Complaints, handled properly

1. What counts as a complaint

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about our service, our staff, our fees or our platform that expects a response: a delayed withdrawal, an unclear charge, an onboarding decision you disagree with, or conduct by a representative that fell short. A question about how something works is not a complaint, but tell us plainly which of the two you are raising and we will treat it accordingly.

Complaints can be about outcomes as well as processes. If you believe the analysis misled you, or that a risk warning was missing where it should have appeared, that is a complaint, and it is recorded as one.

2. How to file

Write to [email protected] with COMPLAINT in the subject line. Include your registered name, the date of the event, the people or systems involved and the outcome you consider fair. The more specific the file, the faster the answer; account identifiers and screenshots help enormously.

You may also raise a complaint verbally on a call with your account manager, who is required to log it as a complaint the same day and confirm it back to you in writing. If that confirmation does not arrive within one business day, send the email yourself so the clock starts on the record rather than in someone's memory.

3. What happens next: the internal process

Every complaint is acknowledged in writing within one business day with a reference number and the name of the person handling it. The handler is never the subject of the complaint. Investigation typically takes up to fifteen business days, during which you may be asked for additional details, and you receive a substantive written response at the end: what we found, what we concluded and what we propose to do about it.

Complex files, those involving multiple departments, external providers or disputed transactions, can take up to thirty business days. If yours needs the longer track, we tell you before the fifteenth day expires, with the reason and a revised date, not after the deadline has quietly passed.

4. Requirements for a complete file

A complaint file is complete when it contains four things: your identity as registered on the account, a description of the event with dates, any supporting documents or messages, and the remedy you are requesting. Files missing the remedy request bounce back with a specific question, which is the most common cause of delay and the easiest to avoid.

Anonymous complaints are recorded for pattern analysis, since recurring themes point to systemic problems, but they cannot receive an individual response or remedy without a registered identity behind them.

5. Timelines at a glance

6. Escalation: OBSI

If our final written answer does not resolve the matter to your satisfaction, or if the internal timelines have lapsed without a response, you may escalate to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments, OBSI, the independent dispute-resolution service for Canadian banking and investment complaints. We will provide you with the OBSI referral details and your complete complaint file, and we cooperate fully with their review, which is independent of ours.

Escalation is your right, not a favour. Nothing in our terms requires you to accept an internal answer as final, and no representative of O'Shares Invest may discourage you from contacting OBSI. If anyone does, that itself is a complaint worth filing.

7. Our commitments while a complaint is open

An open complaint never justifies degrading your service. Withdrawals that are not themselves the subject of the complaint continue to be processed normally, your account manager remains available, and retaliation of any kind, slower answers, reduced support, subtle discouragement, is a disciplinary matter for the staff involved.

We also commit to records: the full correspondence, the investigation notes and the final decision are retained in your complaint file, available to you and to OBSI if the file escalates.

8. Patterns, learning and contact

Complaint data is reviewed quarterly for root causes: a fee that confuses users gets rewritten, an onboarding step that generates repeated complaints gets redesigned. The point of the process is not to close files, it is to stop the next one from being necessary.

To open a file today, write to [email protected] with COMPLAINT in the subject line. For the regulatory context of our Canadian activity, see Licensing and regulation.