Over the last few months our complaints team has made several important changes to how we work, and that’s all thanks to things we’ve learned from customer complaints.
At Futures we always appreciate feedback from customers, the good or the bad. If we’re not told when we’ve got things wrong, then we can’t do anything about it. We continually strive to improve our services to ensure we’re delivering the best customer experience, and listening and taking on board customer feedback plays a huge part in this.
Plastering works
Some customers told us that they had a confusing experience with plastering work. Many expected our operatives to start plastering on the first visit, when this initial visit is just to inspect the home and plan for the work that needs to be done. We’ve updated guidance for our customer service team, so going forwards this will be more clearly explained to customers now. The operatives will also take clear before and after photos of the works, so we have these on record.
Window replacements
We’ve produced a new card that operatives will hand to customers when we come to measure windows that need to be replaced. This is because customers weren’t always aware they needed to have already cleared the area around the window before the operatives come to replace them. Click here to view a copy of the card.
Our colleagues should already be using shoe covers, but this has been reinforced as part of the specification for each job, and we’re also working on a reminder popping up on the mobiles/tablets our operatives use.
Kitchen and bathroom planned works
We also heard from customers that we could do a better job of explaining what people need to do to prepare and what different contractors would be doing when we replace kitchens and bathrooms. We’ve now updated guidance for our customer service team so we can clearly explain to customers what they need to do and what will happen.
If you’d like to find out more about how we deal with complaints, including comments from customers, our complaints policy and information on the Housing Ombudsman, click here.
The Housing Ombudsman are looking for more people to join its ‘Resident panel’ where you can share your experiences, suggest improvements, and work with them to make services better for social housing customers. Applications close on 30 April 2024, so if you’d like to find out more and apply, click here.
