Complaints
We want to provide you with a good service, but if we don’t, we want to know so that we can do something about it and improve our service in the future. We would ask that you give us the opportunity to put things right.
How do I make a complaint?
If you are not happy with the service you have received, the best way to let us know is through your MyWandle account.
If you prefer, you can email customerservices@wandle.com or call us during office hours on 0300 200 0120. You can also write to us. It is harder for us to handle complaints via social media as these can be missed. However, you report your complaint, make sure to tell us what went wrong, how you were affected, and how we can put things right.
Wandle are members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. You may wish to contact them for advice and guidance about your complaint with us. You can get in touch with them at any point during your complaint.
Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 152, Liverpool, L33 7WQ
Telephone: 0300 111 3000
Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
Online: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/residents/make-a-complaint/
The Housing Ombudsman Service recently introduced a new Complaint Handling Code which sets out good practice so landlords can respond to complaints effectively and fairly. Our complaints handling process holds up well against the code and we carried out a self-assessment to see how we’re performing.
Find our latest self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code here.
Who can make a complaint?
You don’t have to be a tenant or homeowner to make a complaint. You could be a representative of a tenant or homeowner, such as health or care worker, a guardian or a “designated person”.
The complaints process
Acknowledgement
Once we know what has gone wrong, how you were affected and what we need to do to put things right, we will confirm to you that a complaint has been opened and provide you with a case reference number. We aim to acknowledge all complaints within 5 working days.
Stage One
All new complaints are investigated at stage one of our complaint process. This involves an internal investigation to find out what has gone wrong and what needs to be done to put things right. These complaints are usually investigated and responded to by a member of the team involved in the initial problem. If a complaint relates to service from one of our contractors, we may ask them to investigate and respond to you.
We aim to respond to stage one complaints within 10 working days. There may be times when we cannot respond within this timeframe. If this happens, we will let you know why and extend our timescale by no more than a further 10 working days.
Stage Two
If you are still dissatisfied after we have responded at stage one or you feel that we have not delivered on our agreements at stage one, you can request that your complaint progress to stage two. This request should be made within a reasonable period (normally within two months of our stage one response or completion of agreed actions). Only concerns that were part of your original stage one complaint will be considered at this stage.
Stage two complaints will usually be investigated and responded to be a senior member of the team involved in the stage one complaint. Where a complaint relates to a service provided by a contractor on our behalf, the appropriate Wandle contract manager will investigate and respond.
We aim to respond to stage two complaints within 20 working days. There may be times when we cannot respond within this timeframe. If this happens, we will let you know why and extend our timescale by no more than a further 10 working days.
Stage two is the end of our complaint process and the response provided will be the final response from Wandle to a complaint.
When will a complaint be closed?
We will notify you when your complaint has been closed to explain why we have done this.
We will close a complaint when:
- a resolution plan has been provided with clear, reasonable timescales for actions
- you specifically state that you do not wish to take the matter further
- we require additional information from you to proceed with the complaint but have been unable to contact you. This will only be done once three reasonable attempts have been made using all contact information available
- a legal hearing has taken place and a judge has made a relevant ruling
- the matter has resulted in litigation and is now being dealt with by solicitors
- you have acted in an unreasonable or offensive manner and/or refused to cooperate with our staff.
Compliments
We all like to be recognised when we do a good job. If you feel if an individual or team has done a particularly good job, we would love to hear from you.
Compliments can be made within MyWandle or you can email customerservices@wandle.com