Compliments and complaints

Our customers are at the heart of what we do. To enable us to deliver a great customer experience we welcome all your feedback, both positive and negative. This helps us to know when we get things right and also where we need to improve.

Compliments

It’s great to hear when we have done well. This means we can make sure to keep doing it and share good practices across our team. We’ll also pass any compliments on to those employees that have given great service, so they know when they’re doing well.

Your feedback
  • alt=

    CHP has been very good to me. You have always kept in touch through frequent communication  with your tenants. In addition CHP is always ready to address any issues that may arise concerning the property. CHP has also made me feel valued as a tenant, by involving me  in decision making, through answering questionnaires. Lastly, I like the CHP property I live in.

    CHP customer

  • alt=

    I'm delighted with the house and it's condition and Im very satisfied with the help I have received from you so far. All matters have been dealt with in a prompt and professional way. Thank you. Have a great week

    CHP customer

  • alt=

    From beginning to end the service was brilliant. The workers were on time every day, they were polite and friendly and always tidied up after too , the quality of work was also outstanding, I'm very happy with the service from both the council and the subcontractors. 5 star.

    CHP customer

Complaints

We understand that sometimes things go wrong. As soon as we're aware that you feel unhappy with the level of service we’ve given, we'll contact you and take the necessary steps to put things right quickly.

If you’re unhappy with the service we’ve delivered you can open a complaint. You can do this by completing the Your Feedback form. Alternatively you can:

  • call us on 0300 555 0500;
  • email us at feedback@chp.org.uk;
  • write to us or visit our office at Myriad House, 33 Springfield Lyons Approach, Chelmsford, CM2 5LB;
  • message us on social media.

We’ll acknowledge your complaint in writing within five working days and take your complaint through our two-stage process. This is set out in detail in our Complaint Handling and Resolution Policy final Oct 22.pdf[pdf] 195KB

All formal complaints are handled by one team. They work closely with colleagues across the business to make sure we do everything necessary to investigate the issue in detail and keep you informed.

Lessons learnt

Here are examples of where we’ve used our customers’ voices to embed lessons learnt into our daily service delivery, identified through the learning from our customer panels and via our complaints process.

We use all feedback as a positive source of information to continuously improve the services we provide and our customers’ experience. We’ll monitor service requests and formal complaints, analysing trends and learning from feedback.

You said We did
alt=""

We received reports from several customers in one of our blocks that they were dissatisfied with the standard of cleaning completed in communal areas.

alt=""

We have reviewed our block check forms and will now include a rating from our Neighbourhood Advisor on the standard of the block when they visit for monthly checks. If the standard of cleaning is noted to be below our expected standard, this would then be followed up directly with our contractor and discussed at monthly account meetings.

alt=""

We recognised that an employee raised a complaint to a member of the team whilst they were out of the office, but after receiving their out of office message didn't raise the complaint to the team via a central mailbox the team monitor.

alt=""

We have completed additional training with all teams and emphasised the importance of directing all complaints via our complaint’s mailbox. This was also emphasised via internal article and included within weekly managers updates too.

alt="" A customer told us that they were frustrated with the way that we handled a change to their tenancy. alt="" We have amended our scripting to ensure the enquiry is better clarified and raised to the appropriate team. We have also completed further training with the necessary teams too.
alt=""

A customer told us that they were confused by a miscommunication regarding us replacing their boiler, to later be told that we would be completing an identified repair.

alt=""

Our heating contractor, Aaron Services, will now check with us before confirming to a customer that we will complete a boiler replacement.

 

Housing Ombudsman Service

The Housing Ombudsman Service is set up by law to look at complaints about housing organisations registered in their scheme. Their service is free, independent and impartial.

The role of the Ombudsman is to resolve disputes, including awarding compensation or providing other remedies when appropriate, and to support effective landlord tenant dispute resolution by others. Residents and landlords can contact the Ombudsman at any time for support.

Find out more about what they do and how they work.

A fair approach | Complaint handling code

The Housing Ombudsman published a new Complaint Handling Code in July 2020, setting out good practice that will allow landlords like us to respond to complaints effectively and fairly. Following a review one year after it was introduced, the Ombudsman updated the code to strengthen provisions to support a positive complaint handling culture.

We’ve reviewed our complaints process to make sure we’re compliant. You can download our self-assessment for more information:

For more information on how we manage customer feedback, please see our leaflet, A guide to giving us feedback.pdf

Compensation and goodwill gesture

We aim to provide an excellent service, but we recognise that occasionally things do go wrong. If we fail to meet the level of service set out in our published standards, we’ll apologise and put things right. Sometimes this may involve paying compensation to you or making a goodwill gesture. You can read about our approach, when goodwill gestures will be paid, and how an amount is calculated, in our Compensation and Goodwill Gesture Policy[pdf] 201KB.