Providing you with a good service
One of our key aims is to provide an excellent service to you. We have achieved the National Chartermark award for good customer service, and regularly review all our services to ensure they are efficient, effective adn provide good value for money. We have achieved the International Quality Management Award ISO 9001:2000, and through this we re-examine processes every six months.
- Our Customer Charter
- Feedback
- When things go wrong
- Local Councillors
- Having your say
- Equal Opportunities
Our Customer Charter
We aim to provide a high standard of service whenever you contact us. We have devised the following Customer Care Standards to make sure that everybody is treated in a courteous, polite, efficient and consistent manner at all times. Our Customer Care Standards tell you how you can expect to be treated by us and how long you will have to wait if you contact us in person, by telephone, letter or e-mail.
Staff
We will –
- Be well informed and trained in our duties
- Be clean and smart at all times when dealing with customers
- Greet you politely giving our name and asking how we can help
- Carry official identity badges outside the office
Reception Areas
We will –
- Provide clean, bright and welcoming reception areas
- Be easily accessible to all our customers
- Have details of our opening times on display
- Provide up-to-date leaflets and information on the services we, and other agencies provide
- Ensure everyone receives an efficient and friendly service from well trained staff
Personal Callers
We will –
- Make sure you do not have to wait more than 5 minutes before initial contact is made
- Make sure that you do not have to wait more than 10 minutes to be seen by the relevant member of staff if you have an appointment
- Try our best to deal with your enquiry there and then if you call in without an appointment. If more specialist help is needed we will tell you how long you may have to wait to see a relevant member of staff OR offer you a future appointment within the next 5 working days
- Provide a separate interview room if you wish to discuss anything in private
Telephone Callers
We will -
- Answer all telephone calls promptly
- Provide telephone contact details
- Answer all calls with polite greetings, giving our name and asking how we can help
- Try our best to deal with your enquiry straight away. If we need to refer you to someone else we will give you the reason and the name of the person we are transferring you to
- Take a message and make sure it is passed on if the person you want to speak to is not available
- Respond to telephone messages either the same day or by the end of the next working day
Letters and E-mails
We will -
- Acknowledge all letters, e-mails and text messages within 3 working days from the time we receive them and will send a full reply within 7 working days
- Write all our replies in plain English and avoid the use of jargon
- Give you the name of the writer, a contact address and telephone number in all our correspondence
Feedback
We welcome your feedback, whether comment, complaint or compliment. Please use this feedback form to send us any of the above.
When Things Go Wrong
We aim to make sure you receive a high quality service but we know that sometimes things can go wrong. When this happens we need to know so that we can take steps to put things right and learn from our mistakes. If you are not happy with our services you have the right to complain and your complaint will be taken seriously. You can complain in person, by telephone, in writing, through the website or by text message.
Service Standards – Complaints
We will –
- Try to respond to your complaint immediately
- Acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days. If you have given us contact numbers you will receive this as a telephone call
- Give you the name of the person dealing with your complaint
- Provide a full response to your complaint within 10 working days or we will write and explain the delay and tell you when you can expect a full response
- Keep you informed of our progress
- Deal with your complaint in confidence
- Try to put things right and make sure the problem does not happen again
- Tell you what you can do if you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint
Dealing With Complaints
Your complaint can be dealt with at a number of stages:
Stage One – The Informal or Problem Solving Stage
We aim to solve most complaints at this stage. We will try to respond to your complaint immediately but, if we are unable to do this, you will receive an acknowledgement within 3 working days. You can expect a full response to your complaint within 10 working days. Occasionally, we will need more time to investigate your complaint. If this is the case, we will let you know when you can expect a full response.
Stage Two
If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint you can contact the Chief Executive of High Peak Community Housing.
Stage Three
If you are still not happy with our decision you can ask the local government Ombudsman to carry out an independent investigation. The local Ombudsman for this area is:
Local Government Ombudsman
Beverley House
17 Shipton Road
York
YO3 6FZ
Telephone: 01904 663200
Local Councillors
You can also contact your local councillor for advice and support with housing matters. A list of councillors is available at all council offices or online here. Councillors hold regular surgeries in each area of the borough.
Having your Say
We are committed to keeping you informed and consulting you about any changes we plan to make to our housing services. There are a number of ways in which you can have your say in how things are being done.
These include:
- Area tenant panels
- The borough-wide tenants’ forum
- Tenant and residents associations
Equal Opportunities
We are committed to making sure that all members of the community have equal access to the services we provide. This means not discriminating against people because of their race, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, culture, background, gender, sexual orientation, domestic circumstances, age, disability or illness.
Our aim is to make our services accessible, welcoming and appropriate to meet the variety of needs in our community.
In order to meet this aim we are trying our best to do the following:
- Provide a language line facility to assist people using a foreign language
- Provide information on our services in alternative formats upon request e.g. large print; audiotape
- Produce information specific to the needs of different groups of customers e.g. young people; elderly people; people fleeing domestic abuse; people with disabilities etc
- Make sure our offices provide access for all.
If you want to talk to someone in the comfort of your own home, we will endeavour to make sure that this is at a convenient time.
We aim to treat all our customers fairly and sensitively.
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