Compliments and complaints

It would be great if you could let us know straight away when there’s a problem, so we can get back on track quickly

• How you can contact us

  You can contact us by:

  • telephone: 0300 323 0011
  • emailing complaints@moat.co.uk
  • our online portal myMoat
  • web chat
  • making a complaint in person to any Moat employee
    writing to us at: Moat, Mariner House, Galleon Boulevard, Dartford DA2 6QE

  If you’d like to talk to us through social media, please remember that our pages are public. We want to keep your personal data safe so we might recommend that we switch to a safer channel. We’ll still communicate digitally if that’s what you prefer.

  As long as you agree, we’ll accept complaints from anyone acting on your behalf. For example, this could be family members, MPs and other organisations such as the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and Citizens Advice.

  If you don’t want to tell us who you are that’s fine. We’ll treat anonymous complaints seriously too. We’ll keep you updated as long as you tell us how to.

  We want to hear from everyone. We’ll make reasonable adjustments to accommodate your individual needs and comply with the Equality Act 2010. We’ll provide an interpreter or British Sign Language interpreter if needed. Please tell us about any adjustments you need if we forget to ask.

   

• How we will resolve your complaint

  First and foremost – we’ll start by listening to you to make sure we understand how the issue is affecting you and what you want us to do to put things right. We’ll be clear, honest and committed to finding a resolution for you.

  We'll make it easy for you to get a resolution to your complaint. Here is how it works.

  

  When we receive your complaint, we’ll send you an acknowledgment within five working days and confirm that we’re working on a resolution. You’ll have your own dedicated Moat colleague keeping you up to date and they’ll let you know the outcome within ten working days from our acknowledgement.

  Our aim is to fully resolve your complaint. If you’re not satisfied with the answer we’ve provided in response to your complaint, we will, if you ask us to, arrange for a complaint review to be done by one of our senior colleagues. You’ll need to request this within 10 working days of us letting you know the outcome of your initial complaint.

  We’ll acknowledge your request for a complaint review within five working days of receiving it and complete the complaint review within twenty working days of receiving your request.

  In exceptional circumstances we may need to extend the timescales at stage 1 or stage 2 of our complaints process. We’ll provide you with a clear explanation for this and seek your agreement. Any extension should not exceed 10 working days.

  If you remain unhappy with how we’re dealing with or have dealt with your complaint, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman at any time if you’re are a tenant, shared owner, or leaseholder:

  Housing Ombudsman Service
  PO Box 152
  Liverpool
  L33 7WQ
  Telephone: 0300 111 3000
  Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
  Website: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk

   

• Things we will not handle as complaints

  We’ll always try to help resolve service issues. Sometimes there will be issues that we can’t deal with as a complaint, for example:

  • When your complaint has already been handled through our complaints resolution process.
  • If the issue occurred more than 12 months ago it may be difficult for us to reasonably investigate and resolve this for you.
  • An initial request for service, where you’re informing us of a problem for the first time - for example, if the word complaint is used during an initial report of a repair.
  • Initial contact to chase up a service request, for example a missed appointment that can be resolved with an apology and by providing a new appointment date. However, if you’re unhappy with the resolution offered, we’ll progress this as a complaint.
  • If you’ve started legal proceedings against us or there’s an ongoing insurance claim.
  • If you have a neighbour dispute or anti-social behaviour issue, we’ll support you through our neighbourhood team. If we fail to do this properly, you can make a complaint.
  • A dispute about the level of your service charges. We’ll resolve this for you as part of our service charge management. If we fail to do this properly, you can make a complaint.
  • If you’re a customer on the Stanhope estate, where we manage properties on behalf of Ashford Borough Council, we’ll manage your complaint in line with the Council’s complaint process. You can find it on their website: www.ashford.gov.uk or by calling 01233 331111.