Customer service standards

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Customer service standards

Our Customer Care Charter leaflet sets out the minimum standards of customer care you can expect to receive. The charter has been put together by a working group of Gloucestershire Housing Association residents and employees. Our performance against these standards are monitored by our resident involvement activity.

We will:

Treat all customers fairly
Treat all customers with courtesy and respect
Show patience, understanding and sensitivity in dealing with all customers
Ensure we act within the requirements of the law at all times
Respect your rights to confidentiality and the disclosure of information we hold about you.
Act in a professional manner at all times
Regularly review our customer care charter with customers
Undertake an independent residents survey at least every 3 years
Provide training and guidelines for all staff on the minimum service standards laid out in the customer care charter
Manage staff performance and provide additional training and support where necessary
Regularly review our staffing levels to ensure we have adequate capacity to achieve our promise

When you telephone us, we will:

Aim to answer your call within 20 seconds
Answer your call by greeting you, giving you the name of the organisation and the name of the person to whom you are speaking
If you are not able to speak to the person requested, we will ensure that another member of staff offers to help you, or that a message is taken for the person with whom you wish to speak
Staff will provide you with direct lines if requested or if necessary
Attempt to respond to your messages within 1 working day. If the person you need will be out of the office for longer than this, another member of staff will attempt to return your call
If we transfer your call we will make sure that you call is announced

When you write to us, we will:

Acknowledge all written enquiries within 3 working days and offer a timescale for a full response
Aim to answer your written enquiry in full within 10 working days
If we take longer to reply or acknowledge your letter, we will always apologise, explain the reasons why it is taking longer to reply and discuss an alternative reply date with you
Send out forms and literature in stock within 3 working days
Answer your letters in an understandable language
Be consistent in all our written responses, in terms of plain English, font type and size
Aim to meet your individual needs
Regularly review all written information produced by GHA

Visiting GHA’s Office

Ensure that our office is accessible to everyone
Acknowledge your presence in a professional and friendly manner
Provide seating and items to occupy children while you wait
If you have an appointment we will aim to ensure that you see the relevant member of staff on time. The relevant member of staff will make every effort to keep the appointment, if there are changes to the appointment they will attempt to advise the customer of the change in circumstances and be responsible for alternative arrangements
If you do not have an appointment we will aim to ensure that you are not kept waiting for longer than 10 minutes to see a member of staff. If this is not possible we will offer you the opportunity to see another member of staff or to reschedule your appointment on a specified day and time
Keep an updated supply of useful forms and information for you to access at our offices. If we cannot provide you with a particular form on the day that you visit, we will ensure that one is posted to your home within 10 working days
Ensure that our offices have private interviewing areas, so that you can discuss your enquiry in privacy if you prefer
Publish our office opening hours widely and ensure that we publicise in advance any changes in opening hours

When we visit you at home we will:

Offer to visit your home, if appropriate, at a mutually convenient time
If we are not able to keep an appointment we will telephone 1 working day prior to the appointment to apologise and explain why. We will arrange an alternative mutually convenient appointment with you
Set achievable timetables for visits and ensure we have all the relevant paperwork and information with us
Check prior to a home visit if a translator will be required and arrange accordingly
If you are not at home when we call we will leave a card advising you that we have called and giving you a contact name and telephone number to arrange an alternative appointment
If we visit on an ad hoc basis we will respect that it may not be convenient and offer an alternative time and date
Wear identification badges with names and photographs clearly displayed
Be appropriately dressed when visiting your home
Respect your home environment

When we receive a comment, compliment or complaint we will:

If you make a positive comment or compliment we will make sure it gets passed onto the right person
Publish a clear and concise complaints procedure
Make the complaints procedure available in all of our offices and where requested it will be sent to you by post
If we are unable to satisfy your complaint we will tell you how you may complain to the Independent Housing Ombudsman
Use information gathered from comments, compliments and complaints to improve our services
Publish information on our performance against our complaints procedure

We have set performance targets which we regularly measure to check that we meet our service standards.

Progress is reported to the Association's Operations Committee on a bi-monthly basis. For 2007/08 the targets are:

95% of calls answered within 20 seconds
95% of all letters answered within 10 working days
95% of all letters are acknowledged within 3 working days if a full response will take longer than 3 working days
95% of all customers are seen on time when an appointment has been made
95% of all customers are seen within 10 minutes when no appointment has been made
95% of all complaints are responded to within the agreed complaints procedure targets