Suggestions, Comments and Complaints

Do you have any comments or suggestions for us? Your comments and suggestions enable us to fully understand your expectations and better guide our interventions, so feel free to share them with our personnel.

Despite our best efforts to offer you the best possible service, you may want to file a complaint.

 Eligibility

• Any person who is dissatisfied with the services provided by La Financière agricole may file a complaint, including agricultural and forestry clients who have obtained or wish to obtain a service from La Financière agricole;
• representatives of farm producers and their agents (lawyer, notary, accountant, consultant, creditor, etc.).

Any reason for dissatisfaction is accepted and recognized as a complaint, except for

• a request for information, clarification or information relating to La Financière agricole’s activities;
• dissatisfaction with a decision when you have not yet exercised your right to a review;
• dissatisfaction with your access to information request;
• a denunciation submitted by a citizen or client of La Financière agricole against another client of La Financière agricole.

 Delivery of the Request

Our service centre and financial data collection and processing staff are the first responders to receive complaints.

If, during the initial customary exchanges, you express dissatisfaction, the employee must first try to resolve the situation independently.

If you remain dissatisfied despite the support you received, the employee must then forward the complaint to his or her complaint representative or manager.

Finally, if you are still dissatisfied, you can forward your complaint to the Complaints Officer.

For written complaints, an acknowledgement of receipt will be sent to you within a maximum of five working days.

All complaints must be processed within a maximum of 20 working days. If your complaint cannot be processed within the time limit, you will be notified of

• the reasons for the delay, the steps taken to process the complaint,
• the reasonable time frame within which you will receive the decision.

Anonymous complaints will not be considered as being received. All complaints will be dealt with confidentially.

Refer to the Complaint Management Policy (PDF in French) for information on the procedure for receiving and reviewing complaints.

Under section 21.0.31 of the Act Respecting Contracting by Public Bodies (ARCPB), La Financière agricole must establish a procedure for receiving and examining complaints made in connection with the award or attribution of a public contract of which it is a stakeholder.

• The conditions, process and handling of complaints will differ between these two situations: if the complaint relates to a public call for tender, a business qualification process and an ongoing property certification process;
• if it relates to a private contract award process under the Act respecting the Autorité des marchés publics for which a business is expressing an interest in carrying out the contract.

Refer to the Procedure for receiving and examining complaints under section 21.0.3 of the Act respecting contracting by public bodies (PDF in French) for more information on:

• the applicable conditions (section 2):
  • who can file a complaint;
  • what types of public contracts could be subject to a complaint?
• the procedure for receiving a complaint (section 3):
  • to whom and how should the complaint be forwarded?
  • the deadlines to be met;
  • the withdrawal of a complaint;
• the procedure for examining complaints (section 4);
• the conclusions and closing the file (section 5).