What Are You Doing to Reduce Common Service Requests?

At some point in the last twenty or so years, tub spouts changed. In ordinary circumstances, you wouldn’t pay too much attention to this unless it affected your own ability to turn on a shower. But even then, I think most Americans figure it out pretty quickly. Instead of having a lever to pull upwards to turn on the shower, one must pull down on the spout itself. I remember when we installed on in our shower of the main bath, my husband demonstrated how to do it; our children actually grew up knowing how to operate it.

It may seem extraordinary then, when our Residents cannot seem to figure it out. However, the one thing I noticed right away was that almost 99% of the returned move-in inspection forms from our international residents contained this: “shower doesn’t work.” When the Maintenance Tech would go to attend to the work order, he would turn it in as completed marked “Nothing wrong.”

This type of service request became such a frequent one (recurring from our international students) that a pictorial demonstration booklet was given to every person at move demonstrating how the shower operates. (We found many people were extremely embarrassed and felt “dumb” after finding out there was nothing wrong and it was attributed to “Operator error.”) In addition, our Maintenance Techs now pay a visit to each person who moves in and demonstrates the operation of the thermostat, alarm system and shower.  Sometimes it is the simple things that make life easier – like knowing how to turn on one’s shower. 

More than that, by reducing the risk of making someone feel badly for not figuring out the “American way” of doing things, I think it helps us create a better overall experience for our Residents.

Danger! Danger! Will Robinson!

On Thursday, residents came home to a fine white dust covering the front stoop of the entryway to their building. It covered the railings on the steps, even the doorknobs and locks on the doors. Footprints tracked all over the landing carpeting and when I saw this I knew it was from the concrete stoop and sidewalk. I figured it the management company must be planning to replace the concrete stoop but there was no flyer on the door to alert residents of what was happening.

The next day they had installed a ramp across the area where the concrete had been removed. There was no handrail or anything and the step up was at least six inches which seemed a bit steep to me. 

It was possible to go down the one flight of steps to the mailbox; however, that was blocked by a large orange cone. Therefore, I doubt many residents bothered to get their mail. The next day the new concrete had been poured, but the ramp remained and the two large cones as well. 

It is unbelievable to me that the management of this apartment community authorized this type of work in an area where one resident walks with a cane, another is recently diagnosed with MS, and yet a third one is elderly and provide no notice. It remains to be seen if the ramp will be removed when the new week commences. However, it would behoove this Management Company to be more proactive should they need to complete this type of project in the future, and if not, then I hope they have good insurance.

Here's To The Maintenance Techs!

Our Maintenance Tech, who has been in this position since 2005, came into the Office yesterday morning pretty upset. When I asked what had gotten him to riled up, he asked me if I get alerts to one of the apartment ratings sites.

"No, why do you ask?"

"I got on last night! I can't believe what someone wrote on there. I'm gonna write back and tell them what I think of them!"

I looked at him and told him I did read it last night, too (wondering how we were on the same page at the same time!!!) and I wasn't concerned about it. I asked him who he thought it was and then I asked him if we could have handled their issue better. Apparently, this particular person has had a couple of issues with the air conditioner and was not happy about it. They complained that they pay a higher rent and - this is what upset him the most - they wondered how the Maintenance Guy could afford to live here, too. It was a pretty rude kind of observation to make let alone to post it was not very nice, and it apparently hurt his feelings. It actually hurt my feelings, too, because of its condescending tone.

I told my Maintenance Tech that I was planning on writing a reply that morning, which I did. I posted a reply explaining how we handle work orders, etc. and I supplied my email address and telephone number for follow up contact purposes and thanked them for the opportunity to understand their concerns and address them. He read my reply and agreed that it was probably a better public response than what he would have posted. :-) Of course for the next twenty minutes we discussed which Resident we thought had written the original post and could not agree on any one person. And I told him I guess it doesn't matter who wrote it, but it does matter how we respond to all the work order requests. We must be proactive; we must be efficient and prompt. We must continue to provide excellent customer service every day to all our Residents.

So, I was thinking that it is time to TOAST the Maintenance Team here! I think for the entire month of August, I will have a Treat-of-the-Week for them,  some special little surprises sprinkled throughout the month, too, and publicize it to all our community Residents, vendors and the whole city itself. It is time to celebrate our unsung heroes in a big way. They do work hard and they all deserve more appreciation.