Making a complaint

We want it to be easy for anyone to let us know that something has gone wrong for them. We will take a complaint from residents in writing, in person, over the telephone, by email, online via our website and social media channels, or through a third party. With third-party complaints, we will need to ensure that the person has permission to act on the complainant’s behalf before we respond. If we receive a complaint through social media channels we will contact the complainant privately to address their concerns and follow this Policy, ensuring confidentiality and privacy is maintained.

Telephone: 020 7625 1818

Email: complaints@innisfree.org.uk

Post: Innisfree Housing Association, 190 Iverson Road, London, NW6 2HL

Facebook: @InnisfreeHousingAssociation

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_InnisfreeHA

See our short video on how to make a complaint here:

Support

We receive complaints in any language. If you need help to sharing your complaint with us, or need an interpreter to help you make a verbal complaint, we will make the necessary arrangements upon request.

Exclusions – what can’t I complain about?

See our short video on ‘What is and is not a complaint’ here:

There are some things we can’t deal with through our complaints procedure. These include complaints that:

A first request for a service, such as a repair
Neighbour disputes and antisocial behaviour
Where legal proceedings have started. This is defined as details of the claim, such as the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim, having been filed at court.
Where our insurers are dealing with an issue
Where the issue giving rise to the complaint occurred over twelve months ago
Where the issue has previously been considered under the Complaints Policy

How long do I have to make a complaint?

You need to make your complaint within twelve months of the matter arising.

What can I expect when I make a complaint?

We will:

make it easy for you to make a complaint
help anyone who requires assistance in making a complaint
treat you fairly and respectfully
listen and deal with your complaint in a prompt and courteous manner
keep you informed throughout the process of your complaint
take your complaint seriously and investigate it fully and impartially
apologise when we get things wrong
put right any mistakes made and learn from them.

What happens when I make a complaint?

We have two complaint stages.

Stage 1

We believe it is best to get complaints settled as quickly as possible and that’s what we aim to do. Some complaints are more complicated so we have a few steps that we may need to go through to get to a solution. Your complaint will be treated as a formal complaint and given to the appropriate member of staff, who will act as the investigating Complaints Officer for your complaint.

They will aim to:

Acknowledge the complaint within 2 working days
Clarify any aspects that we don’t understand
Investigate the complaint fully, in an impartial manner and with an open mind
Provide a full response to the complaint within 10 working days – if we need an extension, we will agree this with the complainant
Explain any remedy offered to put things right, and apologise where appropriate
Set out any outstanding actions
Let them know how to escalate the complaint if they remain dissatisfied.

Stage 2

If you are still unhappy at the end of Stage 1, you can request that your complaint is reviewed at stage 2 of the Complaints Policy. If this happens we will allocate your case to a member of our Senior Management Team to act as the Complaint Officer at Stage 2.

Our Complaints Form

Our online Complaints Form can be found here: Complaints Form

The Housing Ombudsman

You can discuss your complaint or concerns with the Housing Ombudsman at any stage of your complaint.

Their contact details are as follows:

Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 152, Liverpool L33 7WQ

Tel: 0300 111 3000

Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk

www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk