Comments, Compliments & Complaints

Working closely with the Tenant Management Organisations, WATMOS Community Homes aims to give an excellent service to our customers.

Working closely with the Tenant Management Organisations we like to give our tenants an excellent service. That’s why it’s important that we know whether we are providing the right services for you and how we can improve them, or introduce new, more relevant ones.

That’s why we invite anyone using our services to:

  • Compliment our service if we have done something well
  • Comment or make suggestions on how we can improve our services
  • Complain about our service or the way you’ve been treated.

Comments and Compliments

There’s a Comments and Compliments folder at every TMO office. Your TMO Manager will respond to all comments in the folder within 5 working days or will write to you directly if that’s what you’d prefer.

Complaints

If you want to make a complaint informally you can always talk to the TMO staff or a TMO Management Committee Member. We’ll try to find a solution at the first point of contact. If you want to make a more formal complaint we’ll ensure the process is as quick and easy as possible.

Here’s how to go about making a formal complaint.

The Complaints Procedure

You can make a complaint either by phone, by letter, by email, through the online form on the WATMOS website, or by speaking to staff at either WATMOS’s or a TMO office.  Every appropriate effort will be made to resolve complaints straight away and without a formal process. 

Complaints must be made within 6 months of the date of the incident or issue you are complaining about. 

A formal complaint will be received by a Responsible Officer.  They will acknowledge your complaint within two working days and will investigate and normally communicate with the complainant regarding outcomes within 10 working days.

If you are not happy with the outcome, you may request a review which will be granted unless there are clear reasons not to.  The review panel will consist of three people involved in WATMOS governance or management.  The composition of the review panel will usually be agreed by the relevant TMO or Area Board Chair and the Area Manager. A review hearing will usually be held within 28 working days and a response will usually sent to the complainant within a further 10 working days.  This will conclude WATMOS’s formal complaints procedure.

If you are still not satisfied, you may raise the matter with a designated person – a councillor, an MP or a designated tenant panel.  They will either suggest resolutions or refer the matter to the Housing Ombudsman Service. 

We encourage all informal and formal complaints to be made to us either at WATMOS or the TMOs.  The Responsible Officer will usually be responsible for ensuring that those responsible implement outcomes of your complaint.

Here’s some tips for making a complaint

  • Make a note of dates and times you speak to us.
  • Be specific. It’s much easier for us to investigate the problem.
  • Record the names of any staff you speak to.
  • Please give us a reliable way to get in touch in case we need any more details about your complaint.

Equality and Diversity
WATMOS and the TMOs aim to provide a fair, appropriate and responsive service to all customers, irrespective of their race, colour, ethnic and national origin, nationality, gender, disabilities, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, HIV/Aids status, responsibility for dependents and age.

Customer Satisfaction
We welcome the views of customers from all sections of the community. Inviting feedback and new ideas help us improve and develop our services. If you feel that you have been unfairly treated or that WATMOS has not complied with the approach, please let us know.

Make it Right

It matters that you know how to complain to your housing association so the government has launched a complaints awareness campaign on a website which you can view here: Social Housing Complaints - Make It Right

Reporting to Tenants
We report to our tenants on how well we and the TMOs deal with compliments, comments and complaints in our Annual Report which can be obtained from our Walsall or London offices or from your local TMO.

Complaints Policy [pdf] 121KB

Complaints Procedure [pdf] 253KB

Reasonable Adjustments for Complaints Handling [pdf] 156KB

The Housing Ombudsman asks all landlords to complete and publish a self-assessment of their compliance with the Complaints Handling Code. We carried out our Self-Assessment in October 2020 and presented our findings to the Group Board on November 26th 2020.

Our self-assessment is located here - WATMOS Self Assessment [pdf] 305KB

The Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code is located here - Complaint Handling Code [pdf] 241KB