CDS Co-operatives believes that complaints provide valuable feedback and help us to identify areas of the service which may be underperforming. We therefore welcome complaints and aim to learn from them, incorporating the lessons learned into the broader process of policy development and review.

Complaints policy and procedure:  This procedure was approved by the Board of Management on 12 February 2007.  Please email your complaint form to complaints@cds.coop

Who can use the complaints procedure?
The complaints procedure can be used by tenants and leaseholders of CDS Co-operatives, management committees and individual members of our client co-operatives, our partners, contractors and stakeholders and anyone else who uses our services.

What is the purpose of this procedure?
The complaints procedure provides residents and others with a means of redress for perceived poor performance or other reason for dissatisfaction and aims to promote conciliation rather than confrontation. CDS Co-operatives welcomes complaints and the valuable feedback they provide. We will use the complaints we receive to identify any weaknesses in our services and to make improvements.

What is a complaint?
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about the standard of a service we provide, about actions or a failure to take action which affects an individual or a group of individuals. Complaints may relate to a failure on the part of the Society to perform to an agreed or reasonable standard, or to follow its own policies or procedures.

How do I make a complaint?
You can make a complaint using a complaints form (attached to the information leaflet in the Complaints Policy and Procedure section of the website), by letter, by email or by telephoning the housing services manager.

Antisocial behaviour
You should not use the complaints procedure to complain about antisocial behaviour by other residents unless you have already reported the problem to CDS and you feel that we have failed to take appropriate action to tackle it.

Repairs and maintenance
If your complaint is about a repair or about the condition of your home, please make sure that you have reported the problem to our customer services helpdesk or the maintenance inspector and allowed us a reasonable period to inspect your home or complete the repair before you make a formal complaint.

Complaints about co-op management committees and services provided by independent co-operatives
We regret that we can only consider complaints about services provided by CDS Co-operatives. We cannot look into complaints about services provided by independent co-operatives or about the actions or decisions of their management committees. Every co-operative should have its own complaints procedure and should deal with complaints fairly and impartially.