The improvements we’ve made
13 February 2023
When we get things wrong, it’s important that we understand why and the changes we need to make.
Customer feedback is crucial to helping us learn from our mistakes and making sure we improve the services and the experience our customers receive.
In addition to the appointment of three new repairs contractors, we’ve made several key changes to improve the service we provide to our customers. These include:
- Appointing Aaron Services as our group-wide heating, repairs, and installations contractor.
- Introducing a dedicated Repairs Contact Centre to handle repairs related calls.
- Recruiting additional colleagues to our Customer Services, Complaints and Property Services Teams, and changed the structure of our Property Services Team.
- Creating a team who are dedicated to mould and damp to focus specifically on repairs jobs relating to these issues.
- Analysing data with our contractors in greater detail and ensuring they have the resources to meet the demand. We’re also using data to identify trends and better understand the vulnerabilities of our customers so we can prioritise work correctly.
- Supporting our main contractors to recruit more repairs operatives to help clear the backlog of jobs.
- Updating the advice and guidance we provide to customers on how to prevent and treat damp and condensation.
- Introducing a new freephone telephone number in recognition of the amount of time customers have been waiting on the phone and the cost implications of this.
- Introducing a queue position notification system on our phone lines so customers know how long they may have to wait when they call us.
- Launching a new online customer engagement platform called The Hub, which gives customers an opportunity to have their say about the services we provide.
- Seeking grant funding and working in partnership with other organisations to make our properties more energy efficient.
- Adding additional resource to our Complaints Team so that we can better investigate customer complaints and respond to them more quickly.
- Changing our processes to ensure we can reimburse customers for any costs they incur for having to use temporary heating equipment. Customers no longer need to make a complaint to receive compensation for these costs and will be reimbursed from day one of having to use temporary heating equipment.
- Providing additional digital training to our colleagues to ensure they’re using our systems correctly and efficiently.