Riddlesdown Carpet Cleaners Complaints Procedure

Riddlesdown Carpet Cleaners is committed to providing reliable, professional carpet and upholstery cleaning services. We work hard to meet high standards of quality and customer care across our service area, but we recognise that there may be times when you feel something has not gone as expected. This Complaints Procedure explains how you can raise a concern, how we will respond, and what you can expect from us at each stage.

1. Purpose of this Complaints Procedure

The purpose of this procedure is to provide a clear and fair process for customers who wish to complain about any aspect of our services. It is designed to:

Ensure your concerns are taken seriously and handled promptly.
Give you a straightforward way to tell us what went wrong.
Enable us to investigate your complaint thoroughly and objectively.
Allow us to put things right where we have made a mistake.
Help us review and improve our cleaning services and customer experience.

2. What This Procedure Covers

You can use this procedure to complain about any service provided by Riddlesdown Carpet Cleaners, including but not limited to:

Carpet cleaning in homes, rental properties, and commercial premises.
Upholstery and soft furnishing cleaning.
Rug cleaning and stain treatment.
End of tenancy or move-in/move-out cleaning relating to carpets and upholstery.
Customer service, including booking, scheduling, and on-site conduct of our operatives.
Concerns about punctuality, communication, or how our staff have behaved during a visit.

This procedure does not cover issues that are unrelated to our cleaning services, or matters that are already being dealt with through legal proceedings or insurance claims.

3. Principles We Follow When Handling Complaints

We handle all complaints in line with the following principles:

Accessibility: The process is simple and free of charge, and you can raise a complaint in writing or verbally.
Respect: You will be treated courteously and your concerns will be handled with care and professionalism.
Confidentiality: Details of your complaint will only be shared with staff who need them to investigate and respond.
Impartiality: We will consider both your account and any relevant information from our team before reaching a conclusion.
Timeliness: We aim to acknowledge, investigate, and respond within reasonable timescales, set out below.
Improvement: Where a complaint highlights areas for improvement, we will review our procedures, training, and quality controls.

4. How to Make a Complaint

We encourage you to tell us about any concerns as soon as possible after the service has been delivered. This gives us the best chance to understand what happened and, where appropriate, to put matters right quickly.

You can raise a complaint in the following ways:

Verbally, directly with the cleaning operative while they are still on site, if appropriate.
Verbally to a member of our office or management team.
In writing, setting out the details of your complaint clearly.

When making a complaint, please provide as much information as you can, including:

Your full name and property address where the service was carried out.
The date and approximate time of the visit.
A description of the service you booked.
A clear explanation of what you are unhappy about and why.
Any supporting information, such as before and after observations, or notes from the day of the visit.

5. Our Complaints Handling Stages

We aim to resolve most concerns quickly and informally. Where this is not possible, we follow a structured process.

Stage 1: Informal Resolution

If you raise an issue during or shortly after the service, we will first try to resolve it informally. This may involve:

Clarifying what was agreed at the time of booking.
Arranging for areas of concern to be re-cleaned, where appropriate.
Providing further explanation about the limitations of cleaning, for example where stains or wear cannot be fully removed.

If you are satisfied at this stage, the complaint will be considered resolved.

Stage 2: Formal Complaint

If the issue cannot be resolved informally, or you prefer a more formal approach, your complaint will be logged and passed to a manager for review. We aim to:

Acknowledge your complaint within a reasonable timeframe from receipt.
Review the details of the booking, any cleaning notes, and any communication or photographs you have provided.
Speak with the operative or team who attended your property, where relevant.
Carry out any further checks needed to understand what happened.

After the investigation, we will send you a written response explaining:

Our understanding of your complaint.
What we have found during our review.
Whether your complaint is upheld in full, in part, or not upheld.
Any steps we will take to put things right, if applicable.
Any changes we plan to make to prevent similar issues in future.

Stage 3: Further Review

If you remain dissatisfied after receiving our formal response, you can ask for a further review. A senior member of our team, who was not involved in the original investigation, will review:

The original complaint.
Our previous response.
Any additional information you provide at this stage.

They will then provide a final response, confirming whether the outcome remains the same or needs to be adjusted, and explaining the reasons for their decision.

6. Possible Outcomes and Remedies

Where we find that we have not met our usual standards, we will consider appropriate remedies, which may include:

Offering advice or clarification about what can realistically be achieved with carpet and upholstery cleaning.
Providing a re-clean of specific areas, where suitable and safe for the surfaces involved.
Offering a partial or full refund, where justified by the circumstances.
Using your feedback to improve staff training, operational processes, and quality checks.

All remedies are considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the nature of the service, the condition of the items cleaned, and the terms agreed at the time of booking.

7. Time Limits for Making a Complaint

To ensure we can properly investigate, we ask that you raise any complaint as soon as reasonably possible, and normally within a short period of the work being carried out. Complaints made after a significant delay may be more difficult to investigate fully, particularly for issues relating to the visible condition of carpets or upholstery.

8. Our Commitment to Continuous Improvement

Every complaint gives Riddlesdown Carpet Cleaners an opportunity to learn and improve. We regularly review complaint trends and feedback from customers across our operating area to identify patterns and make improvements to our cleaning methods, equipment, and staff training. By following this procedure and sharing your concerns, you help us maintain and develop the standard of service we aim to deliver in every property we visit.