Have you ever had something you wanted to voice about Karbon?
Marge and Isobel are two customers who regularly take part in our customer engagement forums and panels. We spoke to them about their work on our Procurement Panel and how it helps them ensure that Karbon are delivering value for money for customers.
Why did you decide to get involved with the Procurement Panel?
Marge: I like to be interested in things and Karbon have always been good to me if I needed anything doing. I thought I would get involved in some of their committees. One of them was the Procurement Panel, which I found interesting.
Isobel: I’m retired and didn’t know what to do with my time. I need to be kept interested. I would ask myself different things about Karbon. I would hear other people voice them too, sometimes quite negatively, but in my view there’s always two sides. This was a way of getting to know those who have a say in the decisions, getting their views on why those decisions are made and whether I agree with them or not. If I don’t think Karbon have thought about how it’s going to affect tenants, then I’ll tell them at the meetings.
Which projects have you been involved in?
Isobel: There’s two parts to it. Sometimes the panel get asked if they have any questions they want to ask contractors before tenders go out. The other part is where there are four or five contractors that Karbon is happy with and we can comment on and score them before the contract is offered.
I’ve been involved in the scheme cleaning contracts, materials contract for repairs, insurance contracts and tree maintenance.
For the repairs, we asked them to consider having a supplier who was nearby. Repairs aren’t always needed nine to five, Monday – Friday and people don’t want to hear that the supplier isn’t open until Monday. While Karbon may have been considering that already, it’s good to be able to voice it and know that you’ve been listened to and your opinions are being considered.
Marge: I been involved in quite a few interviews with different contractors. One that stands out was the interview for different cleaning companies for the communal areas of buildings. I was able to ask them: if they think they are going to have enough cleaning products to cover all the areas. It was interesting because some of them stumbled on that question and had to think about it.
Isobel: Another one we looked at was for the ICT tenders for the new MyKarbon online portal. We got a chance to try the new system before it went live. We fed back on how they used a lot of American expressions, things like the home icon being called ‘overview’, we felt that this wouldn’t make sense to a lot of customers, especially those who are over 60 and are struggling to find where the homepage is. I appreciate there are a lot of young people coming through as tenants, but you’ve got to consider a mixture of people’s opinions.
Marge: You’re able to give your input and then Karbon take it away and use it as part of their decision on who they are going to take on. They then gave us feedback on who they appointed.
We also sometimes do score sheets for the contractors and suppliers we interview. I think that’s quite good because you’re part of the overall point system which decides who gets the job.
Did you feel your voice was heard and in what ways?
Isobel: It’s not the main decision, but it’s getting the opportunity to voice things. It could be things like ‘If a tenant has a problem, how do they get in touch with the company who gets the contract?’ If they haven’t thought of that then it can be included within the tender questions.
Marge: They’re interested in what we have to say as we’ve all been in different walks of life doing different jobs, we have different skills that we can input into.
Why is it important that customers have their say on things like the tender process?
Isobel: It’s good. You’re talking to people dealing with big contracts worth huge amounts of money, but they might not be thinking about the simple consequences to those who are going to use the service. The panel is a chance to talk about these things. We’ve all got views about how these services affect our scheme or life and it gives you the chance to voice those things.
Marge: I think it’s important that customers are involved. I really enjoy going to the meetings and getting involved. I don’t always say very much sometimes, I’m one of these people who sit back a bit and take it all in. But I do speak up when there’s an opportunity to do so and I know the Karbon Homes’ staff do listen to what we’re saying and take note of it.
Why would you encourage other customers to get involved with our engaged customer opportunities?
Isobel: By being part of things like the Procurement Panel you get answers for the things you might complain or be concerned about.
You can pass this information onto other customers as well. So, if someone is being negative about something, you can give them an idea as to why those things are happening. They could be complaining that they’re not getting round to sorting a repair, but you could tell them that there’s a global shortage on certain materials that’s holding up work. They may never have thought about that side of things.
It's knowledge. Knowledge and listening to both sides. It gets you to think for yourself and see the bigger picture.
I think some people are frightened that they won’t understand a lot of what’s being said, but if you don’t understand something you can just ask. It just takes one person to ask what might seem to be a silly question, but it could be something that everybody in the room wants to know, and Karbon needs to know.
Marge: I’ve tried to encourage some of my neighbours to get involved but I’m not sure why they don’t. I keep pushing though. I was asked by Sandy from Karbon and I thought ‘Why not?’ I’m glad I did.
Our Procurement Panel gives you the chance to review our suppliers, services and materials, making sure they are of a high quality and purchased fairly.
To find out more about our Procurement Panel and all the ways you can get involved with Karbon, visit the Be Involved section of our website.
Have you ever had something you wanted to voice about Karbon?
Marge and Isobel are two customers who regularly take part in our customer engagement forums and panels. We spoke to them about their work on our Procurement Panel and how it helps them ensure that Karbon are delivering value for money for customers.
Why did you decide to get involved with the Procurement Panel?
Marge: I like to be interested in things and Karbon have always been good to me if I needed anything doing. I thought I would get involved in some of their committees. One of them was the Procurement Panel, which I found interesting.
Isobel: I’m retired and didn’t know what to do with my time. I need to be kept interested. I would ask myself different things about Karbon. I would hear other people voice them too, sometimes quite negatively, but in my view there’s always two sides. This was a way of getting to know those who have a say in the decisions, getting their views on why those decisions are made and whether I agree with them or not. If I don’t think Karbon have thought about how it’s going to affect tenants, then I’ll tell them at the meetings.
Which projects have you been involved in?
Isobel: There’s two parts to it. Sometimes the panel get asked if they have any questions they want to ask contractors before tenders go out. The other part is where there are four or five contractors that Karbon is happy with and we can comment on and score them before the contract is offered.
I’ve been involved in the scheme cleaning contracts, materials contract for repairs, insurance contracts and tree maintenance.
For the repairs, we asked them to consider having a supplier who was nearby. Repairs aren’t always needed nine to five, Monday – Friday and people don’t want to hear that the supplier isn’t open until Monday. While Karbon may have been considering that already, it’s good to be able to voice it and know that you’ve been listened to and your opinions are being considered.
Marge: I been involved in quite a few interviews with different contractors. One that stands out was the interview for different cleaning companies for the communal areas of buildings. I was able to ask them: if they think they are going to have enough cleaning products to cover all the areas. It was interesting because some of them stumbled on that question and had to think about it.
Isobel: Another one we looked at was for the ICT tenders for the new MyKarbon online portal. We got a chance to try the new system before it went live. We fed back on how they used a lot of American expressions, things like the home icon being called ‘overview’, we felt that this wouldn’t make sense to a lot of customers, especially those who are over 60 and are struggling to find where the homepage is. I appreciate there are a lot of young people coming through as tenants, but you’ve got to consider a mixture of people’s opinions.
Marge: You’re able to give your input and then Karbon take it away and use it as part of their decision on who they are going to take on. They then gave us feedback on who they appointed.
We also sometimes do score sheets for the contractors and suppliers we interview. I think that’s quite good because you’re part of the overall point system which decides who gets the job.
Did you feel your voice was heard and in what ways?
Isobel: It’s not the main decision, but it’s getting the opportunity to voice things. It could be things like ‘If a tenant has a problem, how do they get in touch with the company who gets the contract?’ If they haven’t thought of that then it can be included within the tender questions.
Marge: They’re interested in what we have to say as we’ve all been in different walks of life doing different jobs, we have different skills that we can input into.
Why is it important that customers have their say on things like the tender process?
Isobel: It’s good. You’re talking to people dealing with big contracts worth huge amounts of money, but they might not be thinking about the simple consequences to those who are going to use the service. The panel is a chance to talk about these things. We’ve all got views about how these services affect our scheme or life and it gives you the chance to voice those things.
Marge: I think it’s important that customers are involved. I really enjoy going to the meetings and getting involved. I don’t always say very much sometimes, I’m one of these people who sit back a bit and take it all in. But I do speak up when there’s an opportunity to do so and I know the Karbon Homes’ staff do listen to what we’re saying and take note of it.
Why would you encourage other customers to get involved with our engaged customer opportunities?
Isobel: By being part of things like the Procurement Panel you get answers for the things you might complain or be concerned about.
You can pass this information onto other customers as well. So, if someone is being negative about something, you can give them an idea as to why those things are happening. They could be complaining that they’re not getting round to sorting a repair, but you could tell them that there’s a global shortage on certain materials that’s holding up work. They may never have thought about that side of things.
It's knowledge. Knowledge and listening to both sides. It gets you to think for yourself and see the bigger picture.
I think some people are frightened that they won’t understand a lot of what’s being said, but if you don’t understand something you can just ask. It just takes one person to ask what might seem to be a silly question, but it could be something that everybody in the room wants to know, and Karbon needs to know.
Marge: I’ve tried to encourage some of my neighbours to get involved but I’m not sure why they don’t. I keep pushing though. I was asked by Sandy from Karbon and I thought ‘Why not?’ I’m glad I did.
Our Procurement Panel gives you the chance to review our suppliers, services and materials, making sure they are of a high quality and purchased fairly.
To find out more about our Procurement Panel and all the ways you can get involved with Karbon, visit the Be Involved section of our website.
More news
Leaseholder life - what is LAFRA 2024?
Our Leasehold Team Manager, Duncan Bird tells us about the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act (LAFRA 2024).
You’ve got a friend in NE
Our in-person social befriending programme Silver Friends has already had lots of success bringing people together in County Durham. This year, thanks to a funding boost, it’s now making its way to West Northumberland.