We’re improving how we handle repairs & complaints - with your help! | Tenant news

We’ve reviewed tenant complaints we received between 1 January 2022 and 3 March 2022 and have identified five key themes for improvement that we want to tell you about.

Improving our repairs service

• When Health and Safety repairs occur, we will attend and make safe within 24 hours if the repair is an emergency. If that’s not possible, a manager will be consulted to see what immediate steps can be taken to keep things safe before the repair is completed.
• Where we cannot repair an item, we’ll make it safe and put in place a temporary fix.
• We will review contractor performance 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 the next steps.
• Our Customer Services Resolution Officer will provide feedback to the Customer Service and Maintenance Teams, highlighting the importance of updating residents adequately.

Automated text messages

Your feedback highlighted that the text in automated text messages from Habinteg needs to be clearer about when a repair will be completed.

The feedback also suggests that each text message would be clearer if it contained a short description of the repair e.g. plumbing issue, or electrical fault.

We’re currently reviewing the content of the automated text messages and working with our suppliers to see how we can incorporate your suggestions

We’ll keep you up to date with the changes we’ve made once we put them in place.

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 – Liam Sullivan, whose role includes case- managing complaints from start to finish.

While we recognise there is still some way to go, we’re making progress. The scores for informal complaints in March 2022 show:

• A 71% overall satisfaction with complaint handling for the month and
• A 71% satisfaction score for being kept informed throughout the progress of complaints.
   

If you’d like to give us feedback on any aspect of our service, please visit  www.habinteg.org.uk/contactusfeedback .