Customer Complaints & Feedback Policy
Introduction & Scope
This policy for customers describes how the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre will handle incoming customer complaints or feedback from the public.
We deal with customer complaints fairly, efficiently, and effectively, and ensure that all complaints are handled in a consistent manner. Strict confidentiality and discretion will be maintained, as far as possible, to safeguard all parties.
The policy is applied in conjunction with UK GDPR best practice and the Lyric’s Data Protection Policy.
Dealing with Complaints
Feedback team
Complaints are primarily dealt with by the Lyric’s feedback team, who can then escalate issues or serious complaints to the Commercial Director or the Director of Communications and Sales. In exceptional circumstances, customer complaints may be escalated to the Executive Director. Any complaint that is related to licensable activity will be made aware of to the Lyric’s Designated Premises Supervisor.
Making a complaint or providing feedback
A member of the public can submit a complaint or provide feedback in-person, via email, over the telephone.
In-person or over the telephone
In the first instance, the member of the team to whom the complaint or feedback is made will try to resolve the issue as needed with the customer directly if they have the authority and resource to do so. If needed, the team member may escalate the query.
All complaints and feedback received in person or over the telephone will be reported to the Duty Manager to ensure it is correctly logged.
If it is not possible to resolve the matter in person or on the phone it will be escalated via email to the Feedback team.
Any complainant wishing to lodge a complaint in writing will be given the feedback@lyric.co.uk email address and be directed to log their complaint via email. A complaint received in a different format to a staff member will also be written up and sent to the same email address as above.
All complaints or feedback are forwarded to feedback@lyric.co.uk. You will receive acknowledgement of receipt of the email and we will aim to provide an initial response within two working days, subject to capacity. The Lyric reserves the right to increase this time period during busy periods or at times of reduced capacity.
The Lyric aims to resolve all complaints within seven working days but acknowledges some complaints may, on occasion, require additional time to carry out an investigation or resolve the complaint.
Any serious complaints that are time-sensitive or require quicker response will be discussed with the Commercial Director or Director of Communications & Sales.
Logging & Reviewing complaints
Every complaint received will be logged by a member of the Feedback team using the Lyric’s internal system.
The feedback team manage this log; ensuring complaints are resolved and tracked, including any follow up action required to:
- Prevent a re-occurrence of the incident that caused the initial complaint
- Allow follow-up customer service, for example manage or log any next steps agreed
A monthly overview of complaints or feedback received will be sent by the Feedback Team to the Commercial Director and Director of Communications and Sales, which will then be discussed and reviewed at Senior Management meetings
A brief summary of any in-person complaints received by Box Office, Visitor Services, Young Lyric or Bars & Catering teams will be recorded in the daily Visitor Services report on the day they are received.
If the Young Lyric team receive a complaint regarding Young Lyric activity, the Young Lyric host should take steps to resolve this in the first instance, escalating to the Director of Young Lyric if necessary. If the complaint constitutes a safeguarding concern or safeguarding breach, the handling of this complaint falls to the Young Lyric team and the Designated Safeguarding Officer (Rob Lehmann, Director of Young Lyric) and should be handled in line with the Safeguarding Policy.
Investigating and responding to complaints
As stated above, we aim to respond to any complaints that are received by the Feedback Team within two working days of receipt.
On the conclusion of any investigation, we aim to respond to the customer with an outcome of the investigation within seven working days of the complaint being received. This could be an outright resolution to the complaint, or a further update stating that more time is required to carry out the investigation.
The Lyric’s decision on the outcome will be final and the complaint will be closed. We reserve the right to refuse engaging with customers who have a history of rude or abusive behaviour towards our staff.
The content of this policy does not affect a customer’s statutory rights. Customers are reminded to refer to our Terms and Conditions: https://lyric.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/
Review
This policy was approved by the Lyric’s Executive Director on 13 October 2023 and takes effect from that date.
In the event of any significant change to legislation associated with this topic, this policy will be subject to immediate review. In the absence of such a change, the policy will be reviewed every three years.