Filing a formal complaint

A formal complaint is the next step if you've raised an issue with us and you're still not satisfied with how it's been handled. It triggers a more thorough review and a written response. The Customer Agreement (clause 7) sets out the framework.

When to use it

The right path depends on where you are.

• **The first step is always How to tell us when something isn't right.** A short message to your build advisor or planner. Most issues resolve here.
• A formal complaint comes after. If you've already raised the issue and the response hasn't satisfied you, this is where you go next.
• A formal complaint is escalated to our Vice President (VP) of Operations, and where appropriate to the Chief Executive.

If the issue is between you and your builder rather than between you and Beams, the article What to do if your relationship with your builder breaks down covers that path. The two often overlap; your build advisor will help you see which is which.

How to file

Send a short written complaint by email to your build advisor or planner, marked as a formal complaint under the Customer Agreement. State:

• What's happened. Plain description; you don't need to be a lawyer about it.
• What we've already done about it. A summary of the conversations so far.
• What you want to see happen. Resolution, action, an explanation, an apology — whatever the right outcome is from your perspective.

Formal complaints must be submitted by email — not through the platform messaging system, and not by phone. The email is the record we work from.

What happens next

• Acknowledgement — within a working day or two, confirming we've received it and what comes next.
• Review — by the VP of Operations (and potentially the Chief Executive). They look at the case in detail.
• Written response — a substantive reply describing our position, what we'll do, and why. This is the formal output.

Where we agree the case has merit, we'll act on it. Where we don't, we'll explain our position clearly so you know where you stand. Where the answer is somewhere in between, we'll be transparent about that too.

What this is — and isn't

A formal complaint is a serious step but not a confrontational one. We treat formal complaints as an opportunity to look hard at what's gone wrong on a specific case and to learn from it. We don't get defensive about them.

It's not the only path. Public reviews remain available; legal escalation is available if your contractual rights need to be exercised. The formal complaint sits between informal escalation and those harder paths.

Related articles

• How to tell us when something isn't right
• What to do if your relationship with your builder breaks down
• The contracts behind your project