I was going to post this in one of the BBC threads but the conversation has moved on somewhat and it's actually something I've seen pop up in numerous threads here and elsewhere - Women saying that they complained to the BBC about bias and got fobbed off.
From what I can see that is their stock response - and why, if you are going to complain, you need to pursue it up the food chain. It doesn't take much more effort but you just have to be a little bit persistent.
Their process is here:
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle-complaint/
In short, you fill in the online form, they reply to you and defend their actions.
If you are dissatisfied, you fill in the form again (there is an option on the form to say you have already complained and are not satisfied with the response). You get another reply from the same people saying the same thing they said last time.
THEN you have the option to escalate your complaint to the Executive Complaints Unit which seems to be when someone more senior considers it and there is a chance that your complaint will actually be upheld. There is then a further option to go to Ofcom.
Way, way back when I was a student, I took a job dealing with complaints (different kind of company, different kind of complaints but complaints nonetheless) and there was a team of us who were employed pretty much just to knock back complaints and defend the company - Very, very occasionally there would be something that was obviously such a cock-up that we took it to the managers and they agreed we could uphold it but basically our job was to respond to complaints writing reasons why we were not upholding their complaint. They could then appeal against that to people higher up the chain, where there was an actual chance that their complaint would be upheld.
I don't have much experience of the BBC complaints procedure but, from what I've seen and what I've heard of other people's experiences, I suspect it is similar and that's why I think it's important to pursue complaints, if you think you have valid grounds which are being dismissed.