Hunt is on for ‘mystery shoppers’ to test housing services

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Renfrewshire council is looking for tenants to act as 'mystery shoppers' to help ensure that customer service is maintained or improved, where necessary.

The idea is that tenants will contact housing offices or telephone helplines and the council will later assess how their queries or problems were dealt with.

Councillor Brian Lawson, Renfrewshire Council’s housing spokesperson, said: "This is a fairly standard practice in a wide range of organisations dealing directly with the public. Our tenants are our customers and they are best placed to help us provide the best level of service we can.

"We’ve put a lot of effort and investment over the years into improving our customer service. It makes sense to use the experience of our tenants to help review our service in areas such as reporting repairs or housing allocation enquiries. I'd urge tenants to get involved. The process doesn't take much time and it can only benefit the service they receive."

Tenants who are interested in acting as mystery shoppers will be given training by the tenant participation advisory service. Out of pocket expenses will be covered. Any tenant who wants to find out more should contact Paul McLean in Renfrewshire council’s housing services on 0141 840 3423 or Jamie Ballantine or Theresa Elliot at the tenant participation advisory service on 0800 269 645.

Press release: Monday 1 October 2007