Complaints Policy: How we will handle your complaint

We’re here to help

If you’ve been unable to resolve a problem with your water company or retailer, we’re here to help.

We’ll review your complaint independently, explain what happens next and work with you and your water company to try to reach a fair outcome. We’ll keep you updated throughout your case and let you know if we need anything from you.

How the complaint process works

• 

  Step 1: Complain to your water company

  Before we can investigate, you’ll need to give your water company or retailer the opportunity to put things right.
• 

  Step 2: Ask the company to escalate your complaint

  If you’re unable to reach a resolution, you can ask the company to escalate your complaint to stage two.

• Step 3: Contact CCW

  If you’re still unhappy with the outcome, you can contact us.
• 

  Step 4: We review your complaint

  We’ll look at the information from both you and your water company.

• Step 5: We explain the outcome

  We’ll tell you what we’ve found and discuss the next steps with you.

Step 1: Before you contact us, complain to your water company

Your water company or retailer should have a complaints process that explains how to raise a complaint and how long they have to respond. You can usually find this on their website or on the back of your bill.

If you’re a non-household customer (liable for business rates), you should complain to your retailer or water company.

They should respond within 10 working days. If they don’t, you may be entitled to a payment under the  Guaranteed Standards Scheme (GSS) (pdf).

If you need help writing your complaint, try our complaint letter tool.

Step 2: Ask the company to escalate your complaint

If you’re not happy with the company’s response, ask them to escalate your complaint to stage two of their complaints process. They will have another 10 working days to respond.

This gives the company another opportunity to review your complaint and try to resolve it.

Step 3: Contact CCW

You can contact us if:

• you’ve completed the company’s complaints process and have received a final response letter or verbal confirmation to contact CCW, or
• the company hasn’t responded within eight weeks If you’re not sure whether you’ve completed the company’s process, don’t worry — get in touch and we’ll help you understand the next step.

What we can help with

We can usually help with complaints about your water company or retailer, including:

• bills and charges
• water or sewerage services
• customer service
• complaints handling
• water meters
• interruptions to your water supply
• leaks and repairs
• problems with new water or sewerage connections

Find out more about issues we can help with on our complaints we can help with page. There are some issues we can’t investigate because they’re outside our role. Find out more about these issues on our complaints we can’t help with page. If we can’t help with your complaint, we’ll explain why and, wherever possible, direct you to the organisation that can.

How to contact us

• use our online complaint form
• call our team between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday on 0300 034 2222 (England) or 0300 034 3333 (Wales). Calls may be recorded for training and quality monitoring purposes
• write to us at CCW, 23 Stephenson Street, Birmingham, B2 4BH

What we’ll need from you

To help us review your complaint as quickly as possible, it helps if you can tell us:

• what happened
• when it happened
• what you’ve already done to resolve the issue
• why you’re still unhappy
• what outcome you’re hoping for

If you have letters, emails, photographs, bills or any other information that supports your complaint, please send them to us.

Don’t worry if you don’t have everything when you first contact us. If we need anything else, we’ll let you know.

If you need extra help, our Dedicated Support Team can support you at any stage of your complaint. You can also ask a family member, friend, or someone you trust to help you to make your complaint. We’ll send you a form to sign, so we can talk to them about it.

What happens after you contact us?

Step 4: We review your complaint

When you contact us, we’ll:

• review the information you’ve provided
• check that your complaint is one we can help with
• assign your case to a dedicated advisor
• explain what happens next

If we need any more information, we’ll contact you.

Your advisor reviews your case

Your advisor will:

• listen to your concerns
• review the information you’ve shared
• consider any evidence you’ve provided
• contact your water company if more information is needed
• keep you updated throughout your case
• answer any questions you have along the way

We contact your water company

If we can investigate your complaint, we’ll ask your water company for information about what happened and how they’ve handled your complaint.

We usually ask them to respond within 10 working days, although this may vary depending on the complexity of the complaint.

We’ll consider the information from both you and your water company before reaching a view.

Step 5: We explain the outcome

Once we’ve completed our review, we’ll explain our findings clearly and discuss the next steps with you.

If we think your water company could do more to resolve your complaint, we’ll work with them to try to achieve a fair outcome.

What we’ll consider

Every complaint is different, but we’ll usually consider whether your water company has:

• treated you fairly
• followed the right processes
• communicated clearly
• responded within expected timescales
• taken reasonable steps to resolve your complaint

We’ll always explain how we’ve reached our view.

Keeping you updated

We’ll keep you informed throughout your complaint.

Some complaints can be resolved quickly. Others are more complex and may take longer because we need additional information from your water company or other organisations.

If your case takes longer than expected, we’ll explain why and let you know what happens next.

Typical timescales

Possible outcomes

We think your water company has acted fairly

We’ll explain why we’ve reached that view and answer any questions you may have.

We think your water company could do more

We’ll work with your water company to try to resolve your complaint and achieve a fair outcome.

This might include asking them to:

• review their decision
• apologise
• correct a mistake
• improve the service they’ve provided
• consider compensation where appropriate

We can’t investigate your complaint

Sometimes we can’t investigate because the issue falls outside our role.

If that happens, we’ll explain why and, wherever possible, direct you to another organisation that may be able to help.

Our role

Our role is to help resolve complaints fairly by working with both customers and water companies.

We don’t make legally binding decisions or award compensation. However, we work with water companies to help achieve fair outcomes and improve the service customers receive.

We’re not able to act as loss adjusters in deciding a claim for damages or similar loss. If you’re not happy with an offer regarding any such loss, you may wish to pursue the matter through small claims court.

Questions people often ask

How long will my complaint take?

Some complaints can be resolved quickly. Others are more complex and may take longer because we need additional information from your water company or other organisations.

If your case takes longer than expected, we’ll explain why and let you know what happens next.

Typical timescales

Can someone complain on my behalf?

Yes. If someone is acting on your behalf, we’ll usually need your permission before discussing your complaint with them.

What if I have more information later?

That’s not a problem. If you receive new information while we’re reviewing your complaint, send it to your advisor and we’ll consider it as part of our review.

What if I need extra support?

If you need extra help, our Dedicated Support Team can support you at any stage of your complaint. You can also ask a family member, friend, or someone you trust to help you to make your complaint. We’ll send you a form to sign, so we can talk to them about it. If you need information in a different format or require additional support during your complaint, please let us know. We’ll do our best to meet your needs.

Treating everyone with respect

We understand that making a complaint can be frustrating and sometimes stressful.

Our colleagues are here to help, and we ask everyone to treat each other with respect. If behaviour becomes abusive, threatening or discriminatory, we may need to change how we communicate with you or end contact in line with our Unacceptable Customer Contact Policy.

Need help?

If you’re not sure whether we can help, or you have any questions about our complaints process, please get in touch.

We’ll do our best to help you and explain your options.