As the French market leader for distance consumer credit, COFIDIS France has joined forces with SGS, itself also a leader in its particular field. This partnership, which has lasted for more than two years now, recently led to the awarding of two certificates guaranteeing clients and prospective customers a high level of quality in the customer relationship field.

An ongoing commitment to guaranteeing customer satisfaction is an intrinsic part of the "mail order" culture in which COFIDIS first began. Strongly committed to its quality system for many years now, COFIDIS has set up a customer satisfaction monitoring scheme which regularly tracks the performance levels achieved by the company where customer relations are concerned. By embarking on a process aimed at achieving certification, COFIDIS has taken a further stride forward, with the aim of being ever closer to its clients and of providing better service for them.

A different approach : in a competitive marketplace, service quality is today a key factor. Making and keeping promises has become an effective means of gaining new business and building loyalty among existing clients.

A commitment to achieving excellence on a daily basis : through the identification of precise and detailed commitments, COFIDIS has laid down clear objectives in which its highly motivated staff are fully involved. The teams work closely together to achieve goals benefiting the company's clients.

Combined with a forward looking approach : quality is above all a state of mind: earning the client's trust and confidence means doing everything possible and deploying all means available to avoid disappointing him. This is why COFIDIS is already working on extending certification to other areas of its quality activities.

Certification : the four key stages :

1. Definition of a specific standard for the business concerned (for COFIDIS this includes "The commitments of the prospection department for a credit provider" and "The commitments of the customer service department for a credit provider").
2. Approval of the high levels established by this standard by an independent certification committee comprised of professionals, experts, representatives of consumers' associations and of the public authorities. Following approval, the standard is then published in the Official Journal.
3. The launch of internal activities making it possible to reach the levels stipulated in the commitments described in the standard, and to guarantee reliable service quality standards over the long term.
4. Following an audit by an independent body, the certification is issued for a three-year period, with intermediate monitoring audits.