Complaints Procedure

Complaints Procedure for Gardeners Shirley

Gardeners Shirley is committed to providing reliable, professional gardening services and building long-term relationships with our customers. We recognise that, on occasion, things may not go as planned. When this happens, we want to know about it so we can put matters right quickly and improve our service for the future. This complaints procedure explains how you can raise a concern, how we will respond, and what you can expect from us at every stage.

Our Approach to Complaints

We treat all complaints seriously and view them as an opportunity to review and enhance our gardening services. Whether your concern relates to the quality of our work, communication, scheduling, or the conduct of our gardeners, we will handle your complaint fairly, sensitively and in a timely manner.

Our aims when dealing with a complaint are to:

• Listen carefully and understand your concerns
• Investigate the matter thoroughly and impartially
• Provide a clear explanation and, where appropriate, an apology
• Take corrective action where needed
• Learn from the experience to improve our services and systems

What Counts as a Complaint

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about the gardening services we have provided, or about the way a service has been delivered, where you would like a response or resolution from us. This can include, for example:

• Concerns about the standard or quality of gardening work carried out
• Issues with reliability, punctuality or missed appointments
• Disagreement about what was agreed before the work started
• Concerns over conduct, attitude or behaviour of our gardeners
• Problems with invoicing or clarity of charges
• Any other matter where you feel our service has fallen short of your expectations

How to Make a Complaint

You can make a complaint using whichever method is most convenient for you. We are happy to receive complaints in writing or verbally. When making a complaint, please provide as much detail as possible, including:

• Your full name
• The service address
• Dates and times relevant to your complaint
• A clear description of what happened
• Any steps already taken to resolve the issue with our gardeners on site
• What outcome you are hoping for, if you have a particular resolution in mind

We encourage customers to raise any concerns as soon as possible after the issue occurs. This allows us to investigate while information is fresh and gives us the best opportunity to put things right quickly.

Initial Complaint Handling

When we receive your complaint, we will acknowledge it and begin our review. Where your complaint is made verbally, we will make a written record to ensure your concerns are fully understood and dealt with appropriately.

We will normally:

• Acknowledge receipt of your complaint within a reasonable timeframe
• Review the information provided and, if needed, ask you for any further details
• Speak with any gardeners or team members involved to understand what happened
• Check any existing notes, work orders or job records related to the service

Our aim is to resolve most complaints quickly and informally. Often, a conversation and a prompt return visit to your garden to reassess the work will be enough to reach a satisfactory solution.

Investigation and Response Times

Some complaints may require more detailed investigation, particularly if they involve multiple visits, more extensive gardening work, or questions about previous agreements. In these cases:

• We will keep you informed about the progress of our investigation
• We will aim to provide a full response within a reasonable period, depending on the complexity of the issue
• If we are unable to respond fully within that period, we will update you and let you know when you can expect a detailed reply

Our response will explain:

• What we have understood your complaint to be
• The steps we have taken to investigate
• Our findings and, where appropriate, an apology
• Any corrective action we propose, such as revisiting your property to complete or rectify work, adjusting our charges if warranted, or improving our internal procedures

Possible Outcomes and Remedies

We will always seek to resolve complaints in a fair and proportionate way. Depending on the circumstances, this may include:

• Providing clarification or additional information about the gardening work
• Returning to your garden to correct, complete or improve work that did not meet the agreed standard
• Offering a gesture of goodwill where appropriate
• Reviewing and improving how we plan, schedule or communicate about our services
• Taking further action in relation to staff conduct if required

Any agreed remedial work will be scheduled with you at a mutually convenient time. We will aim to complete such work promptly, taking into account weather conditions and seasonal gardening considerations.

Escalating Your Complaint

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of our initial investigation, you can ask for your complaint to be reviewed at a higher level within Gardeners Shirley. When requesting an escalation, please explain why you are unhappy with the original response and what further resolution you are seeking.

The escalated review will normally involve:

• A fresh look at your complaint and the steps already taken
• Consideration of any additional information you wish to provide
• A further written or verbal response explaining our final position

We will aim to complete this review within a reasonable period and will keep you informed of progress.

Confidentiality and Data Handling

All complaints are handled in confidence. Information you provide will be shared only with team members who need it to investigate and resolve your complaint. We handle personal information in line with applicable data protection principles and retain complaint records only for as long as necessary.

Continuous Improvement

We regularly review complaints and feedback to identify patterns, areas for improvement, and opportunities to enhance our gardening services. This can include additional training for our gardeners, changes to how we plan and quote for work, and improvements to our customer communication before, during and after each visit.

By following this complaints procedure, Gardeners Shirley aims to ensure that any concerns are listened to, addressed promptly and used constructively to maintain high standards of service for all customers in our local area.