Customer Engagement
Customer Communication survey – the results
In the last edition of My Great Place (April/May 2022) we shared what customers had told us was important to them when we send them information and how we’d used what customers told us. As a result of this feedback we made sure that:
We also said that we would continue to gather your feedback and respond to it. We’d like to know what you think about this customer communication and would appreciate it if you would take the time to answer a few questions here.
New involvement groups
You can also get involved in new ways with us, including various levels of time commitment from very little, to more involved so do check out our new website here.
This includes new Repairs, Complaints and also Digital Readers communities so take a look – there’s something for anyone who wants to be involved, at any level.
Complaints – how we’re doing
We recognise that there are always improvements to be made in our service and standards. We are always talking with customers and making improvements based on feedback which you can see throughout this newsletter. Here are the top five concerns customers have raised with us over the past six months, and how we respond to these issues:
Complaints process
Whenever we receive formal complaints we follow the procedure below:
- Case review involving relevant colleagues
- Looking at systems and all records related to the complaint
- Speaking with the customer to clarify the exact nature of complaint
- Thorough investigations across each relevant area of the business
- Always learn from complaint and ensure actions/agreements are progressed.
- Always learn from complaint and ensure actions/agreements are progressed.
When you make a complaint, we have up to five working days to formally acknowledge stage 1 complaints and 10 working days to investigate, review and respond. If within 15 working days of receiving our response you remain dissatisfied, you can contact us and request to escalate the complaint to stage 2 of the process.
From receiving the stage 2 request, we have three to five working days to review the reasons for escalation, assign the case to a senior manager and acknowledge the complaint with you. The reviewing manager will have 20 working days to investigate, review and respond to you.
Should you still remain dissatisfied, you can refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service who will review and progress it in-line with the Complaints Handling Code.
Being open and honest
We always want to be accountable and transparent about where we could have done better, so we also look to publish the general results of our complaints in this magazine, in our monthly eNewsletters, and on our website so you can see how we respond to your feedback.
If you’re interested in working more closely with the way we handle complaints, and help us improve our process from a customer point of view; you can join our Customer Complaint Community here.
For more information on how we make improvements based on feedback, you can see our website.
How we handle complaints - from a customer point of view
Recently, our customers helped us look at how we handle complaints, so we can help improve the process. “INSIGHT” is the name of a group of Great Places customers who volunteer to look at services and recently finished a review of the complaints handling service.
They looked at our process in depth and worked with teams internally. They also looked at comments provided by customers, who fed back about their experience of the process.
The group then fed back to colleagues on ‘what customers said was important, when making a complaint’ and ‘what customers felt worked well about the process’. A number of important findings from the review included:
- To know how and who to make a complaint to and what to expect from the process
- Acknowledgment their complaint has been received and informs when to expect a response
- Being able to talk about the complaint, to be heard and understood
- The complaint process feels easy and be kept informed throughout until resolution
Constant Improvement
Because of customer feedback, we have started a review of how we manage customers moving out of their homes in emergency situations. We will be contacting customers who have experienced having to move out of their homes at short notice. We want to make sure that any review considers the impact on our customers and what we can do to reduce the stress and anxiety this can cause as well as the upheaval this creates for customers and their families.
Insight thank all customers who took time to give feedback that helped inform their review. If you’d like to know about Insight’s review or customer scrutiny, visit the ‘Get Involved’ section on Great Places website.
“Great Places’ Customer Feedback Team has a new structure which specialise in putting your views at the centre of future projects and help to right any wrongs. During our review we saw plenty of positive work which has been carried out and we believe in the service improvements, let the team help you.”