Compliments and Complaints

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Patience Ward
5 years ago
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1 Compliments and Complaints

This leaflet explains how you can: Compliment individual members of staff or recognise good service Make a complaint if you are dissatisfied with the standard of service, actions or lack of action by

2 This leaflet explains how you can: Compliment individual members of staff or recognise good service Make a complaint if you are dissatisfied with the standard of service, actions or lack of action by Golding Homes We welcome your compliments and complaints as they provide us with valuable feedback on how we are performing. If you don t tell us, we won t know! We will: listen to you investigate all complaints thoroughly acknowledge and learn from our mistakes continually try to improve our services apologise where mistakes have been made and do what we can to put things right Compliments We want to hear from you; we welcome compliments from all of our customers. If you think one of our service areas is doing well or a member of our staff has provided a great service, please let us know. We make sure individuals are recognised for their service to our customers. Complaints A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by Golding Homes or its staff affecting a customer or group of customers. We work hard to make sure our customers receive a good quality service. However we know sometimes things can go wrong and a customer may feel we have failed to meet their expectations. We aim to resolve complaints quickly, effectively and wherever possible to your satisfaction. If you are not completely satisfied or feel we have failed to meet our service standard, please tell us as we want to know and will act on the information you provide. If you need any help in making a complaint, such as an interpreter, let us know and we will arrange this for you. Compliments and Complaints

3 3 Stage Complaints Procedure We operate a simple 3 stage Complaints Procedure. To complain to us you can proceed with your complaint as follows: 1 Stage Investigation There are many ways you can make a formal complaint:- by completing the online form on our website, by putting your complaint in a letter, in person at our Head Office by calling us on , or by sending an to: complaints@goldinghomes.org.uk We will acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days of receiving the complaint. Your complaint will be recorded, investigated and we will respond to you within 8 working days. Sometimes it is not possible to give a full response within 8 working days so we may have to send a holding letter or contact you by telephone, but we will try to respond to you within this deadline. 2 Stage Review If you are not satisfied with our response you can ask for your complaint to be escalated to Stage 2 of our Complaints Procedure. Requests to escalate to the next stage must be received within 21 calendar days from the date of the Stage 1 response. A senior manager responsible for the service will review the complaint and write to you with the outcome of their investigation within 10 working days of receiving your request.

3 Stage Complaint Panel Hearing Following investigation and review, if you are still unhappy, you may ask for your complaint to be considered under Stage 3 of our procedure within 21 calendar days

The Director, usually with responsibility for the area of the complaint, will draft an appeal summary of the complaint and outcome which you, as the complainant, will be asked to agree.

4 3 Stage Complaint Panel Hearing Following investigation and review, if you are still unhappy, you may ask for your complaint to be considered under Stage 3 of our procedure within 21 calendar days from the date of the Stage 2 response. The Director, usually with responsibility for the area of the complaint, will draft an appeal summary of the complaint and outcome which you, as the complainant, will be asked to agree. If you fail to agree to the summary of the complaint within 28 calendar days, the complaint will be closed. Within 15 working days of agreement of the appeal summary, a Complaint Panel Hearing will be arranged. A Complaint Panel is made up of a Golding Homes Director and three Board Members. The Panel Hearing may be attended by other Golding Homes staff if their input is necessary. A note taker will be present to take minutes of the Hearing. The Panel will decide whether to reject or uphold the appeal and will send a Stage 3 response to the complaint. The decision of the Complaint Panel Hearing will be communicated to the complainant within 10 working days. Improving our services to you Once your complaint has been responded to, we will contact you by telephone so we can talk through your experience and gain feedback. We may put this in writing if we are unable to get hold of you over the telephone. Feedback on our complaints process is important to make sure the way we handle complaints is managed and improved, taking your comments into consideration

5 If you want to escalate the complaint further If you have been through our 3-stage Complaints Procedure and are still not satisfied, you can engage a Designated Tenant Panel if there is one recognised by Golding Homes or you can engage a Designated Person to help you resolve your complaint locally. A Designated Person is defined as an MP or a local councillor who must be from the local council in the district where you live. They may support a referral to the Housing Ombudsman. If you don t want to engage with a Designated Tenant Panel or Designated Person, you can send an appeal directly to the Housing Ombudsman eight weeks after the exhaustion of our Complaints Policy and within six months of exhaustion of our complaints process. The Ombudsman has the power to order or recommend a solution to your problem which could include an offer to mediate, arbitrate or recommend that we should: formally apologise to you make a compensation payment stop doing what you complained about or provide the required service reject your complaint Contact Details Councillors Contact your local council to find out who your councillors are. Housing Ombudsman Service 81 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4HN Telephone: (Monday to Friday 09:15 to 17:15) info@housingombudsman.org.uk Compensation If you can demonstrate you have suffered a direct loss from our inaction then you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact us if you wish to discuss a claim. Discrimination If you feel we have subjected you to any act of discrimination, you have the right to claim against us in the County Court. However, you must register your complaint at the County Court within six months of the date you believe the discrimination occurred or you will lose your right to complain.

Contact us Golding Homes Whatman House St. Leonard s Road Maidstone ME16 0LS 0300 777 2600 enquiries@goldinghomes.org.

6 Contact us Golding Homes Whatman House St. Leonard s Road Maidstone ME16 0LS enquiries@goldinghomes.org.uk Stay in Published in February This leaflet has been printed on recycled paper.

Complaints, Compliments and Suggestions

Complaints, Compliments and Suggestions www.innisfree.org.uk Complaints, compliments and suggestions We welcome all feedback from our customers and value any suggestions you may have about our services.