A dispute is when two parties disagree about an issue. We use the definition that a dispute is conflict that really matters to one or both parties.
How can Fair Way help you?
Fair Way provides dispute resolution services for customers of ACC, telecommunication companies and financial service providers as well as international students who are in contractual and/or financial disputes with their providers in New Zealand. Access to these independent dispute resolution schemes is free.
We also help families who are in dispute about parenting arrangements through our Family Dispute Resolution service. We provide this service for the Ministry of Justice. This service may be free if you qualify for government funding.
If you have any other type of dispute with another party – whether it is with another individual or business, we can help by providing an expert commercial and private dispute resolution service that suits the situation. We also offer specialist services to resolve building and construction disputes. The fee for these services will depend on your needs.
Ways to resolve a dispute
It is always best to try to resolve disputes directly with the other party. However, if you can’t reach agreement on the outcome, there are a number of options you can explore. Fair Way provides dispute resolution services that suit your circumstances.
In order to resolve your dispute or complaint for you in an efficient and effective manner, Fair Way offers several different resolution methods, which are broken into two quite different but complimentary approaches.
Firstly, we offer what are called consensual approaches which have their focus on settlement being reached through negotiated agreement between the parties. The parties are encouraged to discuss openly, but confidentially, their concerns with the assistance of a neutral person, and no agreement is binding unless the parties agrees on the negotiated outcome. The consensual approaches that we offer include facilitation, mediation and conciliation.
Secondly, we offer what are called adjudicative approaches where an adjudicator makes a binding decision based on the facts and how they fit with any applicable law. This moves the decision making away from the parties, but offers the advantage of ending the dispute with certainty. The adjudicative processes that we offer are adjudication and arbitration.
Fair Way also has available skilled coaches who will work individually with you or others to assist in developing skills and strategies to be able to resolve disputes and problems for yourself.
We will assist you in choosing the most suitable process for your particular circumstances, and provide all of the administrative and organisation support that will make resolving matters for you as stress free as possible.