Missed Repair Appointments – Survey Results

There are around 300 missed appointments every month due to tenants failing to be at home at the time of their appointment. This costs Adactus money, wastes time and means that other tenants miss out on getting their repairs done. Every missed appointment costs us company around £40; that is £12,000 per month wasted which we could have used to fit:

- 6 more kitchens
- 16 external doors
- 4 heating systems.

This means tenants are missing out because of others who fail to keep their appointments. There are a number of ways we could try to tackle this problem. One way we could do this would be to introduce charges for missed appointments. This would not be intended to raise income for Adactus but to try to work as an incentive for tenants, helping us to deliver a more efficient and effective service.

We asked Adactus500 members for their views on this idea, along with other options for tackling this problem and we will be reporting to Board on the results later this year.

What we learned from the results:

Less than a fifth of those who completed the survey had missed a repairs appointment themselves and three quarters felt the current appointment system was good.

Almost seven in ten found the texting service helpful (where tenants are sent a text message on their mobile phone to confirm their appointment/when the operative is on their way). Most preferred to inform us by telephone if they were unable to keep their appointment although a fifth said they preferred to do this by text message.

Around three quarters thought that raising awareness amongst tenants about the cost of missed repairs appointments would help reduce the number of appointments missed each month. Just over half felt it was reasonable to charge tenants for missing repairs appointments. Some said this was becoming more and more common practice in organisations such as dentists and doctors.

Most thought between ten and twenty pounds was an acceptable amount to charge. They also felt we should only charge tenants who miss a number of appointments (rather than charge for every appointment missed) and that some groups of tenants (including the elderly and those with a disability or long-standing illness) should not be charged.

Half felt we should offer tenants compensation if we failed to keep their appointment for some reason, again with a preference for between ten and twenty pounds. Most thought we should give tenants at least 24 hours notice of this.

An alternative option would be to make tenants wait longer for their repair to be completed. Members were split on whether this was fair or not. When presented with the two options, tenants were slightly more positive towards the idea of charging tenants for missed repair appointments (as opposed to making them wait longer for their repairs).

For a full copy of the results, plus an infographic style summary, please click on the pdf below.