Making a complaint
Sometimes things might go wrong. And when they do, we want to know. We’ll be fair, put things right and learn from the outcomes.
What happens if you’re not happy with any aspect of our service?
Please contact us and we’ll try to resolve your issue for you and make sure it doesn’t happen again. If, after you’ve given us the chance to fix the problem you’re still not happy then we encourage you to make a formal complaint.
What is a complaint and what isn’t?
You can make a complaint when we, Raven Housing Trust, or someone acting on our behalf:
- Gives a poor level of service
- Didn’t do something we said we would
- Didn’t follow our own or regulatory processes and procedures, including delivering a service within our standard timescales
- Acted in an inappropriate way
A complaint is not:
- A first request for a service, like a repair. Please raise a repair request on MyRaven or call 0300 123 3399
- Something we have no control over like Local Authority property allocations
If you want to report a neighbour or antisocial behaviour, please see our antisocial behaviour page here.
How to make a complaint
We want to hear from you if you’re unhappy with something. The easiest way to make a complaint is by reporting on your MyRaven online account or by calling us on 0300 123 3399.
You’ll need to give us as much information as you can to help us investigate the issue, including:
- What has happened
- When it happened
- How this has impacted you and your family
- How you would like us to put things right
What will we do when we receive your complaint?
We’re committed to a positive complaint handling culture in line with the Housing Ombudsman’s complaint handling code.
When you first make a complaint at Stage One, we will:
- Acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days
- To carry out an investigation with the relevant service delivery team
- Aim to respond to your complaint within 10 working days. If your complaint is more complex we’ll sometimes need to ask for more information to carry out our investigation. If this means there is a delay in responding to your complaint, we’ll let you know why this is and keep you updated with the timescales.
- Contact you in writing to explain the outcome of your complaint, any actions we’ll take to put things right. We’ll also explain what we’ve learned from your complaint and any new processes we’re putting in place because of it.
What happens if you’re not happy with our response to your complaint?
If you’ve make a formal complaint and you’re not happy with our response then you can ask us to move to a Stage Two review of the complaint. You must send this request in writing within 4 weeks of our initial response to your complaint.
At Stage Two, a manager will carry out a deeper investigation. This will not be the same person who investigated at Stage One. Complaints escalated to Stage Two will be acknowledged within five working days of the escalation request being received and responded to within 20 working days.
If you’re still not happy with our response after stage two then you can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service so they can review the complaint impartially.
Help from the Housing Ombudsman Service
If at any time during our complaints process you need further help or advice about your complaint or you’re not happy with our response after we’ve been through our complaints process, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service for advice.
Call: 0300 111 3000
Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
Write to: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 152, Liverpool, L33 7WQ
Our complaints policy is required by law to meet the expectations set out in the Housing Ombudsman Handling Code. You can read more about our compliance with the Complaint Handling Code here.
Unreasonable behaviour
We’re happy to be open and honest with our customers, trying our best to fix any problems you have. Sometimes, customers behave in ways that make it hard for us to help.
We won’t tolerate people being violent, aggressive, rude or intimidating towards our staff or contractors. If this does happen, we’ll step in to make sure our staff can do their job without being abused or harassed. You can read our unacceptable behaviour policy here.
Learning from complaints – We Hear You
Once we have resolved a complaint it’s important that we learn from it to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Find out more about how we learn from complaints here.