Unacceptable Actions Policy
We at MUSIXX, believe that our customers and service users have a right to be heard, understood and respected.
Occasionally, certain actions by people using our services can make it very difficult for us to deal with their
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People may act out of character in times of trouble or distress. We do not view an action as unacceptable, just because a person is forceful or determined. However, we do consider actions that result in unreasonable demands to be unacceptable. It is these actions that we aim to manage under this policy.
There is a range of actions we consider to be unacceptable. These are:
- Aggressive or abusive behavior;
- Unreasonable demands;.
- Unreasonable levels of contact.
Aggressive or abusive behavior
We understand that people can become angry when they feel that matters about which they feel strongly are not being dealt with as they wish. If that anger escalates into aggression towards us, that is unacceptable. Any aggression or abuse directed towards us will not be tolerated.
Aggressive or abusive behavior includes language (whether verbal or written) that may cause us to feel afraid, threatened or abused and may include threats, personal verbal abuse, derogatory remarks and rudeness. We also consider inflammatory statements, remarks of a racial or discriminatory nature and unsubstantiated allegations, to be abusive behavior.
Unreasonable demands
A demand becomes unacceptable when it starts to (or when complying with the demand would) impact excessively on our work. Or when dealing with the matter takes up an excessive amount of staff time and in so doing, disadvantages other customers or service users.
For example:
- Repeatedly demanding responses within an unreasonable timescale;
- Demanding responses from several members of staff on the same subject;
- Insisting on seeing or speaking to a particular member of staff when that is not possible;
- Repeatedly changing the substance of an enquiry or complaint or raising unrelated concerns;
- Repeatedly posing a question time and again, when a response has already been given, because the individual may not like the answer they have received.
Unreasonable levels of contact
Sometimes the volume and duration of contact made to us by an individual causes problems. This can occur over a short period, for example, when a large number of calls or emails are received from the same person in one day. When we are dealing with a complaint or enquiry, this may occur when a person repeatedly makes long telephone calls to us or inundates us with emails or copies of information that have been already sent or that are irrelevant to the substance of the complaint or enquiry.
We consider that the level of contact has become unacceptable when the amount of time spent talking to an individual on the telephone, or responding to, reviewing and filing emails or written correspondence, impacts on our ability to deal with the matter, or on our responsibility for carrying out tasks relating to other customers.
How we manage aggressive or abusive behavior
The threat or use of physical violence, verbal abuse or harassment towards us is likely to result in a termination of all direct contact with the customer or service user. Such incidents may be reported to the police. This will always be the case if physical violence is used or threatened.
Where correspondence (either letter or email) that is abusive or contains allegations that lack substantive evidence is received, we will inform the sender that we consider their language offensive, unnecessary and unhelpful and ask them to stop using such language. We will ask that the sender edit their correspondence to remove any offensive text and resend it, otherwise it will not be responded to.
We will end telephone calls if we consider the caller aggressive, abusive or offensive. We have the right to make this decision, to tell the caller that their behavior is unacceptable and to end the call if the behavior then persists.
In extreme situations, we will tell the person in writing that we will not permit any personal contact from them. This means that we will limit contact with them to either written communication or through a third party.
How we deal with other categories of unreasonable behavior
Where an individual repeatedly phones, raises the same issue repeatedly, or sends us large numbers of documents about which the relevance is not clear, we may decide to:
- Limit contact to telephone calls from the person at set times on set days;
- Restrict contact to written correspondence only;
- Refuse to deal with further correspondence or, in extreme cases;
- Take any other action that we consider appropriate to the circumstances.
Where we consider continued correspondence on a wide range of issues to be excessive, we may tell the person that only a certain number of issues will be considered in a given period and ask them to limit or focus their requests accordingly.
Where someone repeatedly demands a response on an issue on which they have already been a given a clear answer, we may refuse to respond to further inquiries from the person.
We will always tell the person in writing what action we are taking and why.