Complaints procedure

1. What counts as a complaint

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about a service we have provided or offered you, in which you allege that Conexus Crypto has contravened an agreement, a law or a professional standard, has acted unfairly or unreasonably, or has caused you financial prejudice or inconvenience.

The following are not complaints, and are handled faster outside this procedure: asking about the status of a transaction, asking a trader to explain a quote, being unhappy that the market moved after you accepted a firm rate, or disagreeing with a lawful refusal to execute a transaction.

If you are not sure which category yours falls into, send it as a complaint. We will register it, and if it turns out to be something a trader can resolve in an hour, we will say so and resolve it in an hour.

2. How to lodge a complaint

There are three routes, and all three carry the same weight:

• By email to support@conexus-crypto.com, with the word "Complaint" in the subject line.
• Through the web form on the contact page, selecting "Complaint" as the enquiry type.
• In person at our Cape Town office — Tiny Empire, 37 Buitenkant Street, District Six, 7925 — by arrangement. A verbal complaint is written up on the spot and you are given a copy of the record to confirm that it reflects what you said.

Lodging a complaint costs nothing, and you do not need a lawyer to do it.

3. What a complaint must contain

The more of this we have at the start, the shorter the process. Please include:

1. your full name and contact details;
2. the transaction or quote reference if there is one, or the date and time of the dealing;
3. what happened, in date order;
4. which of our people were involved, if you know;
5. what loss or inconvenience it caused you;
6. what outcome you are asking for;
7. copies of anything that supports it — messages, written confirmations, bank statements, screenshots.

If you do not have all of it, send the complaint anyway. We will ask for what is missing rather than delay registering it on a technicality.

4. Acknowledgement — 3 business days

We acknowledge every complaint in writing within 3 business days of receiving it. The acknowledgement gives you a reference number, the name of the person handling the matter, a short statement of what we understand you to be complaining about, and the timetable that follows.

The complaint is entered in the complaints register on the day it is received. The register is maintained by the compliance officer, compliance officer — to be confirmed.

5. Investigation and resolution notice — 15 business days

The complaint is investigated by someone who was not involved in the events complained of. We reconstruct the dealing from the written quote, your acceptance, the timestamps, the settlement records and the on-chain data — all of which is retained for five years under sections 22 and 23 of the FIC Act. That is why a dispute here is usually a question of record rather than of recollection.

Within 15 business days of receipt you receive a written resolution notice setting out the facts we found, the outcome, the reasoning and the evidence it rests on, any redress we are offering, and how to ask for the decision to be reviewed together with the deadline for doing so.

If the investigation genuinely needs longer — because we are waiting on a bank, a counterparty provider or a third party — we will tell you before the 15 business days expire, give the reason and a revised date, and then update you at least every 15 business days until it is resolved.

6. Asking for a review — 7 days

If the resolution does not satisfy you, you may ask for an internal review within 7 days of receiving the resolution notice. Send the request to the same address, quoting the reference number and saying specifically what you disagree with and why.

A review is not the same investigation run again. It is conducted by a more senior person who did not make the original decision, and it looks at both the finding and the way it was reached.

7. Review decision — 15 business days

The review decision is sent to you in writing within 15 business days of our receiving the review request. It is Conexus Crypto's final position on the complaint. It will say so expressly, and it will set out your external escalation rights.

8. Escalation — 20 business days

If the matter is still unresolved after the final decision, you may escalate within 20 business days of that decision — either to Conexus management, or externally as described below.

Missing this deadline does not take away your right to go to an external body. Those bodies apply their own time limits, which are usually more generous. Our deadline governs our internal process only.

9. External escalation

You are not required to exhaust our internal procedure before going elsewhere. In practice, external bodies will almost always ask first whether you took it up with the provider and what the provider said, so the internal route is usually the faster one.

The ombud route. South Africa has a statutory ombud system for clients of financial institutions. An ombud is independent of the provider, considers the complaint free of charge to the client, and can make a determination that binds the provider. It is not a court, it does not act for either side, and it will normally want to see the provider's final response before it takes the matter up.

The South African ombud system has been consolidated, and the schemes that previously handled financial-services complaints have been reorganised. The correct current scheme and its jurisdiction must be confirmed before this page is published. Contact details: ombud scheme details — to be confirmed.

The FSCA. Market conduct, licence conditions and compliance with the FAIS General Code of Conduct are matters for the Financial Sector Conduct Authority. The FSCA does not award compensation to individual clients; it regulates the provider.

The Financial Intelligence Centre. Concerns about compliance with the FIC Act may be raised with the Centre.

The Information Regulator. Complaints about how we handled your personal information under POPIA go to the Information Regulator. The route is set out in the privacy policy.

The courts. Litigation remains available at all times. Nothing in this procedure limits any right you have in law, and nothing in it requires you to give one up.

10. The timetable at a glance

Stage	Deadline	Counted from
Acknowledgement	3 business days	receipt of the complaint
Resolution notice	15 business days	receipt of the complaint
Your review request	7 days	receipt of the resolution notice
Review decision	15 business days	receipt of the review request
Escalation	20 business days	the review decision

"Business day" means any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday in the Republic of South Africa.

11. Records, analysis and no reprisal

Every complaint is recorded with its date, nature, category, the time taken and the outcome. The register is reviewed for repeating causes, and the findings go to management — a complaints procedure that does not change anything is decoration. Records are kept for at least five years.

Lodging a complaint has no effect on how you are treated, on the pricing you are given, or on your access to the desk. Retaliation of any kind for having complained is prohibited by our internal policy, and if you believe it has happened, that is itself a complaint we want to receive.