Pre PIP assessment ATOS complaint re procedure

Fluffybunny

Hi all,
I've looked on the forum for a similar thread but couldn't find one. Apologies if this has been covered already. I'm in the process of putting in a formal complaint to ATOS about...ATOS. I've already written to my MP, who is looking in to what I've said.

Claim form gone in, filled out by a charity. Basically, I got a phone call without warning from a HCP (nurse), but couldn't take it as I was going out of the door to another appointment - the call made me late. I asked to call back, but since then had nothing but trouble, brickwalling, been copied into internal mail, had an inappropriate, harsh mail from customer services instead of an answer to my question/enquiries and a refusal to speak to me, give me the name of managers or put me through to management or supervisors or another HCP. This is all before an actual assessment. The difficulty is that even though I have already been told by ATOS that they were looking into my request and complaint via Customer Relations, a week later they were telling me I had to start all over again because I didn't use the words 'Formal Complaint' and in the meantime my offsprings face to face will still go ahead. I waited to be given the customer relations/complaints
department email, only to be given exactly the same email address I'd always been using... who had already told me CR were looking into it. So not only brickwalled, but being sent round in circles. DWP said they couldn't help. The CAB info re complaints is out of date. The Benefits and Work website (which is not free) has detailed information which is dated 2009, therefore is probably out of date but I can't access it anyway.

Does anyone know where I can find detailed info re ATOS and complaints procedure, their rules/guidelines etc? Like the 155 page document published by DWP all about PIP assessments? I've seen things about POST-assessment complaints, but nothing about what to do about how they've behaved before an assessment.

Sorry for length - at wits end. Can anyone help please?

Best wishes
FB

IAmWales

I'm not clear on what your complaint is. What happened when you called back? Are you waiting for an assessment date?

Fluffybunny

IAmWales wrote: »

I'm not clear on what your complaint is. What happened when you called back? Are you waiting for an assessment date?

Hi, thanks for swift reply. I'm concerned about saying too much as its very specific and this is public. However, I've probably said too much anyway. There were lots of phone calls to them by me, emails to and fro, trying to get a reasonable adjustment to the 2 day window the HCP gave me to reply to her call, trying then to speak to any HCP with no luck and internal email about me sent to me by mistake, errors in emails, given inaccurate information about my GP by phone service and also in email. And finally, a refusal to speak to me and deciding that my offspring must have a 'robust' face to face due to inconsistencies. Refusal to put me through to managers, tell me who wrote me a harsh email that clearly cut and pasted by more than one person. Making assumptions in that email, even though it was written by an admin person, not a HCP. That was in response to my request for an extension to the call back time. Also phoned by DWP who said I had plenty of time to speak to ATOS as they'd only just been sent the form. They have a target of 6-8 weeks.

Fluffybunny

Sorry - also what I mainly want is a direct complaints address - email. I've emailed them again on the one I've always dealt with asking them for one, however I don't hold out much hope as they didn't reply to my email last week asking for same and manager's name.