We often are contacted to verify an organisation's ISO status. Because there are so many ISO certification companies around there is unfortunately not a single, collective register of all ISO certified companies. This means you will need to contact the certification body which the organisation claims to have been certified by.
How do I find out who the organisation's certification body is?
The organisation's certification body might be mentioned on the organisation's literature or website. Otherwise it may be visible on their logo or certificate. Below is an example of an ISO 9001 logo from us. Most logos are similar in that they display the standard, the company name and organisation's certification number.
How do I verify the ISO certification?
The easiest way to verify certification is to call the certification body as shown on the logo. Certification companies can normally be found by using an internet search engine, such as Google. Since organisation's can have a different trading name to their official title, the certification number is worth noting if visible.
The certification company should be able to let you know what ISO standards the organisation is certified to, what sites and/or departments are covered, the scope of the certification, and how long certification is still valid for.
You can check if an organisation is certified by The British Assessment Bureau by using our Client Verification tool.
What if I find they are not certified?
Some organisations choose not to continue ISO certification and forget to update their literature. Unfortunately, there are also some organisations that display ISO logos to deliberately mislead people into thinking they are trustworthy and established. Whatever the situation, it's important not to mislead consumers. If you believe this is the case with the organisation you are verifying, please contact the relevant certification company immediately.
If the certification company is The British Assessment Bureau, we would appreciate you contacting us as soon as possible.
I have received bad customer service, what shall I do?
Different ISO standards mean different things. ISO 9001 is a quality standard, whereas ISO 14001 is an environmental standard. It is important to remember the ISO standards are for improving processes, there is no way of controlling the human element of an organisation which can lead to problems for consumers. We don't tell them how to run their organisation, but provide a framework to follow.
If you do have a complaint about a company certified by us, we would of course appreciate being informed if you feel it is related to their certification, but if you believe you have suffered bad customer service or have a dispute with an organisation, please contact Consumer Direct (part of The Office of Fair Trading) to learn more about your consumer rights.
