Our complaints performance 2017-2018
We aim to provide an excellent service to our customers. If we get things wrong we want to put them right and learn from our mistakes.
We also want to be open and honest about the complaints we receive and how we investigate and resolve issues raised. This page contains data about the kind of complaints we receive and improvements we have made in response to our customers' feedback.
Acting on feedback
Most importantly, we use complaints to identify areas of our service where we need to make changes, so that the service you receive continues to improve. You can read more below about changes we have made in response to customer complaints.
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Longhurst Group complaints: 1 April 2017–31 March 2018 |
Types of complaints
Complaints we receive are handled in two ways:
- Informal or 'first-time fix' complaints are issues that can be resolved within two working days.
- If we cannot resolve the problem within two working days, and a solution is not easily available, we will record this as a formal complaint.
1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 – types of complaints received
Formal complaints
The chart below shows the number of formal complaints that were upheld, against those that were not upheld.
Complaints are classed as 'upheld' when we have:
- failed to provide a service when agreed
- provided a poor service
- made a mistake in the way we provided a service
- failed to meet a service standard
- not followed our policies correctly.
In instances such as these, we would write to formally apologise and explain a way forward.
1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 – formal complaints
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You said, we did - changes we have made as a result of customer feedback |
Improving communication
You said
Many complaints we have received highlighted a need for even better communication.
We did
- We introduced a text message service as part of our repairs and heating service.
- We know it is important that we attend appointments when we say we will, but on occasion this is not always possible. We will attempt a minimum of two methods of communication to contact you about rescheduled and cancelled appointments.
Call handling
You said
The heating service last winter was extremely busy and customers told us they were not able to get through on the telephones as quickly as they would have liked.
We did
- We worked with Aaron Services to introduce a new call handling system, while the team was also expanded to ensure calls were answered in a timely manner.
- We teamed up Aaron's staff with our own customer service operatives for joint training and work shadowing to ensure continuity in the service we offer and to maintain a high level of customer service.
Grounds maintenance service
You said
We noted a sharp increase in customer complaints about grass cutting in the summer of 2017.
We did
We worked closely with our grounds maintenance contractors to improve the service, and introduced a new feedback scheme - complaints dropped as a result.