This June, nine involved customers from across our communities joined Torus and our contractor partner, HMS, at a special event at their HMS’s Stonebridge headquarters in Liverpool to see their operation and hear about the customer journey first hand from HMS officers delivering repairs and maintenance services.

Tenant Voice Team Leader, Annmarie Flynn, said:

“The special session came about following a request from our Complaints Panel. They wanted to find out more about the service and understand the repairs process better, to see how the complaints could be used to improve services.”

Tenants heard from Managing Director of HMS, Paul Worthington about the increasing demand for responsive/reactive repairs, how they were dealt with. They also found out more about how Torus is currently looking to move these repairs toward planned investment to reduce the number of reactive repairs.

In development, the Torus 10-year Planned Improvement Investment programme is currently being created using updated information on homes from the 28,000 plus Stock Condition Surveys, which is ensuring that the data we have about our homes is up to date, so we can put our resources and investment in the right place.

The involved customers also had the opportunity to see the size of the HMS warehouse which provides materials for Operatives when completing repairs and the plans for improving this service in the future through partnership with Jewson.

Customers met with the Repair Schedulers to gain a better understanding of how repair appointments are managed and the complexity of getting the right operative, with the right tools and materials at the right time. And finally, they met with the Customer Excellence Team to discuss improvements made following feedback from customers.

Talking about the visit, Head of HMS Customer Experience, Gail Farley, added:

“It was great to welcome the Torus tenants and be able to update them on the latest HMS news and show them how we are continuing to adapt to the changing landscape affecting our customers, to improve customer service, and increase satisfaction.”

Involved tenant and Complaints Panel member, Hannah concluded:

“The visit was a great opportunity to see things from the other side. I have come away with a better understanding of the whole repairs process and how HMS and Torus are working to improve things for customers.”

Use your voice – get involved

At Torus, we want the voices shaping our services to be as diverse as the communities we work in and welcome volunteers from all walks of life. If you are a tenant or leaseholder (including Shared Owner) and would like to find out more about getting involved and giving your views, please contact our friendly Tenant Voice (Customer Involvement) Team by emailing TenantVoice@torus.co.uk or calling 0800 678 1894.

Find out more about getting involved here