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If you wish to complain about an emergency such as concerns about water quality, loss of water supply or sewer flooding, please contact your service provider. Contact details are available on our website. Between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, you can obtain this information by calling 01250 718700. Alternatively, we can transfer you through to your service provider.
Castle Water is committed to providing the highest level of customer care and this includes an effective process for handling complaints. If you are concerned about something, let us know so we can put things right. The easiest and quickest way to do this is over the phone or via web chat. Complaints received by telephone and web chat will be dealt with immediately wherever possible.
Please note that if we have initiated the process to recover costs through legal channels, any concerns you may have should be addressed directly to our Recoveries Team at recoveries@castlewater.co.uk. Such concerns will not be treated as a complaint.
Alternatively, complaints can be made via the customer portal. Log in to complete a complaints form online, or alternatively, send a copy of your complaint in writing to:
Complaints, Castle Water Limited, 1 Boat Brae, Rattray, Blairgowrie, PH10 7BH
We will investigate and may call you to discuss your complaint. We will propose a resolution or give a substantive update on the progress of resolving the issue, as sometimes a resolution may require us to liaise with other organisations (for example, if we need to contact the Wholesaler); we will let you know what needs to happen next and keep you updated.
In responding we will:
In line with the Code of Practice, we aim to provide a full response within 8 business days of receipt of your complaint, but if this isn’t possible or if resolution takes longer, we will explain why and provide regular updates and if appropriate, we may place your account on hold.
If the complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction, then you may proceed to the next stage. Please note that if you do not reply to our response to your complaint within 30 days, we may treat any appeal as a new complaint.
Following Stage 1, if the complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can appeal our decision. If possible, please set out your appeal in writing via your complaint case. This helps us to ensure that we have properly understood the details of your complaint and appeal. Your appeal will be considered by Castle Water’s Executive Complaints Team who will undertake an independent internal review and will aim to reach a resolution within 10 business days, but if this isn’t possible or if resolution takes longer, we will explain why and provide regular updates. If appropriate, we will place your account on hold.
If the complaint has still not been resolved to your satisfaction, then you may proceed to the next stage. Please note that if you do not reply to our response to your complaint within 30 days, your appeal may be treated as a new complaint.
If you have completed Stages 1 and 2 of this procedure and are not satisfied with our response you can take the matter to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) who will consider your complaint and may be able to mediate or investigate. If you have not escalated your complaint via our formal complaints procedure outlined in Stages 1 and 2, your complaint will not be considered and will be referred back to us.
Contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO is the final stage for complaints about Castle Water and their service is independent, free, and confidential. You can contact them:
The SPSO will normally not look at complaints relating to issues you have known about for more than 12 months, or that have been or are being considered in court.
The quickest way is by phone or web chat — complaints raised this way are dealt with immediately wherever possible. You can also log in to the customer portal to complete a complaints form online, or write to us at: Complaints, Castle Water Limited, 1 Boat Brae, Rattray, Blairgowrie, PH10 7BH.
In line with the Code of Practice, we aim to give a full response within 8 business days of receiving your complaint at Stage 1. If a complaint goes to Stage 2 (an appeal), our Executive Complaints Team aims to resolve it within 8 business days. If resolution takes longer at either stage, we’ll explain why and keep you updated regularly.
We investigate your complaint and may call you to discuss it. We’ll address every point you raised, give a clear explanation, apologise and set out any remedial action if we’ve fallen short, and consider compensation where remedial action isn’t possible or isn’t enough. Any compensation is applied to your account or paid within 20 business days.
You can appeal at Stage 2. Where possible, set out your appeal in writing via your complaint case so we fully understand the details. Castle Water’s Executive Complaints Team will carry out an independent internal review and aim to resolve it within 8 business days. Note that if you don’t reply within 30 days, your appeal may be treated as a new complaint.
Yes — where we’ve fallen short and remedial action isn’t possible or isn’t sufficient, we’ll consider compensation. It’s either applied to your account or paid to you within 20 business days.
Once you’ve completed Stages 1 and 2, you can escalate to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), the final stage for complaints about Castle Water. Their service is independent, free, and confidential. Write to FREEPOST SPSO (no stamp needed), use the online form at www.spso.org.uk/complain/form, or call 0800 377 7330 or 0131 225 5300.
Yes. The SPSO normally won’t look at complaints about issues you’ve known about for more than 12 months, or matters that have been or are being considered in court. You must also have completed Castle Water’s formal Stage 1 and Stage 2 process first — otherwise the SPSO will refer the complaint back to us.
If we’ve already started the process to recover costs through legal channels, any concerns should go directly to our Recoveries Team at recoveries@castlewater.co.uk. These concerns are not handled as a complaint under this procedure.