Learning from complaints
We know we don’t always get it right, but we’re committed to learning something from each and every complaint we receive. Here’s what you’ve been telling us in the last few months and what we’re doing to put things right:
Estate services
Almost a quarter of all the complaints we received in the last three months were related to services such as grounds maintenance and cleaning.
We know how important these services are to you, and we're committed to improving your experience.
Through your complaints and our investigations, we’re taking some action to improve performance and to manage expectations. This includes:
- Proactive contract management with partners, working together to create plans for when performance isn’t quite right
- A new estate services management tool for customers to check upcoming and past schedules and find out what to expect
- Recruitment of a new Head of Contract Management to give us a better view of contractor performance and make sure we’re getting the best value for money for you.
- A dedicated working group for estate services to focus on these issues
Customer Complaints Learning Panel
The Customer Complaints Learning Panel (CCLP) is made up of 12 engaged residents who review our complaint from a customer point of view. They recently reviewed several anti-social behaviour case handling complaints and, following their feedback, a new action plan was created.
Actions included localised signposting for support, oversight and ownership of communications when staff were out of the business, and setting clearer expectations of outcomes. We’re going to monitor the impact of the changes we’ve made in a number of ways, including targeting ourselves to resolve more complaints at stage one. We’ll report back on how we get on.
You can find out more about the CCLP just here.
If you’re interested in joining the CCLP, then we’ll be on the look out for new members in the new year. Keep an eye on the Customer Hubb for more details.
Window and door replacement delays
Following an open letter from the Housing Ombudsman Service we reviewed how we work out the best way to fit replacement windows and doors to our properties.
In the last three months, as a result of this review, we’ve created a new process to make sure we’re able to prioritise homes which need replacements more urgently, rather than waiting until several properties in the same area were ready.
Record keeping
We understand how irritating it is when you feel you have to repeat yourself to us, especially over ongoing issues, when you just want a quick update or solution.
The Housing Ombudsman Service has challenged all housing associations across the country to improve the standard of record keeping, in response to what customer are telling them.
Regular readers of our learning from complaints blogs will know that we have been taking this issue very seriously over the past year, and have invested in more training for all Stonewater employees to understand the importance of this.
Mandatory training was rolled out business wide which included video training guides and a declaration for staff to ensure they understood the importance of record keeping and how to use our systems.
How to make a complaint
We always aim to provide a great service to you, but sometimes we know we don't always get it right. When you feel like you want to complain, there's a number of ways you can let us know about it.
You can:
- Talk to a member of our team
- Visit our website and complete a form
- Call us on 01202 319 119
- Email customerfeedback@stonewater.org
- Send us a direct message on Twitter or Facebook
OR write to us at:
Stonewater Suite C, Lancaster House Grange Business Park Enderby Road Whetstone Leicester LE8 6EP
You can find out more about making a complaint on our website here: