Service Commitment & Guarantee

The DoveLiving promise

DoveLiving is In-Home Assistance & Care from The Dove Circle^™, and our promise is in three words: People • Purpose • Possibilities^™. The people in our care and the people who give it come first; every visit has a purpose written in the care plan; and we show up so that staying at home stays possible.

This page says exactly what that means, what it does not cover, and how to hold us to it. It applies to every DoveLiving office, and it sits alongside your Client Service Agreement and our Policies & Procedures.

What every visit includes

• A caregiver you have met. The caregiver who arrives has been introduced to you, or is covering from the small team named in your plan, or has been named to you before the door opens.
• On time. Arrival within 15 minutes of the scheduled start, or a call before the start time with a new arrival time.
• The care plan, followed. The tasks you agreed, done the way you agreed them, within the limits of nonmedical care.
• A verified visit. The start and end recorded at the door, so your invoice shows only visits that happened.
• A care note. What was done, anything declined, how you were, and anything your family or the office needs to know, written in the secured record and available to the family contacts you name.
• Respect for your home. Identification worn, your routines kept, your property and privacy respected, nothing shared about you anywhere.
• A team behind the caregiver. A coordinator who knows your plan, a supervisor who visits, and a line that answers every hour of every day.

Our caregiver standards

Every DoveLiving caregiver is an employee of their office, not a contractor, and before their first visit has passed identity and work-authorisation checks, a multi-state criminal records search, the sex-offender and abuse registries, reference checks and a health screening as the state requires; has completed orientation on every one of our policies and on your care plan; and is insured and bonded by the office. Caregivers who drive you have also passed a driving record check and carry verified insurance. Training continues every year through DoveNest^™, our training and readiness system, and a caregiver whose credential lapses is not offered visits until it is renewed. Our matching system, DoveOnDeck^™, offers you only caregivers whose credentials and training fit your plan. The full standard is in our Policies & Procedures.

The satisfaction guarantee

The first-visit guarantee

If you are not satisfied with your first DoveLiving visit for any reason, tell us within 7 days and there is no charge for that visit. We will also offer a different caregiver for the next one.

The every-visit guarantee

If any visit falls short of the commitment above, tell us within 7 days of the visit. We investigate with you and do one of the following, your choice where both are possible:

• Re-do: the task or tasks that were missed or not done to the plan are completed at no charge, at a time that suits you, within 2 business days;
• Credit: the affected hours are credited on your next invoice, or refunded if care has ended.

A visit that did not happen, or that you declined because we offered an unfamiliar caregiver in place of yours, is never billed.

The caregiver guarantee

You may ask for a different caregiver at any time, without giving a reason. We offer a replacement within 2 business days, and the request is never held against the caregiver.

No lock-in

You may end DoveLiving care at any time with the notice stated in your Client Service Agreement. There is no termination fee, and we refund any prepaid amount for visits not delivered.

Response and resolution times

You	We
Call the DoveLiving line, any hour	Answer with a real person, 24 hours a day, every day, through DoveOnCall™
Ask about care	Offer a free home visit, usually within 48 hours
Report a caregiver who has not arrived	Call the caregiver and start the coverage search within minutes, and tell you who is coming
Raise a safety concern	Act immediately, and escalate to the on-call coordinator and the Dove Branch Director
Raise any other concern	Acknowledge within one business day; give a written answer within 5 business days
Ask for a formal grievance review	A written decision from the Dove Branch Director within 10 business days
Ask for a different caregiver	Offer a replacement within 2 business days
Ask for a re-do under the guarantee	Complete it within 2 business days
Ask for a credit or refund	Show it on the next invoice, or refund within 14 days if care has ended
Ask for your care record	Provide a copy within 10 business days
Ask to change or cancel a visit	Confirm the change the same business day; no charge with 24 hours’ notice

Coverage commitment

When your caregiver cannot come, DoveRescue^™, our coverage system, offers your visit to the other caregivers on your team first, then to the office’s wider team and, only where your plan allows, to participating partner offices and approved providers who meet the same standards. We tell you who is coming and when. If we cannot cover a scheduled visit and did not tell you at least 2 hours before its start, the visit is credited whether or not a shorter visit later takes place, and we tell you what we are doing to prevent a repeat. If a whole-area event such as severe weather makes a visit unsafe, we contact you, agree what is needed and make sure the people who depend on care for their safety are reached first.

What the guarantee does not cover

This is a service commitment for nonmedical home care. It does not promise medical outcomes, and it does not cover:

• changes in a client’s health, mobility or condition, or any medical outcome; caregivers do not diagnose, prescribe or treat;
• tasks outside the care plan or outside the limits of nonmedical care, or a caregiver’s declining to do something unsafe or outside those limits;
• visits cancelled by the client with less than 24 hours’ notice, which are billed as the Client Service Agreement states (we waive the charge for a hospital admission, a death in the family or an emergency);
• a visit the client declined after the caregiver arrived, where the caregiver was the one scheduled or named in advance;
• delays caused by events outside our control, such as severe weather, road closures or an area-wide outage, where we told you as soon as we could and followed the emergency plan;
• loss or damage covered by a separate insurance claim, which we help you make under the office’s policies;
• concerns raised more than 7 days after the visit, although we still investigate and respond to every concern;
• services from third parties, including medical transport, home-health agencies and products you buy elsewhere.

Rates, minimum visit lengths and billing terms are in your Client Service Agreement. The guarantee does not change them; it tells you when a visit is not charged.

How to raise a concern or make a claim

1. Tell us. Call the DoveLiving line, text or email Home@Doveliving.co, or tell your caregiver, coordinator or the after-hours team. Say which visit, what happened and what you would like us to do. Within 7 days of the visit for a guarantee claim.
2. We acknowledge within one business day, and at once for a safety concern.
3. We investigate with you, the caregiver and the visit record, and give you a written answer within 5 business days with the re-do, credit or other outcome.
4. If you disagree, ask for a formal grievance review by the Dove Branch Director, who answers in writing within 10 business days.
5. Beyond us, you may at any time contact the agency that oversees home care in your state, the state long-term-care ombudsman or Adult Protective Services. The contact details are in your Client Service Agreement and available on request.

Raising a concern never affects your care. Every concern is recorded, and the pattern of concerns is reviewed each month so that the service improves for everyone.

DoveStuff and The DOVE News

Purchases from DoveStuff, our merchandise branch, carry a 30-day return right for unused items and a full replacement or refund for anything faulty, damaged or not what you ordered; custom and digital items are covered when faulty. Subscriptions to The DOVE News can be cancelled at any time, effective at the end of the paid period. The details are in our Terms of Use.

About this commitment

This Service Commitment & Guarantee is made by DoveLiving Assistance Services LLC and by every DoveLiving office that operates under licence from it, for the care that office delivers. It is in addition to the rights you have under your Client Service Agreement and under the consumer and home-care laws of your state, and it does not reduce them. It is reviewed each year and whenever our policies change; the effective date at the top of this page tells you the current version. DoveLiving runs on the 12 Dove Branches of The Dove Circle, the connected system that lets one office keep every one of these promises. A franchise is offered only through a Franchise Disclosure Document in states where registration or filing requirements have been met.

Contact

• DoveLivingHome@Doveliving.co
  Care, guarantee claims and grievances
• The Dove Circlehello@thedovecircle.com
  Website, store, publication and app

Related pages: Policies & Procedures · Terms of Use · Privacy Notice.

Related pages: Policies & Procedures · Terms of Use · Privacy Notice.