We regularly send out customer surveys on all aspects of our service including:

 A general performance survey 
 A survey on how we handle refunds
 A survey on how we handle complaints
 An arrears survey
 A questionnaire on the quality of our new booklet 'Your Rents Explained'

 General Performance Survey

7,000 survey forms were sent out and 1,166 were returned. 
When asked about satisfaction in the overall service 71.5% of those who responded to the question said they were satisfied or very satisfied.

Although the survey was on the Rent Collection Service, there were issues raised about the Benefits Service including comments that there should be more liaison and sharing information between the two services.  We are very aware of the need to communicate and have made real efforts during the last year to improve this and we now hold regular meetings to resolve issues.  Any queries we have on individual cases are referred to the Landlord Liaison Team to deal with and these officers attend Wandsworth County Court to help with possession cases where there may be benefit issues.  The team also reviews the Court List in advance to ensure that any outstanding housing benefit is resolved as far as possible.

There were some comments on the unhelpful attitude of some staff.  All staff have taken part in customer care courses this year and we hope that this has improved.  Tenants have also mentioned that it has been difficult to obtain bank giro books and standing order forms.  We have now changed the bank giro book so that a new one is automatically ordered before the current one runs out.  We have also designed a standing order system which went live in April and has resolved many of the standing order problems.

 Refunds

In August 2006 we sent out 264 survey forms to customers who had recently received a rent refund to find out their views of the process.  64 (24%) of the forms were returned.
The results of the survey show that the initiatives taken to streamline our processes over the past year has shown a marked improvement with nearly 62% of customers saying they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the refund process compared with just 25% when we last carried out this survey.
Refunds now take 7 to 10 days to process, however if a tenant is receiving Housing Benefit it might take a little longer.

 Complaints and arrears

Surveys on arrears and complaints attracted too little response to draw any conclusions from them but we will be reviewing the questions and sending out further forms shortly.

 'Your Rent Explained' survey

In April 2006 we sent out a new booklet to all of our tenants called 'Your Rent Explained'.  With this booklet we also sent out a short questionnaire to find out what you think of this booklet.  The results were very positive and include:

• 98% found the booklet helpful
• 97% said that it was easy to understand
• 94% said that it covered everything they needed to know about rents

We hope that you notice the improvements we have made in the service and we will be sending out further surveys to test your satisfaction with service improvements and find out if there are other areas of dissatisfaction.  If you receive one of our questionnaires please take the time to complete and return it as your views are very important to us.

Finally, thank you to all those who complimented the service they receive at our cash offices in Roehampton, Wandsworth and Lavender Hill.  We are pleased that you appreciate good service and have passed this on to the cashiers!

 Providing information to Tenants

The Rent Collection Service is committed to providing information to tenants in a format which suites them. Our publications and letters are available in large print, on tape and in Braille. 
Please contact us on (020) 8871 7280 if you would like to receive information in another format.