We know that every call you make to us is really important to you; all calls are really important to us too. We know sometimes that the matters discussed can be frustrating or distressing to you, which is why we want to do our best to understand and deal with the issue. To enable us help you, we strive to deal with your call professionally and efficiently, which is why we ask that you are polite to our staff; they will help all they can as long as they are treated with good manners and respect. Likewize won’t tolerate abusive or unreasonable behaviour towards our staff.

Our policy sets out what we consider to be abusive or unreasonable behaviour and the actions we might take if we consider your behaviour to be unacceptable.

ABUSIVE BEHAVIOUR

We care about our people and want to always protect their wellbeing. We will always look to understand and try our best to help and resolve matters to your satisfaction, but also recognise that not everyone will agree with our decisions. This can be frustrating, but we will not accept or tolerate any behaviour that we consider to be insulting, threatening or violent towards any of our people such as:

• offensive language
• intimidating, aggressive or threatening behaviour
• bullying or harassment, including degrading, humiliating or sexual conduct, racist, sexist or homophobic language
• any other form of discrimination

UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUR

We will always provide appropriate and adequate responses in a timely manner, but on occasion there will be times when we need to use our resources in an efficient and effective way, and this may take time. Some types of communication or behaviour can put excessive or unreasonable demands on the time of our people, which affects our ability to help other customers.

Examples of unreasonable behaviour include:

• refusing to cooperate, or clarify an issue or matter, despite our offers of help
• making excessive and unnecessary contacts, whether by frequent calls e.g. daily, emailing numerous staff members, or sending detailed letters every few days, and expecting immediate responses
• insisting on a response or action within an unreasonable timeframe
• insisting on speaking to a particular member of staff when we’ve explained they’re not available
• insisting on speaking to someone who we’ve explained isn’t the appropriate person
• refusing to follow our complaints procedure

ACTIONS WE MIGHT TAKE

We will explain what we see as unacceptable and ask people to change their behaviour. If it continues, we may:

• ask customers to modify their behaviour and explain why
• remove our staff from the situation by ending the call
• stop communicating about an issue or complaint, that we feel we have already answered
• stop communicating directly with someone over the telephone, and only communicate in writing
• with your consent, communicate through a representative such as a relative, friend or community advocate
• in circumstances we consider to be exceptional, notify relevant public authorities e.g. notify the police, where there is the potential of criminal wrongdoing

We will always make sure that we meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, ensuring that we consider reasonable adjustments for people with protected characteristics.

Some people may have difficulty expressing themselves or communicating clearly and/or appropriately and so we will always consider the needs and circumstances that we are aware of before deciding how best to manage the situation. This will include making reasonable adjustments. However, this does not mean we will tolerate abusive language, shouting, or other unacceptable behaviour or actions.

If an individual with a protected characteristic becomes the subject of a restriction under this policy, we will consider whether the restriction may affect them more than someone without that characteristic. If this is the case, we may make different arrangements so they can still access the service.