Respect Policy

Introduction

Our Respect Policy is in place to ensure that communications between our customers and members of our team are conducted in a manner that ensures both parties are respectful to one another at all times.

Section 1. Abusive Language Will Not Be Tolerated

Language that is abusive, or can reasonably be perceived to be abusive, will not be tolerated by any member of the Defibrillators.co.uk team.

As a business, we define abusive language to be any language that is used to upset, undermine, threaten or offend a member of our team. This can include:

• Swearing
• Violent language

It also includes language that targets, directly or indirectly, a person's:

• Race
• Religion
• Beliefs
• Ethnicity
• Nationality
• Gender
• Sexual orientation
• Personal characteristics or attributes

This list is not exhaustive.

Defibrillators.co.uk will not tolerate abusive language and adopts a zero tolerance policy towards it.

Section 2. The Right To Terminate A Conversation

The use of abusive language is a clear indication that respectful communication has broken down. In these circumstances, Defibrillators.co.uk reserves the right to unilaterally bring a conversation to an immediate conclusion.

Where language used by a customer over the telephone is deemed to be abusive, we will usually take the following steps:

1. We will inform the customer that their language is deemed to be abusive, and that it is our policy to terminate calls of this nature.
2. We will signpost the customer to our formal complaints procedure - available here.
3. We will inform the customer that if they wish to continue their communication with the company they should do so by following our complaints procedure.
4. We will inform the customer that we will now be terminating the call.
5. We will terminate the call.

Section 3. The Right To Terminate Written Correspondence

Where language used by a customer in email or written correspondence is deemed to be abusive, we will usually take the following steps:

1. We will inform the customer that the language used in their correspondence is deemed to be abusive.
2. We will signpost the customer to our formal complaints procedure - available here.
3. We will inform the customer that if they wish to continue their communication with the company they should do so by following our formal complaints procedure.
4. We will inform the customer by email or other form of written correspondence that we will not engage in any further written correspondence outside of those conducted in line with our formal complaints procedure.
5. We will terminate correspondence immediately.

Section 4. Management Summary

This Respect Policy has been written by, and is fully supported by, the Senior Management Team of Defibrillators.co.uk.

It is of the utmost importance to us that all members of our team are able to work without fear, and are not subjected to any form of abuse or insult.

We accept that we will be party to robust and direct communications from our customers on occasion. However, we are committed to protecting our colleagues from abusive language and behaviour which is indicative of a breakdown of mutual respect.

The full Defibrillators.co.uk complaints procedure can be viewed here - Complaints Procedure