COMPLAINTS POLICY
On September 17, 2023, the Old Brook Farm Association Board of Directors voted to implement a policy for registering and tracking complaints. This policy becomes effective on October 1, 2023. The information you will need to register a complaint with the Board is outlined below.
PREMISE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF A STRUCTURED POLICY
Receiving and dealing with complaints has been a normal function of home owners association boards since the days when HOAs were first created. Some complaints are valid, others not so much. Complaints registered with any HOA, including the Old Brook Farm Association, can become a problem to track thru to resolution because of the manner with which they are received. All too often, the complaint is phoned in to a board member or officer. When this happens, details of facts and necessary information are difficult to document and record. As a result, information can be missed, or forgotten, and follow thru is far more difficult. Information conveyed verbally is hard to remember. Sometimes, without written documentation, the complaint is lost altogether. That said, the Old Brook Farm Association Board is committed to addressing and resolving all legitimate complaints to the best of our ability. For these, and for many other reasons, the Board has voted to implement this structured policy for registering and tracking complaints.
COMPLAINT FILING PROCEDURE
All complaints must be filed in writing. This can be either a hard copy document or an email. We prefer email, but will except either. Verbal complaints via phone call or one-to-one in person complaints will not be accepted. Our Officers and Board members will instruct you to go to our website, www.oldbrookfarm.org, and follow the instructions provided here for registering a complaint. If you choose to file your complaint via email, emailing your complaint is encouraged, use the email address info-help@oldbrookfarm.org as found here and on the CONTACT US panel on the WELCOME page.
Your complaint will be assigned a “Tracking-ID Number” and logged into our tracking system. For this reason, please file only one complaint issue per entry. If you have more than one issue, then please file each as a separate complaint. You will then receive confirmation that your complaint has been received and you will be given the Tracking-ID Number.
IDENTIFY YOURSELF
The complaint must contain your name, street address, and a phone number where you can be reached. We need your name and street address so we can ascertain as to whether you are an Old Brook Farm resident or if you are someone from outside the addition. Complaints from outside the addition will be processed when appropriate. However, complaints from our homeowners and residents will be given a higher priority. We need your phone number so we can call you and discuss things during the processing of your complaint. If your name, address and phone number are not included, and your complaint was filed via email, we will reply to the email address giving you five (5) days to provide missing information. If we do not hear back from you within five days then we will discard your complaint and close it out of our tracking system. If we receive your complaint via a USPS mailing, and information is missing, we will discard your complaint without further action.
DESCRIBE THE ISSUE
Please, do not be vague when describing what it is that is troubling you. We cannot hope to resolve things we cannot understand or without necessary information. Provide as many facts as possible. Knowing dates, times, locations, addresses, persons identified, damage done, vehicle description, etc., is very helpful. Where was the barking dog located? Address where the car was parked across the public sidewalk? Address where resident was burning leaves or trash? Address where trash cans are not properly handled. Which Covenant or Covenants are you claiming have been violated? Give us as much information as is possible. The more you tell us, the better prepared we are to address your grievance without the need to phone you for more information.
COMPLAINANT PRIVACY
All complaints will be distributed, without revealing your identity, and discussed among members of the Old Brook Farm Association Executive Committee. Your complaint, without your identity, will be reported to the Board members once when received and again when resolved. This will serve to keep the Board appraised as to the complaints filed and their resolutions. The complaint, with your identity, will NOT be posted on FACEBOOK, other social media venues, or anywhere else. Your complaint may, however, be made public without reference to the complainant’s identity. When working your complaint, it will, of course, be discussed with those who need to know. However, your identity will not be revealed without us first contacting you, discussing the need to reveal your identity, and obtaining your approval.
PROGRESS REPORTING
When we have something pertinent to report, we will contact you with timely updates. This way you will know where things stand as we work to resolve issues for you and other of our residents who might be impacted as well. Please understand, progress may not be as timely as you would like. Some issues will take more time than others depending on response of those individuals and entities we must contact.
FINAL DISPOSITION REPORT
When we have done all that is feasible to resolve your issue, we will provide you with a final written report, either a hard copy document or an email, describing and explaining what we have done to resolve your issue and declaring a final disposition. Not all complaints will be resolved to your satisfaction. However, you will have a detailed written report that will inform you as to our actions and resolution.