Tenant Voice - Complaints
We will make sure that all complaints are addressed fairly, effectively and promptly.
We welcome all feedback and encourage tenants to let us know when things haven't gone well. By listening to you, we can learn when we haven’t got things right and put changes in place to improve our services. Over the last year we've received 141 expressions of dissatisfaction (this is when tenants want to tell us something isn’t right, but don’t want to make a complaint). Of these, 85.82% (121) were upheld. We also received 222 complaints, of which 77.03% (171) were upheld. Of the tenants who made a complaint, 76% were satisfied with how it was handled.
Some examples of how we have listened and learnt from complaints this year are:
Repairs Call Handlers would benefit from additional customer service training.
We introduced a training programme for all Repairs Call Handlers to improve customer service. This has resulted in reduced call-waiting time, a reduction in the number of complaints and increased call-handling scores for the team. This will be embedded in every colleague's approach going forward.
Make it clearer what CGA is responsible for and what the tenant is responsible for when moving into a new-build home.
We updated our 'New-Build Home User Guide' to make it easier for tenants to understand their responsibilities when it comes to repairs.
Tenant data must be better protected when it's part of legal proceedings.
We have updated our process, so all legal documents are now checked by two colleagues before submitting them to court.
Customer service and communication should be improved.
Bespoke customer service training is undertaken by all colleagues to improve and enhance their skills in delivering excellent customer service.
Make sure all colleagues follow tenant communication preferences.
We have updated our systems to ensure that tenant communication preferences are clear and understandable for colleagues when they have any contact with a tenant.
Make sure colleagues are trained in complaint handling.
We have provided additional training to Investigating Managers to improve the way we investigate and manage complaints.
Letters sent to tenants should be clearer and more customer friendly.
We are reviewing all the letters we send to tenants to make them friendly and easy to understand.
CGA should listen to feedback from tenants and regularly let tenants know how it's been acted on.
We have introduced a dedicated team to gather feedback and insight, looking at trends and making service improvements on the back of this. We regularly update tenants on this via our website, social media and our newsletter, Gateway News.