Every reply from the company now comes with your next step

When a company writes back, your case now works out what kind of answer it is and puts the next step right under it.

What you see

• An offer. The amount, and two buttons: accept it, which marks the case won and opens a short reply telling them so, or ask for more, which opens a reply you can finish. Once the case is won, the card steps aside.
• A request for detail. What they asked for, as a list, and a reply with a gap for each answer. It will not send until the gaps are filled.
• A no. Where it goes next. If an ombudsman covers them, we say when it can take your case, and offer a reply asking for their final response in writing.
• A final response. For schemes whose own rules say so, like the Energy Ombudsman and the Rail Ombudsman, that means you do not have to wait out the usual clock, and we say how long you have to take it there.
• Just a receipt, or an out-of-office. A quiet line saying the clock keeps running. An out-of-office no longer buzzes your phone or sends you an email.

Shops have no ombudsman, so for them the card points at small claims, Citizens Advice and, if you paid by card, your card provider.

The chaser stays quiet when it should

Once a company has said no or sent its final response, we no longer send it an automatic “following up on my complaint”. And a mailbox that writes back to say it does not take complaints stops the chaser too, and points you at their form.