Where is my repair?
Listen to a morning of calls in your contact centre and many are the same question. I reported a leak three weeks ago, what is happening? The advisor opens the repairs system, finds the job, sees it is waiting for a part or a follow-on trade, and tries to explain. They cannot say when. The tenant calls again next week.
None of these calls fixes anything. Each takes an advisor's time, and while they are on the line, tenants with new repairs or urgent problems are in the queue.
Why tenants chase
Tenants chase because silence feels like nothing is happening. Most repairs systems record every stage of the job, but tenants are only told at booking, if then. Multi-trade jobs, parts on order and follow-on work are exactly where silence is longest.
- Tenants are told nothing after reporting, except an appointment if one is made.
- Parts on order and follow-on work are invisible to them.
- Advisors see job codes and statuses that are hard to translate.
- Contractor updates arrive in the system late or not at all.
- Nobody measures how many calls are chasers, so the problem is not visible.
What chasing calls cost
Advisor time is the direct cost, and queues for everyone else the knock-on. Tenants' frustration builds with every call, and many chasers turn into complaints. The repairs service looks worse than it may be, because tenants judge it by the silence rather than the work.
The repairs team loses out as well. Every chaser that reaches them as an email from the contact centre interrupts planning, and the jobs chased loudest get attention ahead of jobs that may matter more. The silence that caused the chaser also hides the jobs that really are stuck.
The proactive updates we build
- Job events are read from your repairs system and contractors' systems as they happen: raised, appointed, attended, parts ordered, follow-on needed, completed.
- Each event is translated into a plain message for the tenant in their preferred channel, such as parts have been ordered for your boiler, and we will contact you to book the next visit.
- Tenants get a link to a simple status page for their repair, with the stages done and what comes next.
- Jobs that have been quiet for longer than your target at any stage are flagged to the repairs team before the tenant calls.
- When a tenant does call, the advisor sees the same plain-language story, with the messages already sent.
- Calls are tagged as chasers or new contacts, so you can see how chasing changes over time and which job types cause the most.
| Job stage | Tenant hears now | With proactive updates |
|---|---|---|
| Reported | Reference number | Confirmation with what happens next |
| Parts ordered | Nothing | Message explaining the wait |
| Follow-on trade needed | Nothing | Message and next steps |
| Quiet for too long | Nothing | Repairs team flagged |
| Completed | Nothing | Confirmation and a way to say if it is not fixed |
Your repairs priorities and timescales stay as you set them. The updates describe what is happening; they do not promise dates your service cannot keep.
What the contact centre notices
Tenants know what is happening without calling. When they do call, advisors can answer in plain words. The repairs team sees stuck jobs before they turn into complaints. And for the first time, you can see chasing as a measure and track the job types that cause it.
Is your contact centre like this?
- Many calls are tenants chasing repairs they already reported.
- Tenants hear nothing while parts are on order.
- Advisors struggle to explain job statuses.
- Chasers often become complaints.
- You do not measure how many calls are chasers.