Customer service charter

Our promise to you

BHP is committed to providing excellent services to ALL its customers.

This Customer service charter sets out the standards all our customers can expect to receive from us. These
We will ensure that our service standards:

• Are simple, clear and easy to use
• state the desired behaviour of staff
• also apply to our contractors so customers receive the same standard of service from companies working for us as they do from BHP staff
• are reviewed yearly to make sure they continue to reflect what matters most to our customers.

BHP has a range of customer service charters covering individual services.

For further information contact the Customer Services Team on 020 8937 2580.

BHP values and respects you our customer:

• We will treat you with courtesy and respect at all times
• our staff and partners will always identify themselves by their full name
• our staff and contractors / partners WILL always show their identity card, which will state their name and service area / company name
• we will listen to what you have to tell us and will keep a record of your request
• if we are unable to help you we will honestly and clearly explain why
• staff will be helpful and aim, where possible, to resolve your enquiry the first time you contact us
• all staff who meet our customers will be neatly dressed
• we will greet you on the phone in a polite tone and courteous manner, stating name, section / team and a greeting appropriate to the time of day
• staff will speak clearly when answering the phone.

We will provide a service that is easy to use:

• Where it is more convenient for you, we will offer an appointment for our staff or our partners to visit
• where appropriate we will phone in advance before visiting
• recorded messages from our answer phones will be easy to understand, accurate and provide an emergency out of hours contact number
• answer phone / voicemails will give you an option to leave a message where possible
• all messages left on our answer phones or voicemails will be responded to the next working day
• details of our services and staff will be available in all reception areas
• we will ensure that our partner agencies provide welcoming reception points which are clean, tidy and clearly signed
• customers will be seen initially within 5 minutes at our reception points
• if waiting times are likely to be longer than this, you will be informed of the waiting time within 5 minutes.

You can contact our services at the following times:

• Our customer service at the One Stop Service will be open to you from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday
• if our reception is closed for staff training the date and time will be advertised
• you can also access the Brent House One Stop local office on Saturdays from 9am - 1pm
• you may report a repair to our Contact Centre between 8am and 8pm Monday to Thursday and 8am to 5pm on Fridays
• you can contact any other service in BHP between 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday
• if you have an emergency outside of these hours you can contact us on 020 8937 1234.

We will respond promptly to our customers:

• We will aim to answer 100% of all telephone calls received
• we will answer 87% of telephone calls within 15 seconds
• we will not put your telephone call on hold without explaining why
• we will reply to phone messages in 1 working day
• we will acknowledge 95% of letters and emails within three working days
• we will provide a full response to your letter, email or fax within 10 working days.

If this is not possible we will then write to you explaining when we expect to be able to respond.

BHP will ensure that our communication with you is easy to understand

We will:

• Use plain language
• ensure the presentation and content of all letters, emails and brochures are clear, easy to understand, jargon free and accurate. We will also include a contact name and direct dial telephone numbers, fax number and email address
• ensure all issues raised by you will be acknowledged and responded to
• make sure that our leaflets and posters are clearly presented and translations of the text are available on demand
• continue to keep you fully informed and provide helpful guides by using audio and visual technology to broadcast service information
• produce regular newsletters
• put information about us on our website at www.bhphousing.co.uk

We will cater for diverse needs by:

• Providing information in our 8 community languages
• providing you with information on request in the language that you can best understand and make information available in large print, audio and Braille
• providing a Typetalk or minicom service for our hearing impaired customers
• providing a sign video centre for our customers at some of the one stop service reception points
• providing an induction loop for meetings and interviews if required.

We welcome our customer's comments:

• Your views on the service we provide are important to us and we encourage you to tell us when we get things wrong
• we encourage you to make suggestions to help us improve our services
• we provide methods for collecting your suggestions at reception points in the one stop service
• we will inform you when actions have been taken on suggestions.

BHP is committed to 'getting it right':

• If things do go wrong we will do our best to put them right as quickly as possible
• we will ensure that the findings from our complaint investigations are fed into improving our services.

BHP will monitor these standards by:

• Asking you for your comments
• monitoring and reporting on our performance
• reporting results regularly to BHP board and tenant representative groups
• publishing results in our newsletter and on our website.

If you want to complain, give praise or make a suggestion:

• speak to our staff
• fill in a complaints or suggestion form and hand it to the One Stop Service
• ring on 020 8937 2580
• email us at customer.service@bhphousing.co.uk

Who to contact

If you have any complaints or questions on any of these charters, you can contact the Customer Services Manager or the Standards and Complaints Officer:

Chancel House
Neasden Lane
Neasden
London
NW10 2UF

• Telephone number: 020 8937 2580
• Type talk: 18001 020 8937
• Email: customer.service@bhphousing.co.uk
   

If you would like a copy in a larger print, please contact customer services on 020 8937 2580.

Accompanying leaflets (inserts)

The following is a list of customer service charters for our individual services within BHP.

• Anti-social behaviour
• estate management
• housing support
• repairs
• new tenancies
• rents
• right to buy and leasehold management
• tenancy management
• neighbourhood warden service.

Download

Alternatively, you can download the Customer service charter as well as the accompanying leaflets (inserts) in portable document format (pdf).

• Customer service charter (.pdf, 734.1Kb)
• Customer service charter (inserts) (.pdf, 146.9Kb)

You may need Adobe Reader software to view the pdf files on this page, which is available as a free download from the Adobe website.