complaints

What if I have a Complaint?

At Abodus Student Living we receive a lot of feedback from our customers, most of which is positive. However, from time to time problems arise and our customers may wish to express concern or dissatisfaction with aspects of the accommodation or the quality of services we provide.

If for any reason we fail to meet your expectations in resolving your complaint, then you can follow our simple complaints procedure.

So, let’s get started?

What is a complaint?

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction requiring a response. This may relate to the standard of our accommodation, maintenance either by one of our in-house team members or a third-party contractor or any other service we provide to our residents or partners.

What can I complain about?

You can complain about things like:

The quality and standard of any service we provide

• The quality and standard of any service we provide
•  Failure to provide a service
• Unfair treatment or inappropriate behaviour by a member of staff
•  Failure to respond to complaints about anti-social behaviour by other students
•  Failure to meet the ANUK code of Standards

There are some things we do not deal with through our complaints procedure as they are best managed by your local Customer Service Advisors.

These include:

• A routine, first time request for service
• A complaint about anti-social behaviour by another resident
• A request to be released early from your contract
• An issue that is being dealt with by another authority e.g. university, ANUK tribunal, and/or court

We will not normally treat information received via feedback or responses to questionnaires as complaints.

How do I complain?

You can complain in person at any of our receptions, by phone, in writing or by email.

For us to fully investigate your complaint and provide you with a full response, please provide us with the following:

• Your full name, room number and the building you live in.
• What service we have failed to provide for you.
• Where our quality standards fell below expectation.
• Where you feel you have been treated unfairly or inappropriately by a member of staff.
• Where you feel we have not responded adequately to problems you are experiencing.
• An ANUK Code of Standard we have failed to adhere to

Then please tell us how you would like us to put things right and resolve the complaint.

Who can complain?

Anyone who receives, requests or is directly affected by the service we provide can make a complaint to us. This usually means:

• Our residents.
• Anyone who has applied for accommodation we manage.
• A neighbour or member of the public affected by Anti-Social Behaviour where we have failed to respond or follow our Anti-Social Behaviour procedures

We would encourage anyone with a complaint to approach us directly but can also accept a complaint made on your behalf provided you give us clear written authority to liaise with your representative and provided you also give them clear authority to act on your behalf.

Is there a time limit for making a complaint?

It is easier for us to resolve a complaint if we are made aware of it immediately. However, we recognise that this is not always possible, but we would expect the complaint to be raised with us within 4 weeks.

In exceptional circumstances, you may be able to complain after this time limit if you feel it should not apply to your complaint, but you must tell us why.

What will happen if I complain?

There are three stages to our complaints procedure …

STAGE 1

Our onsite staff are here to help and are best placed to resolve and close your complaint quickly.

This could mean an on-the spot apology, an explanation if something has clearly gone wrong and immediate action taken to resolve the problem. If the complaint is not straight forward, the Operations Manager may need some time to investigate before fully responding. We will give you a response within 10 working days. If we need to extend this investigation period, we will contact you with the details and an expected response date.

Complaints about members of staff in your accommodation may go directly to stage 2 of our complaints procedure.

STAGE 2

Stage 2 deals with complaints that have not been resolved at Stage 1 or a complaint about staff working in your accommodation. The complaint will be escalated to the Regional Operations Manager who will write to you within two working days advising of the estimated time for resolution and if required will arrange a further call or meeting with you to try and find a resolution.

The Regional Operations Manager will aim to complete their review and respond to you within 20 working days.

STAGE 3

Stage 3 is the final stage of our complaints procedure; you can only take your complaint to this stage if you believe we have failed to:

• Follow our own procedure
• Not corrected a failure

The Operations Manager will write to you within two working days advising the complaint has been escalated to the Head of Operations and an estimated time for resolution. The Head of Operations will review within ten working days, and if required will arrange a further call or meeting with you to try and find a resolution.

Once the Head of Operations has investigated your complaint at this stage, the matter will be regarded as closed.

If the subject of your complaint is covered under the ANUK National Code of Standards, then you may submit a complaint under the ANUK complaints procedure, this can only be submitted if you have exhausted the Abodus procedure. 

Alternatively, you can seek advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau.