Ilford Cleaners Complaints Procedure

Ilford Cleaners is committed to providing reliable, consistent cleaning services for homes and businesses. We recognise that, on occasion, our service may not meet expectations. This complaints procedure explains how you can tell us about any concerns, how we will respond, and what you can expect from us at each stage.

Our Commitment to Handling Complaints

We take all complaints seriously and treat them as an opportunity to improve our cleaning services. Our aims are to make it straightforward to raise a concern, to respond promptly and fairly, and to put things right wherever we can. We will always handle your information confidentially and respectfully.

This procedure applies to all customers using our regular or one-off cleaning services, including domestic, office, and end of tenancy cleans within our service area.

What Is a Complaint

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about our cleaning services, staff conduct, scheduling, communication, or the way we have handled a previous query. You can complain even if you are not sure exactly what went wrong but feel that the service you received did not meet the standard you reasonably expected.

How to Make a Complaint

You can raise a complaint in the way that is most convenient for you. When contacting us, please provide as much detail as you can, including:

The date and time of the clean or incident, the address where the service took place, a description of what went wrong or fell below your expectations, the names of any staff involved if known, and any steps you have already taken to try to resolve the issue.

Providing clear information will help us investigate your complaint thoroughly and respond more quickly.

Stage One: Informal Resolution

In many cases, complaints can be resolved quickly and informally. We encourage you to raise any concerns as soon as possible after the clean so that we can understand what happened and offer a prompt solution.

At this stage, we will aim to:

Acknowledge your concern and listen carefully to your description of the issue, clarify any points if we need more information, explain what we can do to put matters right where appropriate, outline any actions we will take to prevent the issue from happening again.

Where possible, we will seek to resolve your complaint at this first stage, which may include actions such as arranging a re-clean of specific areas, discussing alternative cleaning schedules, or addressing staff performance.

Stage Two: Formal Complaint

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the informal stage, or if the matter is serious, you may make a formal complaint. You should set out clearly that you are making a formal complaint and include all relevant information and any evidence you wish us to consider.

Once we receive your formal complaint, we will:

Acknowledge receipt of your complaint, carry out a fair and objective investigation, which may include reviewing job records and speaking to the cleaning team, assess what happened and whether our standards or procedures were not followed, decide on any appropriate remedies or service improvements.

We will aim to provide you with a written response within a reasonable time frame. If the complaint is complex and we require more time, we will let you know and keep you updated on progress.

Remedies and Outcomes

Where we find that our service has fallen below the standards we aim to provide, we will consider appropriate remedies. These may include:

Offering to re-clean affected areas where reasonable and practical, reviewing and updating staff training or supervision, adjusting future service arrangements to better meet your needs, providing a goodwill gesture where appropriate.

Our focus is on putting things right and learning from complaints to reduce the likelihood of similar issues arising in the future.

Escalating Your Complaint

If, after receiving our formal response, you remain dissatisfied with the way your complaint has been handled or with the outcome, you may request a review. At this point, your complaint may be considered by a more senior member of our team who was not directly involved in the earlier stages.

During a review, we will re-examine the information already provided, consider any new details you wish to raise, and confirm whether our initial decision was fair and reasonable or whether further action is required. We will then send you a final response setting out our conclusions.

Timescales for Complaints

We encourage customers to raise concerns as soon as possible after an issue arises so that events are still recent and easier to investigate. While we will consider complaints made at a later date, this may affect the level of detail available to us, such as staff recollection and access to records.

We will always work to respond to complaints within reasonable timescales and will keep you informed if more time is needed, for example, where multiple visits or services are involved.

Confidentiality and Data Protection

All complaints are handled in confidence and shared only with staff who need to know in order to investigate and respond. We store and process personal information in line with applicable data protection requirements and retain complaint records only for as long as necessary for operational and legal purposes.

Using Complaints to Improve Our Services

We review complaints regularly to identify patterns and areas where we can improve. Feedback from domestic and commercial customers across our service area helps us refine staff training, update our procedures, and maintain consistent cleaning standards. By letting us know when something goes wrong, you help us provide a better service for all customers in the future.

If you have any concerns about our cleaning services, we encourage you to use this complaints procedure so that we can investigate and respond appropriately.