Customer Service Standards

Author: Office of the Chief Executive
Reviewed: June 2020

Click here for a BSL version of this policy
Purpose and scope

The Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD) is committed to providing exceptional levels ofservice to all its customers.
We will always try our best to provide an ethical, sustainable and best value service that iscommitted to excellence in quality.
Our commitment to quality and total customer satisfaction is the responsibility of every
member of staff. We demonstrate this commitment in our quality management system,
ongoing management and trustee review of RAD’s strategic direction and a commitment tocontinual improvement based on customer feedback and service evaluation.
This document tells you about our code of practice and customer service standards (what youcan expect from us).
Definition

We consider everyone we do business with to be our customers, whether internal or external,including (but not limited to):
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Colleagues; staff, managers, directors, trustees and volunteers (TeamRAD)
External organisations
Freelance communication professionals
Funders and partners
Members of the publicService users/ clientsPotential staff (candidates for jobs)

Standards in generalAs part of our commitment to providing the best service possible, we will:

Be welcoming, friendly and respectful
Provide a confidential and professional service
Use appropriately trained and qualified staff (e.g. interpreters registered with NRCPD/RBSLI and trained/ qualified advocates)
Take time to understand the needs of others
Ensure that all communications are accessible in both BSL and English
Ensure efficient administration of our services, providing customers with regular progress
updates

Reviewed by Office of the CEOJune 2020
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Provide and abide by service level agreements to customers, where appropriate
Confirm terms of business (e.g. cancellation/ notice periods) for our services
Ensure customers know what to expect
Provide effective signposting and information
Ensure the information we provide is accurate and up to date by using up to date,recognised, established and current resources
Take time to find and check information is accurate
Be responsive
Be honest with our customers - if we do not know the answer; signpost effectively or takeadditional time to source reliable information
Be transparent with our fees

For internal customers we will:
Respect and support our colleagues; adopting a supportive culture
Take time to understand colleagues’ roles/ responsibilities
Use Skype/ FaceTime or other appropriate mediums in order to communicate withcolleagues promptly and effectively
Ensure our offices are tidy and organised and ensure information displayed is up to date
Be aware of and understand RAD’s policies and procedures
Understand the principle of the internal customer
Provide prompt responses/ updates to colleagues
Adopt a no blame culture and take ownership of tasks, behaviours and responsibilities

Methods of communicating and responding to customers
We will ensure that all of our communications are accessible. We will use plain English andprovide BSL translations, where required.
Letters
When we receive a letter, we will:

Reply within three working days, even if just to acknowledge receipt of the letter and tosay that a fuller response will follow
Respond more fully within five working days. If considerable evidence or information
gathering is required in order to provide a detailed response, a maximum of ten working
days might be acceptable in exceptional circumstances

When we write a letter, we will:

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Use RAD’s standard corporate stationery and templates1
Ensure that all letters are logged in the outgoing post log to ensure effective tracking
File a copy of the letter on the relevant file/ e-file for future reference

For any reference to RAD’s standard corporate stationery and templates please read RAD’s Brand Guidelines

Reviewed by Office of the CEOJune 2020

Emails
When we receive an email, we will:

Reply within three working days. If it is not possible to reply with a full response, a brief
holding email will be sent acknowledging receipt and confirming that a fuller response will
follow
Respond more fully within five working days. If considerable evidence or information
gathering is required in order to provide a detailed and accurate response, a maximum often working days might be acceptable in exceptional circumstances
File the email in an appropriate folder for ease of future reference
Ensure up to date and informative out of office responses are set up during absences

When we send an email, we will:

Use RAD’s standard corporate template
Be precise and concise and consider necessary cc’s carefully

Faxes
When we receive a fax, we will:

Reply within three working days even if just to acknowledge receipt of the fax and to saythat a fuller response will follow
Respond more fully within five working days. If considerable evidence or information
gathering is required in order to provide a detailed response, a maximum of ten working
days might be acceptable in exceptional circumstances

When we send a fax, we will:

Use RAD’s standard corporate stationery and templatesFile in an appropriate file for ease of future reference

Voice phone, text phone etc.
When we receive a call, we will:
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Answer with a RAD greeting, giving the individual’s nameAnswer within four rings (in person or by answer phone)
Be professional, polite and courteous
Ensure an effective voicemail system is active through absences and non-office opening
hours (landline)
Ensure that various contact methods are available at the head office reception e.g. Skype/
SMS (alongside phone, text phone and fax)

Reviewed by Office of the CEOJune 2020

When we receive telephone messages, we will:Return calls as soon as possible the same day or the next day if we are otherwise
engaged in meetings etc.

SMS (text message)
When we receive an SMS (text message), we will:

Reply as soon as possible the same day or the next working day (latest)
Forward the SMS message to the relevant person upon receipt (the same day) if it is forthe attention of a colleague (the sender will be informed of this action)

If we are not at work, we will:

Ensure our emails are redirected and that our out of office messages give clear
instructions about who to contact in our absence
Leave a clear voicemail greeting that ensures callers know who to contact in ourabsence
Contact key people, including those who use our services to let them know who tocontact in our absence
Handover our phone to a colleague for monitoring, where appropriate

Meetings
When we have meetings arranged, we will:
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Endeavour to keep to appointments – if we do need to cancel or re-arrange a meeting
we will try to give as much notice as possible
Ensure interpreters are booked appropriately and promptly
Arrive for meetings on time
Prepare for meetings in advance
Respect meeting timings
Allow everyone present to contribute
Ensure effective communication

How we will measure our performance against these standards

We will:

Ask for feedback from our customers
Give feedback to each other where appropriate or via line manager if appropriate
Monitor and discuss feedback and our performance through supervision

Reviewed by Office of the CEO
June 2020