Complaints and Compliments
Making a complaint
Customer service is a key part of One Manchester's business and our aim is to provide excellent quality services for our customers at all times. However, we know we can’t deliver a perfect service every time and when this happens we want to know about it.
We will do our best to resolve the issue quickly and efficiently and use complaints to improve the service we provide. You can see our complaints policy here.
The policy is based on a set of principles with the overarching aim of quickly identifying what if anything went wrong and prompt action to put it right.
How to make a complaint
You must provide the following information when contacting us by your chosen method (telephone/in person/email etc.) to make a complaint:
- Your full name and address
- Details of your complaint
- Copies of any correspondence or documents relating to your complaint
- How you wish your complaint to be resolved
Complaints can be sent to:
Complaints Team, Lovell House, Archway 6, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5RN
Or:
- delivered to/made in person at various drop-in’s across our areas – click here for opening times and accessibility information
- email: complaints@onemanchester.co.uk
- telephone: 0330 355 1000
‘Put Things Right’
If you aren’t happy with the service you’ve received our priority is to ‘put things right’ as quickly as possible. Our first step on receipt of your complaint is to find a quick and effective solution without the need for lengthy investigations. We will contact you within 48 hours of receiving your complaint to try and agree reasonable outcomes in reasonable timescales. If we can ‘put things right’ we will class the complaint as resolved.
‘Investigate It’
If we are unable to put things right you can ask us to move your complaint to the next step, ‘Investigate It’, and this request will be acknowledged within two working days. This is a full investigation carried out by relevant managers and Heads of Service. We will contact you to discuss how we can resolve your complaint and aim to give you a full response within 10 working days. If we think it might take longer than this we will explain why and send you a holding letter. Most complaints are sorted out at this stage but if you remain unhappy with our response and any proposed actions you can request a review.
‘Review It’
For your complaint to be reviewed you must tell us, within one month of our ‘Investigate It’ response, which of the following is the reason for your request:
- All or some of the points raised as part of your complaint have not been investigated or responded to or where you feel the outcome is wrong
- All or some of the agreed actions have not been carried out within the specified timescales or carried out to a less than satisfactory standard (the one month review request timescale can be extended to 7 working days beyond our final action deadline if that deadline exceeds the one month period)
- We failed to respond to your complaint within the published timescales as set out in our policy including any notified additional time
- You must also tell us what outcome you want from the review process.
The initial review of your complaint will be handled by our Business Excellence Team. Where an issue can be resolved without the need for a full review that is the approach we will take. If an issue cannot be resolved and we accept the reason for your request we will refer your complaint to our formal review panel and write to you within seven working days offering you a face to face meeting or a conference call with the panel or alternatively they can consider your written appeal. The panel is made up of a One Manchester Board member, Scrutiny Panel member and an Executive Director. We will aim to hold the review panel meeting within eight weeks of accepting the review and the panel will give you a full response within 20 working days of the panel hearing.
If we decide not to accept the reason for your review request we will write to you, again within seven working days, with an explanation of our decision. In either event this will be the final response from One Manchester and the end of our internal complaints process.
Independent Review
If you still aren’t satisfied following our internal stages you can ask to have your complaint reviewed independently of One Manchester. This can be done by your local MP or a local Councillor.
Most cases are resolved early on but if you are still not satisfied at the end of the process you can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service and ask them to review your complaint. The Ombudsman will only do this after you have been through One Manchester’s internal process.
One Money Team
Our One Money Team is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority which has different rules for dispute resolution and is covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service. See section 8 of our Complaints Policy which has further details.
Our standards
When we receive your complaint we will:
- contact you within 48 hours to try and put things right
- move your complaint to the ‘Investigate It’ stage if you tell us we haven’t put things right and acknowledge this step within 2 working days
- investigate and provide a formal response within 10 working days from our acknowledgement
- provide a holding letter if we are unable to meet the above timescales
- respond to any review request within 7 working days
- hold review panel meetings within 8 weeks of accepting the review
- provide a formal response following a review panel hearing within 20 working days
- offer a suitable remedy for any failures in service
- learn from our mistakes to improve our services
Compliments
We’d love to know if you have received great service or if someone has been especially polite or helpful. We will thank the member of staff ourselves and value them for doing a good job.