Lakeland Leisure Estates Limited is committed to providing a quality service and working in an open and accountable way that builds trust and respect. One of the ways in which we can continue to improve our service is by listening and responding to the views of our clients and stakeholders, and in particular by responding positively to complaints.
We view complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve for the future, as well as a chance to put things right. We will listen to every complaint, treat it seriously and respond appropriately.
Complaints Procedure
The formal complaints procedure is intended to ensure that all complaints are handled fairly, consistently and wherever possible resolved to the complainant's satisfaction.
We, therefore, aim to ensure that:
Our Policy Covers Complaints About:
• The standard of service we provide
• The behaviour of our staff
• The behaviour of our company as a whole
• Any action or lack of action by staff affecting an individual, group or asset(s)
A complainant's responsibility is to:
Responsibility and Review
Directors and Senior Managers have overall responsibility for this policy and for ensuring its implementation and compliance. The policy is reviewed regularly and we reserve the right to change the policy at any time.
All of our staff are responsible for identifying complaints and forwarding them and any other information required to the relevant Manager or Director.
The Directors may vary the procedure for good reason. This may be necessary to avoid a conflict of interest.
Confidentiality
All complaints are dealt with in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulations 2018. We respect and uphold your right to confidentiality.
Complaints are logged in a complaints summary log to enable us to monitor the type of complaints we receive. The complaints log is only accessed by Lakeland Leisure Estates Senior Management.
Definition of a Complaint
A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, about any aspect of Lakeland Leisure Estates Limited and the services we provide.
A complaint is defined as any expression of dissatisfaction, however, it is expressed. This would include complaints expressed face to face, via a phone call, in writing, via email or any other method. All staff should have sufficient knowledge to be able to identify an “expression of dissatisfaction” even when the word “complain” or “complaint” is not used.
Receiving Complaints
Complaints may arrive through channels publicised for that purpose or through any other contact details or opportunities the complainant may have.
Complaints received by telephone or in-person need to be recorded.
The person who receives a phone or in-person complaint should:
Timescales
If you want to make a formal complaint, then you should do so within four weeks of the matter you wish to complain about. Waiting longer could make it difficult to investigate your complaint and mean that we aren’t able to unless there are exceptional circumstances.
We aim to send a full response within four weeks of receiving your complaint. If we need to contact you for further clarification, the four weeks will start from the date we get the information required. If we are not able to meet this deadline, we will tell you and let you know when we are likely to be able to respond to your complaint.
Stage 1:
In many cases, a complaint is best resolved by the person responsible for the issue being complained about. If the complaint has been received by that person, they may be able to resolve it swiftly and should do so if possible and appropriate.
Less complex issues may not need a formal investigation. Where we are at fault, we can apologise, try to put things right and learn from our mistakes. Where this is an option, we will do this promptly and within 7 days.
Any member of staff can deal with a complaint informally (including the person being complained about) and offer an immediate apology. If the complaint is simple but the person who received the complaint cannot handle it because they are unfamiliar with the issue, they will request their line manager handles the complaint.
If the complaint relates to a specific person, they should be informed and given a fair opportunity to respond.
Complaints should be acknowledged by the person handling the complaint within 7 days. The acknowledgement should say who is dealing with the complaint and when the person complaining can expect a reply. A copy of this complaints procedure should be attached.
Ideally, complainants should receive a definitive reply within four weeks. If this is not possible because, for example, an investigation has not been fully completed, a progress report should be sent with an indication of when a full reply will be given.
Whether the complaint is justified or not, the reply to the complainant should describe the action taken to investigate the complaint, the conclusions from the investigation, and any action taken as a result of the complaint
Stage 2:
If the complainant feels that the problem has not been satisfactorily resolved at Stage One, they can request that the complaint is reviewed formally by a Company Director. At this stage, the complaint will be passed to the Managing Director and corresponding Site Director.
A complaint will be escalated to this stage when:
• stage 1 was attempted but you remain dissatisfied
• the issues are complex or require detailed investigation, or
• the complaint relates to issues that have been identified as serious.
A formal complaint can be made either verbally or in writing. If verbally, a statement should be taken by a member of the Management Team, sit manager or a supervisor.
In all cases, the complaint must be passed on to the responsible site Director. In the event of a complaint about the site Director, the complaint should be passed to the Managing Director, and if the complaint is about the Managing Director, this must be passed on to Board.
The request for Director’s level review should be acknowledged in writing within 7 days of receiving it. The acknowledgement should say who will deal with the case and when the complainant can expect a reply.
If the complaint relates to a specific person, they should be informed and given a further opportunity to respond.
The person who dealt with the original complaint at Stage One should be kept informed of what is happening.
Ideally, complainants should receive a definitive reply within four weeks. If this is not possible because, for example, an investigation has not been fully completed, a progress report should be sent with an indication of when a full reply will be given.
Whether the complaint is upheld or not, the reply to the complainant should describe the action taken to investigate the complaint, the conclusions from the investigation, and any action taken as a result of the complaint. The decision taken at this stage is final unless the Managing Director decides it is appropriate to seek external assistance with resolution.
Contact Details for Complaints
You can make a written formal complaint:
• by email to info@lakelandleisuregroup.com or the Site Management Team for which your complaint relates to
• by post:
Customer Service, Lakeland Leisure Estates Limited, PO Box 22, Windermere, Cumbria, LA23 1GE
Verbal complaints
Verbal complaints may be made by phone to the relevant site Manager or in person to any of Lakeland Leisure Estates Management teams.
When contacting us please include:
• your name and postal or email address
• what your complaint is about
Please try to be as clear as possible. This will help us understand your complaint and respond to you promptly. If a complaint is unclear, we may ask you for more information to help us to understand. If you do not provide the information, we need when asked, we may not be able to help you.
Reasons we may refuse your complaint
If your concern is about the actions or service of a different organisation and we have no involvement in the issue, we will refuse your request and signpost you to the relevant organisation to complain.
There are also situations where we may decide that we won’t look into your complaint further. These include:
• attempts to reopen a previously concluded complaint or to have a complaint reconsidered where we have already given you our final decision
• where we have already looked into the matter for you under another process
• Complaints sent anonymously. We have no one to respond to with regards to these complaints and therefore we cannot action them.
• where the time limit for complaint has passed, and
• if we think the complaint is unreasonable
• Complaints that seek to overrule relevant legislation or that would contravene Lakeland Leisure Estates policy e.g. Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act
• Persistent and or harassing complaints
Outcome
We will give a fair and balanced description of what happened and what conclusions we have reached on your complaint.
It is possible that there will be parts of the complaint that fall within this policy and others that don’t. Where this is the case, we will be clear with you in our response about what we could and couldn’t investigate.
If we are able to put things right, we will try to. If we can’t put things right, we will be open and honest, say sorry, explain what went wrong (and why) and try to improve in the future.
Our Complaints Policy forms a basis for us to identify areas of improvement and highlight where changes may need to be implemented.
Download a complaints form
