We're always trying to be better. Part of that is learning from when we don't get things right.
Below are just a few examples of lessons we've learned when something hasn't gone as it should and what we've done to put it right.
Following feedback on our repair appointments, we have been working with Axis to make reporting a repair and handling appointments easier for our customers. A chatbot service via our online customer portal was therefore introduced in May 24, which provided the opportunity for our customers to book and manage their own Axis related appointments. As part of this, we also made a tutorial video available for help using the system, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXYpwFYq60A.
We are currently implementing a repairs recovery plan with our repairs partner, Axis Europe to improve the current repairs service that is offered. This recovery plan will address three key areas:
We will continue to consider additional developments
Throughout the winter months, we saw an increase in complaints cases on damp and mould and therefore wanted to make some changes in how we deal with this area to prevent reoccurring issues arising in the future.
We received feedback there was no information for residents on our website providing information around missed appointments for Axis.
As a result of this, we created a dedicated page providing this information.
See: Missed Appointments
We received complaints about work schedules for major planned works. To help address this matter, the contractor we used for our planned works during the last financial year produced a pre-works documentation for residents who were due to have major planned works carried out in their homes. This document provided both written and visual information on what could be expected during these works. We have now included timeframes for major works in our new repairs policy which can be located here: https://estuary.co.uk/download/-repairs-policy.pdf?ver=21190
We received complaints about resident communication relating to lift repairs. We now have in place a daily report from our lift contractors to notify us of any out-of-service lifts, or lifts which need to be shut down for repairs. This allows our compliance team to ensure that communication can then be provided to our residents.
Following some complaints received about issues with the recent installation of storage heaters, a dedicated web page was added to our website which provides a user guide for our most recent installation of storage heaters. Although the guide is for a specific type of storage heater, we also offer to do our best to find user guides for alternative storage heaters if required. This can be found at estuary.co.uk/storage-heaters
We wanted to make improvements in the way our responsive repair complaints are handled and there is now a dedicated complaints team at Axis who work with Estuary to help manage and handle complaints and complaint follow-on actions.
We were made aware that there were concerns about the regularity of our cleaners attending for communal cleaning. Although the cleaners had been attending the sites as required, when a primary cleaning operative was not available and a cover operative had attended in their absence, the signing in sheet was not always being completed. All cleaning operatives have now been reminded to sign in when arriving on site.
We received complaints regarding the occurrences of communal cleaning on our sites and we now have information on when a service is provided displayed on site noticeboards.
We received complaints regarding the occurrences of communal gardening and therefore we have now updated our website with new Estate service standards. This outlines what services will be provided and when. This can be located on this page https://estuary.co.uk/estate-services-standard
A complaint was made about the handling of our recruitment process for our Resident Voice and Influence Panel (RVIP) group, which highlighted that we needed to improve our communication on this area. We have now created a Resident Voice and Influence Panel recruitment procedure for our residents, which can be located here: https://estuary.co.uk/residentvipSuspension of Services Over Christmas
We received complaints regarding the lack of communication around the suspension of cleaning/maintenance services over the Christmas period. The business will now carry out a pre-Christmas meeting with all relevant operational staff and our communications department to agree and arrange any specific resident communication for any of our services which may be affected over any proposed Christmas closure period.
We recognised that at certain times of the call waiting times for our contact centre were getting too long and recognised that it might not always be convenient for customers to hold on the line. We also received many comments about the call waiting times when we spoke to our customers not just for our service but also our responsive repairs contractor Axis. Since then both we and Axis have introduced a call back service for our customers to offer an alternative to waiting on the line for it to be answered. The feedback on this has been positive: we'll continue to monitor this in the coming months.
The feedback from STAR survey in 2022 showed that customers were unhappy with how we are dealing with complaints. Since then we have reviewed our complaints policy, in line with Ombudsman Guidance and the Housing Ombudsman Code and also simplified our procedures. We have removed the stage of “expression of dissatisfaction” as this by default added a further stage to the complaints process. We have updated our website and provided training to all of our staff on how to recognise and deal with complaints effectively. Additional training has also been provided to investigating officers to improve the handling and responses of complaint cases. To assist with this area, we have also introduced system updates and internal control measures to improve the handling of follow on works and actions related to complaints. This is to help mitigate the risk of works being missed and to ensure our residents receive regular updates throughout.
We have also introduced a new complaints leaflet for those who are unable to access the website and prefer a paper copy. We will be expanding our “learning from complaints subgroup” which includes customers providing their feedback on how we are managing and responding to complaints and will be posting more information about this on our website going forward to ensure transparency of our feedback service.
We received complaints about the customer service some of our customers received from our some front line staff. Although the majority of complaints were not upheld, it was important to us that we acted on this feedback and bought in an external trainer to provide training to a number of our front line staff. The training included customer experience, customer journey mapping, communication skills, behaviour, language and tone, professionalism and effective mailing as well as how to manage challenging situations. Resources have been shared with staff and are available to all as an area to continuously develop.
We were notified of cases where incorrect property records were kept for fire door replacement works. Following this, it was quickly put in place that all future records will be cross-referenced with completion certificates and vetted by the contracts supervisor against the address of the property to ensure that information recorded was correct and up to date.
We received complaints about missed appointments from our contractors relating to electrical testing for our properties. We have now updated out asset management software to reflect the dates where electrical testing is due and the data is now reconciled every three months to ensure the data and stock list are correct, therefore mitigating the risk of contractor failed appointments.
We received complaints about the customer service some of our customers received from our some front line staff. Although the majority of complaints were not upheld, it was important to us that we acted on this feedback and bought in an external trainer to provide training to a number of our front-line staff. The training included customer experience, customer journey mapping, communication skills, behaviour, language and tone, professionalism and effective mailing as well as how to manage challenging situations. Resources have been shared with staff and are available to all as an area to continuously develop.
We have received complaints regarding our handling of Ant-social behaviour cases. To help make improvements in this area, our Housing staff undertook dedicated ASB training. During July 2024. we also launched an ASB communications campaign to raise awareness with our customer and the campaign continues in November 2024 with ASB awareness week. . This topic was also the focus at our Customer Voice Roadshows during 2024.
We were made aware of Direct Debits being set up without recurring payments being cancelled prior to the new Direct Debit being set up. Our income team received refresher training on ensuring historic payments are cancelled before setting up new payments.
We received complaints regarding the handling of service charge cases and noted that there was a gap in our staff resource for this area. A recruitment campaign was held and we now have a dedicated staff resource to handle cases in this area.