Complaints…sometimes they happen.
At the last ARLA conference the Ombudsman cited one of the main causes for a complaint to escalate. It wasn’t the nature of the complaint or the cause of the complaint IT WAS HOW THE COMPLAINT WAS DEALT WITH! It was found that however severe or insignificant the initial complaint might be the key ingredient for defusing it was to have a responsive, proactive response to the complaint.
The Property Ombudsman will get involved once it is clear that the complaint has not been handled or resolved by the agent in question.
There are guidelines from the Property Ombudsman but one key one is to deal with the complaint promptly or at least within 8 weeks.
So in short, the surest way of making a problem not go away is to ignore it. Sometimes people just want to let off, be listened to, felt like they’ve been heard and to vent off. This is often the end of it.
The Property Ombudsman also cited an example where the Property Agent did respond but actually wrote a letter stating how much amusement the complaint gave his colleagues in the office! Needless to say this did not help diffuse the situation…!
Ignore at your peril!
