Complaints Policy

Customer Complaints Policy

 

  1. Overview

We welcome all feedback from our customers and although we hope that our customers won’t have cause for complaint we do understand that at times you may wish to contact us to discuss concerns that you may have about our services.

This policy set out how you can contact us to make a complaint and how we will deal with any complaint you make.

  1. Who we are and how you can contact us

2.1 Barge Estates is operated by Barge Estates and you can see details of how to contact us below:

Person responsible for handling complaints: Emily Barge

Email address: emily@bargeestates.co.uk

Phone number: 01777567336

  1. When to contact us

4.1 A complaint can cover any element of the services that we provide and can also relate to:

  • things that our staff have or haven’t done;
  • the level of service provided by us or any of our staff;
  • the quality of the services that we have provided;
  • the timing of delivery of the or services that we have provided;

4.2 You may want to contact us for other reasons such as to arrange a return of a product or ask for more information about the or services that we provide and you can do so by email or telephone.

  1. What information to provide in relation to a complaint

Please provide as much information as possible when making a complaint and in particular:

4.1  Your name, address, telephone number and email address together with details of the method that you would be preferred to be contacted by in discussing your complaint;

4.2  Details of the service that you are complaining about with details of the [insert specific information that you need to identify the service.

4.3 If your complaint relates to a particular member of our staff please provide the name or other information to help us identify them;

4.4  Any documentation that relates to your complaint such as invoices, receipts, contracts;

4.5 Any further information in relation to your complaint and details of how you would like to see the complaint resolved

  1. How we will handle your complaint

5.1 The process that we follow in handling complaints is set out in the table below:

  Action Timescale
Barge Estates Acknowledge receipt of complaint 14 working days
Barge Estates Internal investigation 5 working days
Barge Estates Contact customer for further information if required During the internal investigation or within 3 working days afterwards
Barge Estates Contact customer to discuss outcome of the investigation, the proposed resolution and confirm in writing. Within 3 working days of the completion of the investigation.
Customer Contact us if you do not agree with the resolution to escalate/appeal. Within 5 working days of the written confirmation of the outcome of the investigation above.
Barge Estates Review complaint and contact customer to discuss further. Within 2 working days of escalation of a customer complaint.
Barge Estates Confirm outcome of the review and decision in relation to the complaint/actions to be taken in writing. Within 5 working days of contacting customer.

5.2  Please note that while we will endeavour to resolve your complaint within the timescales indicated above this might not be possible due to the nature or complexity of your complaint or where we are not able to contact you for further information for example.  In these circumstances, we will keep you informed of the timescales we are working to.

  1. External complaints procedure

6.1 As we are a member of the Property Redress Scheme you have the right to refer any complaint to the ombudsman if you are not satisfied with the outcome of our internal complaints procedure outlines at 5 above within 2 months.

https://www.theprs.co.uk/Complain

You will need to submit your complaint to The Property Ombudsman within 12 months of receiving our final viewpoint letter, including any evidence to support your case.

The Property Ombudsman requires that all complaints are addressed through this in-house complaints procedure, or if more than 8 weeks has elapsed since the complaint was first made, before being submitted for an independent review.

  1. Confidentiality and data protection.

7.1 We will ensure that all complaints are dealt with confidentially and information you provide will only be shared with individuals that we need to discuss your complaint with during the process outlined at 5 above and our external complaints organisation outlined at 6 above.

7.2  If we would like to share details of your complaint for any other reason (such as staff training) we will ensure the details shared do not identify you.

7.3  Any personal data that we collect during handling your complaint will held in accordance with the relevant data protection legislation and our privacy policy which can be found on our website.

  1. Policy Updates

This policy was adopted on 03/08/2023. Our Director has overall responsibility for this complaints policy and ensuring that it is regularly reviewed and updated if necessary.