Material property, Font

Customer satisfaction  

Along with surveys run as part of our Tpas accreditation and through the Institute of Customer Service (ICS), we carry out our own regular customer satisfaction surveys. Your thoughts, suggestions and opinions about how we provide our services to you are vital. They really do make a difference when we consider how we can improve.  

  • 85% said our rent represents value for money 
  • 88% are satisfied with their local neighbourhood as a place to live 
  • 74% are satisfied with the overall service Aster provides.  

We appreciate the messages we receive complimenting us on the services received in your homes. 530 customer compliments were received during the past year by our repairs team alone. We’ve shared a selection of your compliments below:  

Plant, Window, Property, Sky, Building, Cloud, Brickwork, Brick, House, Neighbourhood
Rectangle, Violet

Customer

satisfaction

& complaints

Customer, via Trustpilot website
I had to call out Aster due to my smoke alarms going off non-stop, and had someone attend within two hours. During this time I had realised that my boiler was also not working, and it was all fixed in a few hours. The staff members I spoke to in the call centre were absolutely fantastic. It was honestly the best customer service I have received in a long time.
Customer, Somerset
I am more than satisfied with how your telephone responders carry out their work, which can only be said as being exemplary. I find it very reassuring whenever I talk with your staff. The bar is set very high in responding and supporting customer needs.
Customer, Poole
I wish to compliment your contact centre team for their hard work, understanding and listening. Thank you for great customer service.
Customer, Wiltshire
We had an amazing response time for a leak in the kitchen and the Aster team were awesome, friendly and very professional. We are so pleased.
Customer, Wells, Somerset
Aster has been a great help to my Mum and me. The team gets things done, and are very knowledgeable about all manner of topics.
Customer, Hampshire
I am delighted with the work done at my property. It was a brilliant tidy job and the team had a very professional work ethic. Also they kindly agreed to fixed the issues on my door so that it closes properly and I won't hurt my wrist.

Having a simple way for you to let us know when a service hasn’t met your expectations is an important part of our work to make sure we can continuously improve and meet our customer promises. 

Complaints 

We work closely with the Housing Ombudsman to make sure we meet all complaints standards across the sector. The complaints service has been designed to make it as easy as possible for you to raise an issue if something has gone wrong, so that you can be confident that we’ll be accountable, learn from our mistakes and improve our services.  

 We received (figures do not include complaints received by C&C, Enham Trust or EBHT): 

  • 770 formal complaints 
  • 912 fast-track complaints* 
  • 17 complaints investigated by the Housing Ombudsman, however there were no cases of severe maladministration published by the ombudsman during the 2022/23 financial year – this is where the ombudsman makes a formal decision that a landlord has failed to do something. 

 We sent out 86% of responses in time. 

  * A fast-track complaint can be dealt with quickly and efficiently as part of ‘day  to day’ business and is dealt with outside the formal complaints process. This  approach is taken if it will offer you the best experience. 

By team: 

Maintenance 

  • 1,068 complaints overall (463 formal, 605 fast-track) 

Complaints received were on topics involving our responsive repairs service, including complaints around condensation and mould issues  

  Housing 

  • 489 complaints overall (239 formal, 251 fast-track)   

Complaints received were on topics including tenancy management and anti-social behaviour (ASB) issues  

  Development 

  • 111 complaints overall (63 formal, 48 fast-track) 

Complaints received were on topics including resolving defects in new homes.  

We received an additional five formal complaints and eight fast-track complaints, consisting of complaints made to our group services team, or about our private finance initiative (PFI) homes. 

The cost-of-living crisis has created challenges for our team working to continue to deliver our services.  As we’ve seen across other housing associations, the number of complaints has increased compared to last year. As a result, we’ve made changes to improve the process and to continue to provide a good service in responding to complaints. These include growing our team so that we have more people ready to support you, hear your concerns and find a solution. 

During the year, the Housing Ombudsman updated their scheme and the Complaint Handling Code . We carried out a self-assessment to check we’re following the code correctly, and the Designated Complaints Panel has been fully involved in the process as well as amends to our Complaints policy.