SERVICE STANDARDS

Our Commitment to You

PHA is committed to improving its present service. In all our dealings with you we will:

• treat you courteously and helpfully at all times
• provide information about the customer service standards to which we operate
• be reliable and do what we say we will do
• ask you regularly for your views and suggestions
• make it easy for you to use our complaints procedure
• treat you fairly irrespective of your race, ethnic or national origin, religion, age, gender, sexuality, disability, appearance, marital status, political orientation or family circumstances
• strive to improve our service all of the time

If you ask for one of our services, we aim to provide it right first time. There may be occasions when this does not happen and you receive poor service instead. If so, we want to hear about it, then we can apologise, offer an explanation and put it right within set timescales.

Our complaints procedure is outlined in our leaflet How to Comment, Compliment or Complain issued to all our customers and available to download here.

Answering Your Letters

• we will acknowledge you letter on the day we receive it
• a full reply will normally be sent within 5 working days
• if we cannot provide a full reply within that time, you will receive a letter of explanation with an indication of when a full response will be sent

Answering The Phone

• the phone will be answered by the 4th ring, Monday to Friday between 9.00am and 5.00pm
• we will try to deal with your enquiry straight away. If you wish to speak to a particular officer and that officer is not available, then we will offer you the opportunity to speak to someone else, to leave a message or to make an appointment
• our answering machine us available outwith these hours and we will get back to you on the next day of business

Attending To You When You Call At The Office

• your enquiry/service request will be dealt with, in the first instance by the customer service staff at reception. If you wish to see a particular officer and that particular officer is not available, we will offer you the opportunity to see someone else or to make an appointment
• an appointment will be offered within 2 working days
• if you have an appointment you will be seen punctually
• we will invite you to discuss your business in private
• our staff will treat you courteously and will respect confidentially
• your request for service will be dealt with as far as possible by the member of staff you see, who will wear a name badge and will tell you their name
• if you cannot come personally to our office as a result of illness or mobility problems, we can arrange to visit you in your home

Visiting You In Your Home

• if you prefer to visit to discuss a problem in the privacy of your own home, then we will visit you there
• staff will carry official identification and you should ask to see it before letting anyone come in to your home
• if we need access to your home (for whatever reason) , you will be given at least 24 hours notice unless it is an emergency
• we will tell you clearly why we need to access your home
• we will try to call at a time convenient to you

Repairs

• when possible we will give you an appointment time

Repairs will be carried out within the timescales below

Emergency Repairs - within 4 hours

Urgent Repairs - within 3 working days

Routine Repairs - within 10 working days

• if you need an emergency repair when the office is closed, you can contact our emergency call-out service which is available out of hours
• our contractors will carry identification, will be courteous, will do the work required to a high standard and leave the property clean and tidy
• if we fail to carry out an emergency repair or certain urgent repairs within the timescale, you may be eligible for a £15 compensation payment. Please ask us about this when you report your repair
• if you are an owner and work is needed on common areas, we will seek your permission before work is instructed if the total cost of work is more than £1,000. If the cost is more than £500 but less than £1,000, we will tell the owners of the likely costs

Estate Management

• if you have a problem with neighbours, are dissatisfied with close cleaning or with any other matters relating to the use of the property, then we will offer you an appointment to discuss the difficulties with your Customer Services Officer
• we will investigate your complaints within a timescale agreed between you and your Customer Services Officer, let you know what action will be taken and when will it begin
• we may also need your help in some circumstances in giving us information to take matters forward
• we will seek your views about how successful the action has been in sorting out the problem and agree other ways of tackling the problem if the action to date has failed
• on request, we will meet you and your neighbours to discuss matters of common concern, listen to your ideas, agree how we will sort out problems together and how we will monitor progress

Letting Enquiries

• if you apply for a house, your application will be assessed against our points scheme and checked by 2 staff members to ensure that you are treated fairly and the assessment is accurate
• all information will be treated confidentially
• advice and assistance will be offered to you on a different housing solutions which may be available to you
• we will review your application if you feel we have not assessed it correctly
• we will do our best to meet your needs and preferences within our limited supply of houses

Treating Everyone Equally

• we will make arrangements for you to receive letters or other communication in large print, Braille, or audio tape if you let us need this service
• an induction loop is available at our office or we can arrange to bring one out with us if we visit you at home
• we will provide help with translation if English is not your first language. Please let us know if you need this service
• if you cannot come to our office as a result of illness of mobility difficulties, we can visit you in your home

Your Chance To Tell Us What You Think

• we aim to become better at what we do, to improve the level of customer satisfaction
• consult you regularly through questionnaires
• invite you to tell us how we can improve by using our suggestion box in the office reception
• offer a prize for those suggestions we put into practice

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