We’re improving how we handle repairs & complaints - with your help!
We’ve reviewed tenant complaints we received between 1 January 2022 and 3 March 2022 and have identified several service improvements, which we’re now working on.
Improving our repairs service
- When Health and Safety repairs occur, if they can’t be resolved within an emergency (24 hours) or urgent (five working days) timeframe, Habinteg’s Health and Safety Team will be consulted to see what if any immediate steps can be taken to keep things safe before the repair is completed.
- Where we cannot repair an item, we will make it safe and put in place a temporary fix.
- Contractor performance will be reviewed on a constant basis to monitor and identify where works have not been completed within target timeframes.
- When delays to repairs occur, the Customer Services and Maintenance teams will take ownership of the situation and inform tenants of these delays, explaining why the delay has occurred and what the next steps will be.
- Feedback will be given to the Customer Service and Maintenance Teams, highlighting the importance of updating residents adequately.
Automated repairs texts
We’re currently reviewing the wording of the automated text messages you receive when you request a repair.
Tenant feedback highlighted that the text needs to be clearer about when the repair will be completed.
The feedback also suggests that the text message would be clearer if it contained a short description of the repair e.g. plumbing issue, electrical fault.
We’ll feedback on the results of our review when it’s complete.
Complaints handling
Feedback from tenants also reveals that some of you feel we can improve the way we handle complaints and how we keep the tenant who has made the complaint updated during the process.
We’ve made some internal changes recently and are pleased to say they’ve resulted in a marked improvement in how satisfied tenants are with our complaint handling.
As part of those changes, we’ve employed a Customer Resolution Officer whose sole role is to case-manage complaints from start to finish to ensure this progress continues.
While we recognise there is still some way to go, we’re making progress. The scores for March 2022 show:
- A 71% overall satisfaction score for the month and
- A 71% satisfaction score for being kept informed throughout the progress of complaints.
This is a big change from last year’s average when only 30% of tenants were satisfied with the way their complaints were handled in the 2021/22 financial year.
If you’d like to give us feedback on any aspect of our service, please visit www.habinteg.org.uk/contactusfeedback.
