I really can't help.

 

Best of luck!

[Grotesque]

It would probably help if the OP chooses a slightly more user-friendly font too. At the moment it looks like the biography of a hawthorn bush.

[resources]

There has been no investigation and not disciplinary hearing

What additional information do you need ?

[resources]

I have a problem with the font when I copy and paste even if I use a big size font when I copy and past it is small

[Emmzzi]

If there was no investigation and no hearing, how were you actually dismissed? Settlement agreement? A "get out and stay out" conversation?

[honeybee13]

I have a problem with the font when I copy and paste even if I use a big size font when I copy and past it is small

 

You should be able to edit that if you use the Edit Post command at the bottom of the relevant post.

 

HB

[resources]

I was told orally then I received my P45 and after insisting I receive an email telling me that my work was substandard as explained in my previous post

[Emmzzi]

Ok.

 

So an ET is going to want to know if you appealed that, but I would put a form in now (assuming you have been fast enough) to challenge the decision. Currently you are trying to prove evidence does not exist; it is up to your employer to prove that it does.

[Grotesque]

The ET will also know, of course, that having received a P45, the OP had little opportunity and even less obligation to submit such an appeal; the company by its actions has voluntarily placed him outside of ACAS procedures. The tribunal will- if as MZ says, asked within the statutory period- take a dim view of this, particularly if a large company is involved.

[resources]

I insisted and I obtained finally from my employer an email telling me that I was dismissed because my work was not of good quality before this I already made a written grievance for victimisation and asking to be re-instated but I received no reply to it

The only evidence that my employer has against me is himself (but unfortunately it is nevertheless a piece of evidence). During the pre-hearing he put his hand on the bible and started to lie by saying that he received a complaint against me without putting forward any documentary evidence of it and by not saying the true about other matters. It would be good for me if I can prove that because the way a customer service works the alleged complaint against me could not have been processed in the way my employer says it was processed. It would good for me also if I can prove that the research company for which I worked has to keep record of all the complaints that it

(I can do nothing about the font)