Procedures for Appeals
1. Should the Measured Entity dispute the results on the Verification Report and Certificate they have 7 working days to appeal to the results.
2. The appeal must be addressed to the Admin Manager of Pinnacle Rating Agency in writing.
3. The Admin Manager shall forward the appeal to the Managing Director who will appoint a Verification Analyst who is independent from
the original verification analyst who performed the verification to handle the appeal.
4. The Admin Manager shall complete the appeals and complaints register (MAN012 F01) and assign an independent analyst to handle the
appeal. The independent person assigned to handle the appeal shall send an acknowledgement of receipt to the Measured Entity.
5. The Assigned person shall proceed to investigate the appeal.
6. If the appeal was not lodged within the prescribed 7 working days of receiving the Report, Scorecard and certificate the Assigned person
shall send a finding report to the Measured Entity indicating that the appeal was not successful because the timeframes were not met.
7. The Assigned Person then must investigate the merits and background of the appeal. Should the appeal be based on the grounds of new
information submitted by the Measured Entity, the Assigned person will indicate in the findings report that there are no grounds
for appeal as this was new information.
8. The Assigned person must resolve the appeal within 30 days of it being assigned to that person.
9. Should the Assigned person, after investigating the appeal find that there were calculation errors or that the incorrect score
was given, the Assigned person will send a corrected verification Report, scorecard, and certificate to the Measured Entity.
The Assigned person shall note actions taken in the diary of the file and the person who assigned them to the appeal shall sign off
on the effectiveness of the actions and make notes.
10. The Process for appeals shall be stipulated in the Quote & Terms and Conditions Agreement (CORE001 F03) which will be signed
by the Measured Entity before the BEE Process commences.
Any information sent to or received from the Measured Entity related to the appeal shall be filed in the Measured Entity file and
any communication or decisions taken with regards to the appeal shall be noted in the diary section of the Measured Entity file.
Procedures for Complaints
1. Should the Measured Entity not be satisfied with the behavior/conduct of any personnel involved in the verification process, they
have the right to lodge a complaint or should a 3rd party not be satisfied with any aspect of the verification agencies process and
methodology.
2. The complaint must be lodged within 10 days of the incident which was the result of the complaint.
3. The Verification manager shall assign an independent person who was not involved in the incident from which the complaint originated.
4. The person assigned to the complaint shall send the Measured Entity an acknowledgement of the complaint.
5. The Assigned person must resolve the complaint within 10 days of it being assigned to that person by means of a finding report.
6. The complaint must be investigated and the seriousness of the behavior/conduct which was the result of the complaint or the substance
of the 3rd party complaint must be considered. Should it be found by the investigator that there was negligence involved or there was
substance to the complaint, disciplinary action or corrective action must be considered.