0800 number first port of call for Housing New Zealand customers
27 February 2012
Housing New Zealand is reshaping its services to make a significantly expanded call centre the first port of call for most customers, says General Manager Tenancy Services Kay Read.
From April, Housing New Zealand offices will be open for scheduled appointments for needs assessments and urgent housing issues only. However our Customer Services Centre will always be open – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“By June we will have an extra 48 people based in Porirua and Manukau answering calls, and most of those calls will be resolved on the spot.
“This includes arranging repairs, doing pre-assessments, checking accounts, providing advice on whether callers are likely to be eligible for a state home, providing waitlist updates and general enquiries.
“If there is an issue that can only be dealt with through a face to face meeting, the Customer Services Centre will arrange for that to happen. In addition to significantly increasing the number of people answering calls, we are also introducing new mobile technology for tenancy managers to allow them to be out and about in the community more. This will enable them to meet the customer at home or another location, rather than the customer having to take the time and effort to come into an office.
“These changes are about delivering a more consistent level of service, but also allow us to save money, to provide a greater return to the taxpayer on the $15 billion New Zealand has invested in state housing.”
“We wrote to all 69,000 tenants earlier this year to tell them about these changes, and there will be another direct mailout to all of them next month. We’ll continue to provide our customers and stakeholders with more information in coming weeks.” says General Manager Tenancy Services Kay Read.
“With the Customer Services Centre able to resolve almost all of the queries that tenancy managers used to have to field on the phone or in the office, tenancy managers' time will be freed up so that they can be out in the community doing their job. They can focus on their role of matching potential tenants to properties, placing tenants, carrying out property inspections and managing tenancy related issues.”
For more information contact the Housing New Zealand media team on 04 439 3590 or media@hnzc.co.nz.
