Hartwell Plc prides itself on providing excellent customer care. However, we accept that there are times when we get it wrong and that you need to bring these times to our attention so that we can resolve your complaint quickly. Complaints that you may have about Hartwell Plc are likely to fall into 2 different categories and we would be grateful if you would follow the appropriate route for your complaint as outlined below:

• In the first instance telephone the relevant department manager at the dealership.
• If they are unable to resolve your complaint, please put your complaint in writing (either by letter or email) to the General Manager of the dealership
• The General Manager will respond to your complaint within no more than 7 days.
• If you find the General Manager's response to be unsatisfactory, or they do not respond within the given timescales, please send a copy of your original complaint together with any response you have received from the General Manager, to either: Customer Care, Wootton Business Park, Besselsleigh Road, Wootton, Oxford, OX13 6FD or customer.care@hartwell-plc.co.uk
• Customer Care will respond within no more than 14 days
• We are confident that the above process will resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, but if you do not feel this is the case having exhausted the process, we would invite you to submit a complaint to the Motor Ombudsman, who is a certified Alternative Dispute Resolution Provider. We are prepared to engage with them through the Alternative Dispute Resolution process and you can find out how to submit a complaint on line at www.themotorombudsman.org/consumers/make-a-complaint

• Please put your complaint in writing by letter or e-mail to the General Manager of the dealership;
• The General Manager will write to you having investigated your concerns within 7 days;
• If you find the General Manager’s response to be unsatisfactory, please send a copy of your original complaint, together with any response you have received from the General Manager, to either:-
• Customer Care, Wootton Business Park, Besselsleigh Road, Wootton, Oxford, OX13 6FD or customer.care@hartwell-plc.co.uk;
• If you do not feel that having followed these steps your complaint has been satisfactorily resolved you may have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service who can be found at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk or by telephoning 0800 023 4 567.

Hartwell offered its customers vehicle finance products and in many cases we received a Discretionary Commission payment from the lender for arranging these.  These Discretionary Commission Arrangements (DCA) allowed the dealer the authority to set the interest rate on a customer's finance agreement, which can lead to higher costs.  The higher the interest rate set by the dealer, the more commission they can earn.  This practice was banned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in January 2021.

The FCA Motor Finance Redress Scheme, is a nationwide compensation program aimed at addressing the mis-selling of car finance agreements where undisclosed commissions were paid. The scheme covers agreements made from 6 April 2007, and it applies to any UK regulated motor-finance agreement where the lender paid a discretionary or fixed commission to the dealer/broker and that commission was not adequately disclosed to the borrower. The scheme has been legally challenged, and the courts are to review the scheme in February 2027.

If your vehicle finance agreement was with one of the lenders Hartwell used since April 2007, you should contact that lender directly.  However, under the current scheme, lenders will be required to contact customers who are identified as affected.