Customer Care

We want to provide the best possible services to our customers. But we recognise the need to put things right when things go wrong, apologise for mistakes and learn from your comments and feedback.

The following outlines what you should do if you:

are unhappy with our services
have an idea for improving the way we do things
would like to tell us about something we have done well.

CHP aims to take prompt and effective action if you are unhappy with our services. We can normally resolve mistakes and misunderstandings straight away. However, if you wish to make a complaint, please let us know. We generally regard a complaint as: "An expression of dissatisfaction regarding CHP, our services or our employees (or contractors)."

For example, a complaint might result from:

our failure to provide a service, fulfill a duty or carry out a policy
your dissatisfaction with one of our decisions, actions or policies or with the behaviour of our employees (or contractors).

However, a complaint would not normally be:

a routine request for a service such as an initial repair request
an initial report made about an incident of antisocial behaviour or neighbour nuisance (unless specifically about our handling of such a case).

There are various ways of making a complaint including:

completing the online Customer Feedback Form
contacting a member of staff by phone, fax, letter, email or in person.

If you need any help in making a complaint, just let us know and we will do our best to help. We operate a simple three-stage 'complaints procedure'. We aim to acknowledge, investigate and resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. We will offer you an apology if we have made a mistake and the right of review and subsequent appeal if you are not entirely satisfied with our response.

STAGE 1 - Investigation

Your complaint will be recorded, acknowledged, investigated and responded to by an appropriate member of staff, within 10 working days.

STAGE 2 - Review

If you are unhappy with our initial investigation and response, you can ask for the complaint to be reviewed by a senior member of staff. A response will be made within 10 working days.

STAGE 3 - Appeal

If you are unhappy with our response to Stage 2, you can ask for your complaint to be heard by an Appeals Panel made up of members of our Board of Management. Your complaint will be heard by an Appeals Panel within 20 working days.

We aim to acknowledge all complaints within 3 working days and carry out a full investigation within 10 working days of receipt. If you have been through all 3 stages of our complaints procedure and are still unhappy, you can forward your complaint to the Independent Housing Ombudsman at Norman House, 105-109 Strand, London WC2R 0AA (0207 836 3630).

Improving the way we do things

Do you have a suggestion for improving the way we do things or an idea for a new service you think we should be providing? If so, please let us know about it by completing the online Customer Feedback Form (pdf) or by contacting a member of staff. We will record, acknowledge and evaluate all improvement suggestions. If your suggestion leads to a change in our services, we will let you know.

Things we do well

Please let us know if you feel we are doing something really well, a service has exceeded your expectations or you are particularly impressed by one of our members of staff or contractors.

We will acknowledge all such expressions of thanks and make sure the people concerned are told that you are happy about their work. Please complete the online Customer Feedback Form or contact a member of staff.