Complaints & Compliments

Compliments and Feedback

The Group is committed to providing an excellent service to customers, and part of this is responding to feedback from tenants. In this way, we can develop our services and make positive changes to improve outcomes.

We welcome all feedback from our customer and use comments and suggestions to help us improve our services. You can share your views with us in many ways. Send us an email, letter, speak to a member of staff or complete the online form here. 

Tenant satisfaction

We are committed to continually improving our services to tenants and satisfaction data is vital to this process. You will be asked for your feedback on our repairs service, housing services provision and other aspects of our service to you. Taking part in satisfaction surveys is voluntary however we appreciate your engagement in this process. You can also complete online feedback forms here.

Making a Complaint – Tenants Guidelines

If something goes wrong or you are dissatisfied with our services, please tell us. These guidelines describe our complaints procedure and how to make a complaint.

What is a complaint?

We regard a complaint as any expression of dissatisfaction about our action or lack of action, or about the standard of services provided by us or on our behalf. Unless the reason for your complaint is very serious, you should probably make an informal complaint first, on the telephone or in an interview. You may be able to get your problem solved, or at least learn more about it.

If your informal complaint does not resolve the problem, or if your problem is a serious one you can make a formal complaint.

What can I complain about?

You can complain about things such as:

• Failure to provide a service
• Dissatisfaction with our policy
• Standard of service
• Treatment by or attitude of a member of staff or contractor
• Failure to follow proper procedure
• Delays in responding to your enquiries or requests

What can’t I complain about?

There are some things we can’t deal with through the complaints procedure, these include but are not limited to:

• A routine and/or first time service request.
• Anti-social behaviour. This is dealt with via a separate procedure
• Requests for compensation
• Policy or procedure that has a separate right of appeal (ie, allocations policy)
• Issues that are in court or have already been heard by a court (or a tribunal)
• An attempt to re-open a previously concluded complaint where a final decision has been given You still have the right to contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman for an independent review.

How do I make a complaint?

You can make a complaint by phone, in writing, via email or in person at our office. You may request a home visit if you feel unable to express your concerns via the above methods.

It is easier to resolve complaints if they are made quickly and directly to Osprey. Please contact Osprey in the first instance and talk to a member of staff about how we can resolve your problem. You can also complete a form online here.

When making a complaint, it is important to provide as much information as possible at the initial stage to facilitate a quick resolution. Please tell us the following details;

• Full name and address
• As much information as you can about the complaint
• What has gone wrong
• How you want us to resolve the matter

How long do I have to make a complaint?

Normally, you must make your complaint:

• within six months of the event you want to complain about, or
• within six months of you finding out that you have a reason to complain, but no longer than 12 months after the event itself.

In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to accept a complaint after the time limit. If you feel that the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please contact us to explain why.

What happens when I have complained?

Our complaints procedure has two stages.

Stage 1 - Frontline resolution:

We aim to resolve complaints quickly and efficiently, therefore it is important you contact us as soon as there is a problem. This could mean an on-the-spot explanation or apology if something has clearly gone wrong, and immediate action will be taken to resolve the problem. We will give you our decision or an outcome of your complaint at Stage 1 in five working days or less, unless there are exceptional circumstances. If we can’t resolve your complaint at this stage, we will explain why and tell you what you can do next. We might suggest that you take your complaint to Stage 2.

Stage 2 - Investigation:

Stage 2 deals with two types of complaint: those that have not been resolved at Stage 1 and those that are complex and require detailed investigation. If you are making a complaint at Stage 2, please provide as much information as possible in relation to the complaint, as this will make it easier and quicker for our staff to help you. When using Stage 2 we will:

• acknowledge receipt of your complaint within three working days
• discuss your complaint with you to understand why you remain unhappy and what outcome you are looking for
• give you a full response to the complaint as soon as possible and within 20 working days. I

f our investigation will take longer than 20 working days we will tell you. We will agree revised time limits with you and keep you updated on progress.

What if I’m still not satisfied my complaint has been dealt with?

After we have fully investigated, if you are still dissatisfied with our decision or the way we dealt with your complaint, you can ask the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to look at it.

SPSO Contact - Freephone 0800 377 7330. Online contact www.spso.org.uk/contact-us

Complaints to the Scottish Housing Regulator - Significant Performance Failures

If we are persistently failing to deliver services that meet the standards that are expected of us, and you have complained to us but you are still dissatisfied, you can complain to the Scottish Housing Regulator or bring their attention to a Significant Performance Failure. A significant performance failure is something that we do, or fail to do, that puts the interests of our tenants at risk. This is something that does, or could, affect all of our tenants. If we do not deal with the failure, you can contact the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR). Read their Significant Performance Failure Factsheet which provides more information on what you should do and how to raise your concerns with the SHR.