Complaints

This page explains how to complain about MIE Connect, what happens after you complain, how quickly we reply, and where you can go if you are still not satisfied. We take every complaint seriously and use what we learn to improve our service.

MIE Connect is a trading name of A H & Z Associates Limited. Making a complaint is free, and it will never affect the help we give you with your applications.

What this procedure covers

You can use this procedure to complain about:

• the service you received from us, including advice, delays and mistakes;
• the way a member of our staff treated you;
• the way a recruitment partner behaved when working with us on your application;
• how we handled your personal information;
• our website, the student portal or the partner portal, including problems with accessibility.

This procedure is not the place to report a worry about someone's safety. If you are worried that a student is at risk, follow our Safeguarding page instead. If someone is in immediate danger, call the emergency services first.

Who can complain

Anyone who has used our services can complain, including students, parents and guardians, and recruitment partners. Someone else, such as a parent, guardian, friend or adviser, can complain on your behalf if you give us your permission. If you are 16 or 17, a parent or guardian can complain for you, and we may need to speak to you as well.

How to complain

Email info@mieconnect.com with "Complaint" in the subject line. If your complaint is about your personal information, you can email info@mieconnect.com instead. You can also write to us at 16 St. Clare Street, London, England, EC3N 1LQ, or tell your counsellor, who will pass your complaint on.

If you need help to make a complaint, for example because of a disability, or you would like to complain in another way, tell us and we will make reasonable adjustments. Our Accessibility statement explains the formats we can offer.

Please complain as soon as you can, ideally within 6 months of the problem, so that we can look into it while the details are fresh. We may still look at older complaints.

What to include

• your name, and the email address and phone number we have for you;
• if you are complaining for someone else, their name and their permission for you to act for them;
• what went wrong, and when;
• the names of anyone involved, such as a counsellor or a recruitment partner;
• copies of any emails, messages or documents that help explain your complaint;
• what you would like us to do to put things right.

Please do not send copies of passports or other identity documents unless we ask for them.

What happens next

1. We acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days. We tell you who is looking into it and when to expect a full reply.
2. We look into it fairly. Someone who was not involved in the problem reviews what happened. They may ask you, our staff or the recruitment partner for more information.
3. We send you a full reply within 20 working days. The reply explains what we found, whether we uphold your complaint, and what we will do to put things right. If we need more time, we tell you why and give you a new date.

If you are not happy with our reply

If you are not satisfied with our full reply, you can ask for your complaint to be reviewed by one of our directors. Reply to our email within 20 working days and explain why you are not satisfied. The director will review your complaint and the way we handled it, and send you a final reply within 20 working days. This is the final stage of our own procedure.

Complaints about your personal information

If your complaint is about how we handled your personal information, you can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection. The ICO usually expects you to complain to us first. You can contact the ICO through its website, by phone on 0303 123 1113, or by post at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

If you live in the EU or elsewhere, our Privacy Policy explains which regulator you can complain to.

Complaints about a university or college

We do not make admissions decisions. If you are unhappy with a decision a university or college made, such as refusing an offer, changing its conditions or withdrawing a place, you need to use that university's own complaints or appeals process. We can help you find it.

If you are a student or former student of a university in England or Wales and you have finished its complaints process, you may be able to take your complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA). The OIA only looks at complaints about universities and colleges that are members of its scheme. It does not deal with complaints about us, and it does not usually look at admissions decisions. In Scotland, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, and in Northern Ireland the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman, play a similar role for universities there.

Complaints about a visa decision

Immigration authorities make visa decisions. If your visa is refused, the refusal letter explains whether you can ask for a review or appeal and how. We cannot change a visa decision, and we do not give regulated immigration advice.

Alternative dispute resolution

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) means using an independent organisation to help settle a dispute without going to court. We are not required by law or by a trade body to use an ADR scheme. If we cannot settle your complaint through our own procedure, our final reply will tell you, in writing, the name and website of an ADR provider that could deal with it and whether we agree to use it.

Going to court

You can also take legal action. Our Terms and Conditions explain which courts can hear a dispute. Citizens Advice can help you understand your options.

How we keep records and learn from complaints

We keep a record of each complaint, what we found and what we did. We keep these records for 6 years after the complaint is closed, and our Privacy Policy explains how we handle the personal information in them. A director reviews our complaints regularly so that we can fix the causes and improve our service.

Changes to this procedure

We review this procedure regularly and update it when our services or the law change. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last updated.