Customer Service Standards

To report a non emergency repair – repairs@cornerstonehousing.net

For anything else - mail@cornerstonehousing.net

• You can email us 24 hours a day
• You will receive an acknowledgement from us within 24 hours
• We will aim to respond to your query within five working days
• If your query will take longer, or if you only want to contact a particular person who is not available, we’ll let you know when you can expect a response
• We might ask you security questions to check it’s you we’re dealing with

01392 273462
To report a repair is option 1
To make a rent payment option 2
For anything else option 3

• Our opening hours are 9.00 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Friday
• You can leave us a voicemail outside of these hours if you want to
• If you need to report an emergency repair outside of these hours, you will get through to our emergency repairs service via the same number and option 1
• We will aim to resolve your query during that first call with you
• If we can’t, we will try to put you through to someone who can help
• If nobody is available at that time, you will receive a call back by the end of the next working day
• If your query will take longer, or if you only want to contact a particular person who is not available, we’ll let you know when you can expect a response
• We might ask you security questions to check it’s you we’re dealing with

For a general enquiry

To report a repair

To report anti-social behaviour

To log a complaint, provide feedback or a compliment

• There are a number of different contact forms on our website, and the content of these forms comes through to us as emails
• Your contact will be acknowledged within 24 hours
• We will aim to respond to your query within five working days
• If your query will take longer, or if you only want contact with a particular person who is not available, we’ll let you know when you can expect a response

Send message to 07491 163432

Start your message with:
RENTS: if its about your account
BAL: to get your account balance
REPAIR: to report a repair
CARD: to order a new payment card
DD: to set up or change a direct debit

• BAL will give you an automated response with your balance at the end of the last day.
• All other enquiries, we will aim to respond to your query within five working days
• If you are reporting an emergency repair, please call us.
• We may send you SMS messages, these will usually be surveys, receipts for payments or to communicate with you about a particular issue.
• You can opt out of SMS if you prefer

You can write to us at:
Cornerstone Housing
Cornerstone House
Western Way
Exeter
EX1 1AL

• We will aim to respond to your query within five working days
• If your query will take longer, or if you only want to contact a particular person who is not available, we’ll let you know when you can expect a response

• When we make an appointment, we’ll give you a date and a time slot. For repairs, this might be morning or afternoon
• We’ll identify ourselves when we visit you and show you our ID
• Sometimes we use contactors for repairs, but we’ll let you know what company they’ll be from, and you can ask for ID
• Our Western Way office is open to the public Monday – Friday 11am till 12 noon.

This is something which has the potential to:

• cause danger to someone’s health and safety or
• cause immediate serious damage and destruction to a property, home or building

Examples include:

• No heating or hot water during winter months (usually between 31st October – 1st May)
• Total or partial loss of electrics to the whole property (multiple lights or power outlets not working)
• Unsafe power, e.g. sparks from electrics
• Total or partial loss of mains water supply (such as no water to entire bathroom, but water in your kitchen)
• An uncontainable leak, e.g. burst pipe, water tank or any leak that is affecting electrics or could cause damage to the property

The service you can expect

• Response within 24 hours
• Where possible, we will complete emergency repairs the same day, but if not possible, within 24 hours of being reported
• In some cases, we will make the situation safe until such time as a routine repair is safe and practical to complete (for example, when a window has been broken, we may board it up and make it safe, but the glass requires ordering to complete the repair)

These are non-emergency issues and they will be assessed and prioritised based on the type of issue being reported, the level of inconvenience to you and your individual needs.

• We will aim to get to you as soon as possible, but it will be no later than 20 working days
• We may need to arrange for someone to inspect the issue before we book a repair, and appointments may be grouped together based on where you live

This includes statutory and regulatory requirements such as gas and electrical safety checks etc. and other health and safety works that are required to keep people safe. Failure to regularly complete such safety checks may put you, your neighbours, our staff and Cornerstone’s property at risk.

• Gas safety and servicing appointments will be completed annually
• Electrical safety checks will be completed every five years
• We will check your smoke detectors when we visit
• We will be persistent in accessing your home to complete these checks

This work is not required to be completed immediately, but is required to keep the property in long-term good order. It includes things like:

• roof repairs
• kitchen or bathroom replacements
• whole home improvements

Regular maintenance including things like:

• external painting and decorations
• grounds maintenance
• cleaning

The service you can expect

• Communal areas to be kept clean and safe
• Green spaces, bin stores, parking areas to be well maintained,
• Planned work requires specification and planning and is generally grouped together and then carried out as part of a programme of works.
• We will give you plenty of notice for major improvements to your home
• We will give choices in relation to certain aspects of improvements, for example tiles, units, flooring

We have a dedicated process and charter for handling feedback which can found on our website.

The service you can expect:

• We will receive feedback, including complaints in any format from you
• We will respond promptly and we will aim to resolve your concern at the first point of contact, where possible
• A thorough investigation into formal complaints
• Information on what do if you are unhappy with how we have handled your complaint

We use a variety of customer surveys to gather your feedback on how we are doing.

The service you can expect:

• We will send you a survey after you have received a specific service from us so we know how we did. This includes repairs, anti-social behaviour and more
• We complete a general Tenant satisfaction survey with you once a year and we will publish the results of this

This panel is made up of volunteer tenants who scrutinise our performance and conduct reviews of our services to you.

• We will facilitate monthly meetings for the panel and support them in their work
• We will publicise the work of the panel and the recommendations they make to us about improvements

This is an information and advice newsletter. Click here to view

• We will publish this quarterly on our website
• We will send you a link to this via SMS or send you a paper copy if you prefer
• We will use it to keep you updated on things that are important to you

This annual report to residents informs you about how we have been providing services, your thoughts on us as your landlord and how we have spent our income from your rent.

• We will publish this annually on our website
• We will send you a link to this via SMS or send you a paper copy if you prefer
• It will include feedback on the annual customer survey results

This is a document that provides you with information about your home, tenancy and services. It details what you can expect from us and what we expect of you as a tenant. Click here to view

• We will provide this to you when you become a tenant with us
• This is available on our website, and additional copies can be sent to you when requested
• We will consult with residents on any changes to this document and provide  you with an update if  changes are made

• We will be respectful, polite and professional
• We will not discriminate against you
• We will introduce ourselves with a hello and tell you who we are
• We will show you our ID when visiting you, you should feel comfortable asking to see this if it isn’t shown
• We will be respectful of the specific needs of your household when visiting or completing works in your home
• We will clean up after ourselves when we complete work in your home
• Where possible we will communicate with you using your preferred method
• We provide information to you in alternative formats and languages to suit your needs
• We will handle your data carefully and in accordance with the law and our privacy statement
• We will communicate with your representatives, where we have your consent to do so
• We will not visit your home unless there is an adult present
• We will refer you for support or further advice where think you may benefit from it
• We will liaise with other agencies, where we have concerns about your safety or wellbeing, or that of your household member, in accordance with our safeguarding procedures and privacy statement. We will normally talk to you about this first
• We will ask your permission to enter your home or garden unless there is an absolute emergency

• That you keep to the terms of your tenancy
• That you let us in when we need to complete repairs or safety checks
• That you act in a reasonable manner and not anti-socially
• That you are not abusive, aggressive, discriminatory, offensive, threatening or violent towards our staff
• That your home is safe for our staff to work in, this may mean we cannot do certain work until items are cleared or the property is cleaned