Learning from complaints

We’re committed to learning from every complaint we receive.

Here’s what you’ve been telling us in the past few months, and what we’re doing to put things right.

Repairs

Repairs are one of the things customers contact us about the most, which means it’s often the highest area for complaints.

From October to December 2024, repairs remained the highest recorded reason for complaints. We know how important a high-quality repairs service is to you, and we’re committed to improving your experience.

We’re pleased that we received fewer complaints in this category than the same time in 2023. Early last year, we introduced our Customer Liaison Officers, who help us to address overdue repairs promptly and make sure that communication is consistent. This has had a positive impact on the number of complaints we receive, with more complaints being resolved quicker and to a better standard.

We’ve also reviewed how our contractors handle visits where they’re unable to access your home and added steps to make sure we re-book missed appointments to get the repair done.

Estate services

As we moved into the colder months, we received fewer complaints about Estate Services – which includes grounds maintenance and cleaning. While we expected complaints around cleaning to increase in-line with the season, (as it gets wetter, muddier and leaves begin to fall) this was not the case.

We worked really hard in 2024 to make lots of improvements to how we deliver our Estate Services and how we tell you about them, including updating our online reporting tool, service standards, developing a brand-new schedule checker, and working closely with our contractors to improve services. You can find all this information on our estate services webpage, here.

As we welcomed autumn, we saw an increase in grounds maintenance jobs reported to us, however the changes we implemented had a positive impact on the number of complaints we received about the service.

We’ve been working to make sure you know the service you should get and that all contractors understand what they need to do. We’ve also made it easier to track and improve the quality of our contracts.

Keeping you informed

Communication and keeping you informed is something we recognise is very important to you, and something we need to do better.

The Customer Complaint Learning Panel (CCLP) completed a review of complaints relating to our communication. They looked at anonymised complaints and responses and created an action plan to share how we can improve.

Common themes in the review included:

  • Staff absence and changes leading to missed contact.
  • Not taking responsibility for cases.
  • Managing, tracking and following up with call back requests.

We’re currently investigating where we can improve the management of customer contacts, as well as training we can deliver to staff.

In some cases, we failed to communicate well. These complaints have led to changes in the way that we record and manage cases, so we can make sure you’re kept informed and updated along the way.

Training for our teams

The Customer Relations Team created and delivered a training session on complaint handling and investigation to colleagues across our teams.

Two sessions have already been held, and future sessions are fully booked with new dates being added to meet demand. Feedback has been incredibly positive and shows our desire to improve the quality of complaint responses. By making sure that as many colleagues as possible understand what makes a great complaints investigation, we hope to improve the quality of our responses, and resolve more complaints earlier.

As well as this, to improve we’re training our teams on good record-keeping.

How to make a complaint

We always aim to provide a great service to you, but we know we don't always get it right. When you feel like you want to complain, there's a number of ways you can let us know about it.

You can:

  • Talk to a member of our team
  • Visit our website and complete a form
  • Call us on 01202 319 119
  • Email customerfeedback@stonewater.org
  • Send us a direct message on Facebook
  • Or write to us at: Stonewater Suite C, Lancaster House Grange Business Park Enderby Road Whetstone Leicester LE8 6EP
  • Find out more about making a complaint