The ‘Reason’

I’ve deliberately chosen the term ‘reason’ rather than issue, concern or complaint. Things sometimes go wrong, things breakdown, faults appear, sometimes these ‘things’ need replacing, the very nature of ‘things’ is they sometimes fail. The ‘thing’ that failed this time was a basement gate. Nobody is to blame, it’s just one of those things. But how would GreenSquareAccord respond? This is where the failing of a ‘thing’ becomes something other than a ‘thing’. It quickly becomes an issue, develops into a concern and ultimately, becomes a fully formed complaint.

The Basement Gate

This was first reported to GreenSquareAccord by myself and others on and before the 11th August. With us notifying GreenSquareAccord that cars were stuck in the car park. A resident had checked that our Fobs were not to blame and it became clear that the motor that operated the gates had failed.

The guy I spoke to handled the call politely, however the report had already been raised via email to Zoe Peckover (who had responded) but had failed to record notes upon the system, this meant the call handler was unaware of the issue. He did however agree to call me back.

The First Failure - Failure to call back

This call back did not happen. Customer Service 101 - if you agree to call someone back, make the call. Honour this agreement.

The call back could have consisted of an apology as the agent was still looking into the issue and required more time, which would have kept the agreement, extended the timeframe and reassured the customer that the issue was still being investigated. As this didn't happen trust was lost, the customer was more annoyed, and now the customer would have to call back. Beyond losing trust and forcing a customer to chase GreenSquareAccord, it’s also disrespectful.

The Call Back

The second guy who dealt with the call was again polite enough. However, he too was unable to find any notes on their system. As such, everything had to be explained again and the second guy also needed to look into this. There was some discussion about the reports not being made, this assumption was quickly shut down as the notes of my call (that had definitely happened) were also missing from the system.

Having now given my postcode many times and having sat on hold for what seems like an eternity, it is clear why so many residents become annoyed or simply give up trying to engage.

Then all of a sudden, there were four or five reports of this faulty gate! The customer service advisor fell on the sword by saying he had been looking in the wrong place. This is not his fault, for it to have happened throughout this call and the call before (and again via email - read on) it’s clear that this is a training issues.

The Second Failure - Inability to find reports

Clearly this is not only a training issue, but also a continuing inability to track and maintain customer interactions which has been an ongoing issue dating back to my knowledge to 2016. It formed part of not one but two upheld complaints. GreenSquareAccord’s own data team are also unable to find calls and emails. This highlights a systemic failing throughout GreenSquareAccord and not the fault of the agent.

The Following Day

One of the residents removed the bolts enabling us all to manually open the gate and park in the car park, and remove our vehicles. An email was sent to update GreenSquareAccord and also report that the faulty fire alarm was again showing a fault.

Guess what? The agent who responded to my email hadn’t been able to find any notes on the system.

On 12 Aug 2022, at 09:23, Ben Jenkins wrote:

Hi ******,

I know this isn’t your fault, please don’t think I’m blaming you .This was raised as an urgent repair yesterday and had been reported 4 times as confirmed by the guy I spoke to yesterday at 17:00.  It’s an existing issue that has been reported, you need to update the open job that should be on your system.  Can you confirm that this has been actioned?

There was no response. I sent a further email later that day asking for an update. Again, there was no response.

So following the only remaining route taken by so many other GreenSquareAccord residents, I felt it necessary to take the issue online and sent a Tweet.

Now as we all know GreenSquareAccord are desperate to be portrayed as a beacon of light and hope within the housing sector, as such most things posted online cause a flurry of panic and action. Later that day I received a voicemail.

The Third Failure - Telling Lies

The voicemail is a great touch, its a response at least. I should not have had to chase for it, but it’s a response. However in the message Rob claimed that one of their engineers had been onsite and had removed the bolts thus enabling the gates to be manually opened. This is not true. Had Rob been able to read the notes on the system he would have known this. Now my use of the phrase ‘telling lies’ might be unfounded, Rob could just be confused as GreenSquareAccord have a proven track record when it comes to their inability to record notes. However when there is no trust between customer and service provider, unfortunately, the default assumption is that we are being lied to.

Yet More Confusion or Lies

On 15 Aug 2022, at 11:29, Merged Mailbox <INFO@GREENSQUAREACCORD.CO.UK> wrote:

Good morning Mr Jenkins

Thank you for your email about the gate.

I can see that we have raised order OCH348025 and I have  just spoken to A&E Security about the order. They confirmed that they attended on the 12/8/22 at 2 pm and the engineer have left it all working.

Can you advised if there is a problem again please.

Kind Regards

On 15 Aug 2022, at 12:17, Ben Jenkins wrote:

This is definitely not the case.  I’m not even sure they attended; they certainly took no action. Might be worth you checking your CCTV to confirm this. Gates have not been fixed. 

Thanks

Ben 

Of course we all know how reluctant GreenSquareAccord are when it comes to checking CCTV.

On 15 Aug 2022, at 13:53, Merged Mailbox <INFO@GREENSQUAREACCORD.CO.UK> wrote:

Good afternoon

Thank you for your email. I understand Robert **** have left you a voice mail on Friday to say that we are looking at the issue about the gate and at present it is operating manually (manual override) Rest assure we are looking into this with our contactor to see what the best way forward and have this sorted out as soon as possible.  I am sorry for the inconvenience caused.

if you should have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact GreenSquareAccord

Kind Regards

On 15 Aug 2022, at 21:29, Ben Jenkins wrote:

Hello ******,

Thank you for your reply.

Slightly concerned as at first nobody was able to find the reported fault, then a VM from Robert **** told a different story to the second email response, then I was told that engineers had fixed the issue, and now we are back to look at best way forward.  

Please don’t take this as a personal insult but it is almost impossible to trust what GSA say; usually because of the different versions of accounts, of which this is the latest example of.  

I look forward to a timely response,  an outline of action agreed between GSA, your engineers, and us residents.

Thank you for your support in this matter.

Ben 

n 16 Aug 2022, at 15:30, Merged Mailbox <INFO@GREENSQUAREACCORD.CO.UK> wrote:

Good afternoon Mr Jenkins

Thank you for your email. I am really sorry for the delay.

Firstly please let me apologise for mixing the issue of the fire panel and the gate repair yesterday.

Order for the gate repair was raised to Scottys Gate which is our Specialist Contractor on Friday and the order no is 348003. I understand that due to staff sickness and annual leave. They do not have an engineer who knows the issue of this particular type of gate and the earliest that someone will be attending on Monday.

As I understand it the gate can be lifted up manually. I do realise that it is an inconvenience for everyone but unfortunately it is beyond my control as I have tried my best to see if this could be brought forward.

if you should have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact GreenSquareAccord

Kind Regards

So GreenSquareAccord are unable to maintain the property themselves and have outsourced this to Scott’s Gates, who in turn have one person with the knowledge base and skillset to fix the gate, and he is either on holiday or off sick.

On 16 Aug 2022, at 15:44, Ben Jenkins wrote:

Thank you ******

I appreciate both your response and your apology. 

Can we please have an update on Monday once the engineer returns?

Thanks

Ben 

Of course we wouldn’t receive an update, we would again have to chase GreenSquareAccord.

On 23 Aug 2022, at 12:31, Ben Jenkins wrote:

Hello,

Now the one person within your organisation who has the knowledge and skill set required to fix the gate, has returned from being off sick or on annual leave has returned, and (I’m assuming) has been to the property, are you now able to provide a timeframe for when we can expect this gate to be fixed?

Thanks

Ben

On 23 Aug 2022, at 12:49, Merged Mailbox <INFO@GREENSQUAREACCORD.CO.UK> wrote:

Good Afternoon Ben,

Thank you for your email regarding the issue with the gate.

I can confirm that I have spoken with Scottys Gates Ltd who have advised that they are in the process of putting together a quote for works to be completed and at this moment in time they cannot confirm an exact date when the work will be completed.

We will, of course, endeavour to ensure that the work is completed as soon as possibe and will be able to provide a further update in due course.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further queries.

Many Thanks,

And this is where we end for now. No further forward than we were when the issue was raised 11th. This is being written on 25th August, with no further updates and the gate remains out of order.

Has the Journey improved?

No. If anything it’s gotten worse.

Some agents do offer an apology now, which is a step in the right direction. This is a plus. However:

• There are still no confirmed timeframes

• There remains a lack of staff with the ability to fix gates

• They have a system that clearly fails to record customer interactions

• Trust has eroded to such a point that residents are unsure of GreenSquareAccord are inept, dishonest, or simply apathetic.

Remember what GreenSquareAccord wrote on 28th September 2020.