Kent news&views Summer 2016 | Page 4

Repairs – let us know if you need to cancel! Moving on? o! g u o y e r fo e b p u r a le C Each month, we have to cancel around 250 repairs as there’s no one at home when we call. If an average job takes 30 mins (not including travel time) these missed appointments cost time, effort, CO2 emissions and money. We miss out on the chance to carry out repairs and other customers wait longer. We need you to be at home for your appointment, or arrange for a family member or friend to let us into your home. If you’re not able to keep the appointment, call us on 0800 121 60 60 to arrange another date or time. 4 Every year we spend money clearing furniture and other items left by residents moving out. It’s the residents’ responsibility to clear their home when they go. But we often have to dispose of old furniture, empty lofts and clear gardens. None of this is cheap and we have to pay disposal fees. It’s always been hard to pass this cost on to the outgoing tenant but that’s changing. Our new mobile ‘app’ allows staff to take photos and capture images of everything left behind. This creates a record and assigns costs to the former resident. They’ll receive a bill for all the work we’ve had to do clearing up their rubbish. And the photos provide evidence should we end up in court. Repair Photos – Why do you do that? If you’ve been wondering why our contractors are taking photos of a job before they start work and when they’ve finished, it’s because we’ve asked them to. For us, it’s useful as the photos show when the work started and, more importantly, that it’s completed to our satisfaction. For the more basic jobs, it saves time and money sending a Technical Inspector out to carry out a post-inspection. So now you know! News&Views | www.amicushorizon.org.uk