Customer Complaints Procedure

We are aware that errors do sometimes occur, and where this happens, we intend to minimise any inconvenience and resolve any outstanding issues at the earliest opportunity:

Please contact us during normal office hours to let us know your issue or concern.  Our customer care staff are empowered to resolve the majority of complaints and will review the issue with the relevant team.

If your complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction, please request this is escalated to the Managing Director for review.

Our formal customer complaints procedure is set out below:

a) No later than five days from the first business day after receiving the complaint (the complaint start date), we will send you a written acknowledgement of the complaint.

b) No later than 10 days from the complaint start date, we will send you a written ‘path to resolution’ which outlines how we will investigate your complaint. This will include advice on whether you can refer the complaint to a dispute resolution service that is offered by the NHBC warranty provider, if you are not satisfied with the outcome of our complaints procedure.

c) No later than 30 days from the complaint start date, we will send you a complaint assessment and response letter. The complaint assessment and response letter will include the following information.

• Details of and a separate report on each complaint.
• If a complaint has been settled, what action has been taken to do this.
• If a complaint has not been settled, and we need more time to look into the matter, an estimate of how long we need to reach a decision and a brief explanation as to what further steps are needed and why.
• If a complaint has not been settled but we accept that we need to carry out correction work, details of what that work will be and an estimate of when it will be completed.
• If further investigation or correction work is needed, when we will give you an update (which must be within 28 days).
• If we do not accept your complaint, a clear explanation of the reasons for the decision.
• Information about any dispute resolution service, offered by the warranty provider, that you can refer the complaint to.
• How the customer can refer the complaint to the Consumer Code Independent Dispute Resolution Scheme.

d) If the complaint is not closed, and no later than 56 calendar days from the complaint start date, we will send you an eight-week letter. The eight-week letter must include the following information.

• A clear summary of what action has been taken to date.
• Clear details of what is still outstanding, a reason why and the actions to be taken
• An idea of when the complaint will be settled.
• How often we will give you updates (which must be at least every 28 days).

e) We can send a closure letter to you at any stage after the complaint start date. The closure letter will include the following.

• A list of the items agreed in the complaint assessment and response letter and confirmation that each item has been resolved.
• Information about how to refer matters to the Consumer Code Independent Dispute Resolution Scheme if you are not satisfied. To avoid doubt, we may choose to combine a number of complaints into a single complaint, but the timetable will apply from the date we received the first complaint.