City Garden Complaints Procedure

City Garden aims to deliver reliable, professional gardening and grounds maintenance services. We understand that, on occasion, things may not go as expected. When this happens, we want to know about it so we can put matters right and improve our services. This Complaints Procedure explains how you can raise a concern, how we will respond, and what you can expect at each stage.

Our Commitment to You

We take every complaint seriously and treat all customers with respect and fairness. Our goals when handling complaints are to:

Listen carefully to your concerns and understand what has gone wrong from your perspective. Respond promptly, clearly, and politely at every stage. Investigate the facts thoroughly and objectively. Offer a fair outcome, including appropriate corrective action where necessary. Use complaints as an opportunity to review and improve our gardening services and customer care.

What Is a Complaint

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about our gardening, landscaping, or related customer services where you are seeking a response or resolution. This may include, for example, quality of work carried out on your garden or grounds, conduct or attitude of team members, delays, missed appointments, or communication issues, such as not being kept informed about schedules or changes.

How to Make a Complaint

You can make a complaint in writing or verbally. We encourage you, wherever possible, to raise concerns as soon as you become aware of a problem so that we can address it quickly. When submitting a complaint, it is helpful if you include your name and contact details, the address where the gardening service was provided, a clear description of what went wrong, including dates and times if possible, and what you would like us to do to put things right.

If you prefer, you may ask someone else to act on your behalf, such as a relative, neighbour, or property manager. We may need your permission to discuss details of the service with that person.

Stage One: Initial Resolution

In many cases, complaints can be resolved quickly and informally. If you are unhappy with a recent gardening visit or specific task, please first raise the issue with the team leader on site or with the office contact you usually deal with. They will aim to:

Listen to your concern and clarify any points. Offer an explanation of what happened. Agree immediate steps where a simple fix is possible, such as returning to complete unfinished work or correcting an issue with your garden.

We aim to resolve straightforward matters at this stage without the need for a more formal process.

Stage Two: Formal Complaint

If your complaint cannot be resolved informally, or you are not satisfied with the response at Stage One, you may make a formal complaint. When we receive a formal complaint, we will acknowledge it within a reasonable time. The acknowledgement will confirm that we have received your complaint and outline the next steps in the process.

A manager who has not been directly involved in the matter you are complaining about will review your concerns. This may include checking work records and schedules, speaking with the gardening team, reviewing any photographs or notes, and, where appropriate, arranging a site visit to inspect your garden or outdoor space.

We will aim to provide a written response once the investigation is complete. In this response we will explain our understanding of your complaint, summarise the findings of our investigation, confirm whether we uphold the complaint in full, in part, or not at all, and detail any actions we will take to resolve the matter, such as remedial work, changes to future visits, or service improvements.

Stage Three: Further Review

If you remain dissatisfied after receiving our formal response, you may request a further review. At this stage, a senior member of our team will look again at your complaint, the investigation that has taken place, and the outcome offered. The reviewer may contact you for more information or clarification and may revisit the site where the gardening services were provided.

Following this review, we will send a final response setting out whether any aspect of the previous decision is changed and confirming any additional actions we consider appropriate. This will normally conclude our internal complaints procedure.

Timeframes

We aim to handle all complaints as quickly as reasonably possible. Simple issues raised at Stage One may be resolved immediately or within a short period. More detailed investigations may take longer, especially where site visits are needed or multiple team members are involved. If, for any reason, we cannot provide a full response within our usual timeframes, we will let you know and keep you informed of progress.

Fairness and Confidentiality

We will treat you courteously and respectfully throughout the process and expect the same courtesy in return. Complaints will be handled in confidence and shared only with staff members who need the information in order to investigate or respond. Raising a complaint in good faith will not affect the gardening or grounds maintenance services you receive from City Garden.

Using Complaints to Improve Our Service

Feedback from complaints is an important part of how we improve. We regularly review the complaints we receive to identify any trends, recurring issues, or areas where our gardening teams or office processes can be strengthened. Where appropriate, we may provide additional training, adjust our service standards, or change our procedures to reduce the risk of similar issues happening again.

Accessibility and Support

We want our Complaints Procedure to be accessible to all customers. If you have specific needs or require support in raising a complaint, such as language assistance or help setting out your concerns, please let us know. We will do our best to make reasonable adjustments so that you can fully explain your experience and receive a clear response.

Closing a Complaint

A complaint will normally be considered closed when you confirm that you are satisfied with the outcome or when we have issued our final response at the end of Stage Three. Even where we do not fully agree with your view of events, we will always explain our reasoning clearly and set out any steps we are prepared to take in order to move matters forward.

City Garden values every customer and every garden we care for. By following this Complaints Procedure, we aim to handle concerns in a fair, transparent, and timely way, and to use your feedback to continually refine the services we provide.