How to complain

You can make a complaint by filling in our online form. If you’d prefer, you can also contact us:

• Online – by filling in a complaint form
• Email - tellus@fcho.co.uk
• By phone – 0161 393 7117 - our lines are open from 9am to 5pm, 5 days a week
• By post – FCHO Tellus, First Place, 22 Union Street, Oldham OL1 1BE
• In person – First Place, 22 Union Street, Oldham OL1 1BE. Current opening hours can be found on our Contact us page.
• Social media - Send us a direct message on Facebook or Twitter

Also, if you tell us that you are not satisfied with one of our services through a satisfaction survey a member of the Customer Excellence Team will contact you to discuss your concerns, and agree a resolution.

If you call, write or visit us you will need to provide the following details:

• Your name, address and telephone number and or email address
• A description of your concern
• What you would like us to do to put things right
• Any relevant reference numbers

Our complaints policy has two stages.

Once you have made a complaint, we will aim to contact you on the current or next working day by phone. We will confirm that we are looking into your complaint, and we will let you know when you can expect a response.

We will also give you a unique reference number.

Stage 1 - Make it Right

• We will acknowledge your complaint and will always aim to resolve the dissatisfaction by putting things right as quickly as possible.
• We will contact you to discuss your complaint in more detail and aim to provide you with a response within 7 working days. The response will include the agreed outcome(s) and any timescales for resolution.
• If you are not satisfied you can request an escalation to Stage 2.
• A request must be put in writing within 7 working days.

Stage 2 - Investigating your complaint

• If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction at the 'Make it right' stage, you can ask to escalate your complaint to the next stage, ‘Investigating your complaint’.
• At this stage your complaint will be investigated at Stage 2 of our complaints process, we will contact you to discuss your complaint in more detail and aim to provide you with a response within 15 working days. The response will include the agreed outcome(s) and any timescales for resolution.

We will keep you updated on the progress of your complaint by phone or email if you have provided this. However, if you feel there’s extra information that will help us resolve your complaint, you can contact us by phone or email, remember to include your reference number.

Email: tellus@fcho.co.uk

Phone: 0161 393 7117 - lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

We will always contact you to discuss our final response, providing an explanation of what we have found, what we plan to do as a result and why we made the decision. This may be over the phone, by email or by letter.

We aim to deal with complaints as quickly as possible; this will usually be 7 working days. We’ll keep you updated on our progress.

There are a number of ways in which we will consider resolving customers complaints, including taking action to restore the complainant to the position they would have been in had there not been a failure in service. These remedies include but are not limited to:

• An apology and explanation
• A specific action or correction of an error within timescales
• A review of policy and procedures - customers will be informed of any changes
• Additional training for colleagues
• Offering financial compensation, where appropriate, through our Compensation Policy

We’re sorry if you’re not happy with the decision we've taken. If you are still unhappy with the outcome of the complaint and have exhausted the complaints process, you have the right to have the complaint investigated by The Housing Ombudsman (The Housing Ombudsman Service will only start their own investigation 8 weeks after FCHO have issued their Stage 2 response) or refer your complaint to a designated person.

If you wish to pursue one of these options details are below:

The designated person's role officially begins when a complaint has been responded to at the final stage of a landlord’s complaints procedure, although MPs and local councillors can often be involved prior to this stage.

The role of the designated person is to help resolve the complaint in one of two ways:

• Try and resolve the complaint themselves in any way they see fit.
• Refer the complaint straight to the Housing Ombudsman if it has exhausted a landlord’s complaints procedure.

Housing Ombudsman address:

Housing Ombudsman Service
PO Box 152
Liverpool
L33 7WQ

Tel: 0300 111 3000

Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk