A group of The Gateshead Housing Company residents recently took a trip to the offices responsible for repairing and maintaining their homes; giving them the opportunity to see for themselves how 250 daily repairs are carried out from beginning to end.
The visit was part of Mears' efforts to introduce customers to the vast array of resident involvement available; with talks on service improvement and the Change Club - a national tenant scrutiny group.
Mears' managers took residents through the repair journey from when it is first raised by the resident over the telephone; through to when the operative arrives at the property.
They observed Mears' IT system in action which provides live updates on the progress of all logged repairs. This shows where the tradesperson is at any one time; from when the job is allocated to them right up until the operative knocks on the resident's door and the repair is completed.
The Gateshead Housing Company's tenant Brenda Webb said, 'I was very impressed with the presentation. I found the process carried out by Mears from receipt of the call to the completion of the repair very informative. I enjoyed the visit and as a tenant it helps to realise how Mears take their commitment very seriously to all customers.'
Mears have been repairing and maintaining over 20,000 homes on behalf of The Gateshead Housing Company since April 2012, the performance has gone from strength to strength with an average of 98% of customers being happy the work carried out in their property.
Colin Middlemass, Managing Director of Mears said 'We are committed to delivering a tenant focused service and we could not do that without meeting with tenants, listening to their priorities and involving them in the service. We are delighted that those who visited the office and team found it valuable'