Plant Heritage Complaints Policy
If you have a complaint about anything to do with Plant Heritage, please let us know and we will do our best to fix it.
As a charity, we are committed to taking concerns raised with us seriously, whether from our staff, volunteers, members, partners, donors, the public or anyone else who interacts with us. We also welcome feedback on our services and will do our best to learn from this.
As a first step, we encourage you to get in touch about any concerns with the relevant staff member. If you do not know who that is, or would prefer not to, you can email us at info@plantheritage.org.uk to make us aware of your concern. We will discuss ways we might be able to help.
You can also phone us on 01483 447540 during office hours (we are a small team, so if there is no answer please leave your name and number and we will get back to you as soon as possible – please do not leave sensitive information in a message).
Formal Complaint
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can submit a formal complaint. Please send an email (subject line “complaint”) to info@plantheritage.org.uk or send a letter marked for the attention of the chief executive to our office address: Plant Heritage, First Floor Offices, Stone Pine, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey, GH23 6QD. The chief executive will make a determination as to how to deal with the complaint, if appropriate referring it to another staff member or upwards to the chairman of the board of trustees.
Please include your contact details (name, email or phone number or address, as you prefer), and explain your complaint. Do not put sensitive information in an email but note that you have a complaint and would like us to get back to you about this. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days of receiving it and aim to respond in writing (letter or email) within 1 month. Many issues will be dealt with more quickly. If we cannot deal with your complaint within this period, we will let you know.
If your complaint is about the chief executive, you can contact the board chairman by emailing chairman@plantheritage.org.uk or writing to the same Wisley address and marking your envelope “Private and Confidential to be forwarded unopened.” The Chairman will make a decision as to how the complaint should be dealt with.
Confidentiality
Your complaint will be dealt with sensitively. We will only share information with those who need to know in order to deal with the complaint. We will not share information if you ask us not to and we can protect your identity if you ask us to do so (within reason – if this makes it impossible to investigate your complaint, we will explain this, and we can discuss a suitable approach).
Appeals
If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the option to contact the Charity Commission (for England and Wales) or the Office of the Scottish Charity regulator. See here for more information: Complaints procedure - The Charity Commission - GOV.UK
Further guidance on complaints concerning National Plant Collections
If your complaint relates to a purchase e.g. the selling of mislabelled or misidentified plants or of diseased plants, you need to contact whoever sold you the plant. Plant Heritage is not able to deal with consumer complaints of this type.
If you have a complaint or a concern about the quality of a National Plant Collection, please contact the conservation team on collections@plantheritage.org.uk so we can look into it. The conservation team will discuss the complaint with the chief executive who may consult the chairman of the board of trustees, if appropriate. We may write to the National Collection holder to advise them that a complaint has been received and give them the chance to respond (protecting the anonymity of the person making the complaint). We will also consult the local Collections Coordinator (our network of volunteers who work with National Collection holders), to get their feedback.
Sometimes National Collections are withdrawn or suspended pending further investigation. The Plant Collections Committee is responsible for reviewing and accrediting National Plant Collections, reporting to the Board of Trustees.