In March 2020, the process for setting and communicating new service charges did not go as smoothly as it should have done. This wasn't a good experience for our customers and we saw an increase in complaints related to service charges.
So we have launched a business-wide review into our process and how we communicate new charges with our customers.
How we got our feedback
Who?
Customers who submitted formal complaints
When?
April 2019-March 2020
How?
We analysed all complaints we received (431) to find trends - and charges was one of the trends.
So, what we did ...
We set up a project group including members from our Leasehold, Rents, Finance, IT and Communications teams, led by our Executive Director for Finance. The group met every fortnight to keep things on track.
Our project team has:
- Reviewed many charges to check that customers are being charged fairly for the services they receive.
- Finished the process earlier to leaving time for extra checks.
- Set up an information page to be transparent about how we set our charges. See here for leaseholders and here for tenants.
- Published information to help new leaseholders understand the process. See here
- Shared the breakdown of charges with social rented tenants, so they can see what’s included.
- Created dedicated online forms where customers can flag concerns or queries about their charges. See here for leaseholders and here for tenants.
- Reviewed our correspondence and added extra communications (by text, email and our website) to make things easier for our customers.