Compliments & Complaints
What to do if you have any complaints about Tees Valley Housing
At Tees Valley Housing, we are committed to providing excellent services for our customers.
Your views are important to us and we want to ensure we receive as much feedback as possible, whether it is a complaint, compliment or even a suggestion as we see this as a way of maintaining our service and continually improving it.
We record and monitor all the feedback we receive and we use this to review our services. Through the tenants’ newsletter, Tees Valley Voice, we aim to let customers know how we have listened to their views and acted upon them.
While we make every effort to provide you with the services you need and ensure you are satisfied, we accept that on occasions things can go wrong. If this happens we would like you to tell us so that we have the opportunity to put things right and improve for the future.
Please check out our Customer Service Charter which explains what you should expect from us,
We always encourage customers to work with our front line staff to resolve any problems at the first point of contact. For more information, please see our ‘Are you being Served’ leaflet.
Our aim is to:
- Take complaints seriously and try to resolve these wherever possible
- Use complaints and customer feedback to help improve our service
- Learn from our mistakes
- Provide responses which are clear and easy to understand
- Provide where necessary, explanations for decisions
- Treat you fairly and with respect
- Be open and honest
- Be confidential
What is a complaint?
A complaint is where a customer expresses dissatisfaction with the way we have acted, particularly where an initial response to the problem has not proven satisfactory.
For example a complaint could be where:
- We have not followed a published policy or procedure
- We have failed to deliver or meet an expected standard of service
- Our staff or contractors have been unhelpful or acted in an inappropriate manner
What is not included?
There are certain issues that cannot be dealt with through our complaints procedure although we will always listen and provide you with a response.
The complaints procedure is designed to deal with complaints about us so for example, if you have a complaint about your neighbour we would not deal with this through the complaints procedure. However, if you were unhappy about how we dealt with the situation with your neighbour, this would be dealt with through this process.
If you have a complaint about a policy, for example the way in which we set our rents or the published timescales for repairs to be completed, the procedure cannot be used. We do however value your views and would still encourage you to tell us. You could even join our Housing Advisory Panel or your local area committee and make a difference!
How to make a complaint
If you feel you need to make a complaint, it is important that you contact us and tell us:
- What the complaint is
- When it happened
- What you have done about it
- Who you reported it to and who has been involved
- How you would like it resolved
Complaints can be made:
- In person at the office
- To any member of staff when they are on the estate
- By telephone
- By completing our online Complaints Form
- By downloading and completing our Complaints Form
- In writing
- By email to admin@teesvalley.org
(Where complaints are made in person you will be asked some questions and notes will be taken. You will then be told what happens next.)
We would encourage you to let us know your complaint as soon as possible but do ask that you complain within six months of the issue first arising. If you have moved out of a Tees Valley property and you have a complaint, please let us know within three months.
Our complaints procedure
We believe that the majority of problems can be sorted out by discussing the issues with the relevant members of staff and we encourage you to do this. Where this has not resolved your problem or for some reason you do not wish to discuss your complaint at this level, we understand that you may wish to take things further.
Following consultations with customers and staff throughout Project Weave, the complaints policy and procedure is likely to change but until then the process is as follows:
There are three stages to our complaints procedure.
- Review by the appropriate Head of Service.
- Review by the Managing Director. You should advise us why you remain dissatisfied and tell us what you would like to happen to resolve your complaint.
- Review by the Tees Valley Housing Board. The Board will receive a report on your complaint including copies of the information you have sent in. You will get a copy of this and be invited along with a friend or representative to meet with the Board to discuss your complaint.
Timescales
We understand that it is important for you to have your complaint resolved as quickly as possible.
At each stage we will provide a response within ten working days. In our reply we will also provide you with details of what to do next and a named person to contact if you still remain unhappy.
At stage three, a meeting with the Board will be arranged within 28 working days. This is to allow time for the report to be completed and arrangements made for a minimum of three board members to attend.
The maximum time for a complaint to be dealt with from stage one to stage three is eight weeks.
Independent Housing Ombudsman
If your complaint has reached stage three of our procedure and you are still not happy with the response, Tees Valley Housing has no further stages of appeal.
You can write to the Independent Housing Ombudsman, who will investigate your complaint if it falls within their scheme. The Ombudsman can be contacted at:
Norman House
105 –109 Strand
London
WC2R 0AA
Tel: 020 7836 3630
website: http://www.ihos.org.uk/
