Member Article

Cestria scores top marks for customer service

A North East housing association has once again proved that customer service is top of its agenda after being re-awarded a nationally recognised standard.

Chester-le-Street-based Cestria Community Housing has achieved the Customer Service Excellence award for the second time, making it one of a just a handful of associations in the region to do so.

Following a thorough inspection of all Cestria’s services, including interviews with staff and tenants, the association was awarded its highest score yet.

Cestria’s Customer Relationship Manager Lisa Coverdale said: “We are incredibly proud to have achieved the Customer Service Excellence standard once again, especially with such a high score.

“One of the nicest aspects of this award is that it takes into account the organisation as a whole, not just our customer services department, which proves that great customer service is something which is embedded throughout Cestria across all our service areas.”

Customer Service Excellence is a Government standard which aims to recognise organisations that deliver outstanding customer service.

The standard focuses on five different areas - customer service, the culture of the organisation, information and access, delivery and timeliness and quality of service.

Organisations are judged on 57 individual elements, with Cestria awarded the highly prized ‘compliance plus’ score for 22 of these, eight more than during the company’s first inspection in 2013.

As part of the assessment process Cestria, which is part of the Isos Group, was required to provide evidence of how it meets the requirements in each of the five areas, after which an on-site visit was carried out by official CSE assessor, Michael Lynch.

In his report following the visit Mr Lynch praised Cestria for its innovation, including making its annual report more accessible by producing a video alongside its traditional report, which are both available on its website.

He also praised Cestria’s Online Owls project, which runs free sessions helping local people to get to grips with computers and the internet.

He said: “This was another excellent visit for Cestria Community Housing Association – senior management should be proud of their commitment to providing customer service excellence at all times.

“On meeting various managers and people I was again impressed by the total dedication, commitment and eagerness to provide first class services to the residents.

“Cestria Managing Director Martin Warhurst said: “This award is a reflection of the hard work staff from right across the organisation have put in over the last few years to providing excellent customer service. I’d like to thank everyone involved for their commitment and dedication, they should all be very proud of their achievements.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kelly Elliott .