CUSTOMER CARE
We have created a dedicated team to manage your after care who are there to ensure that any problems you encounter during the first 2 years (the ‘Builder’s Rectification Period’ for which Dere Street are responsible) will be taken care of in a friendly and timely manner. The After Build team comprise ‘warranty-trained’ property coordinators who are on hand to make certain that every defect reported is processed quickly and where work may be required, a suitable contractor is deployed to make good the issue.
This forms part of the 10-year structural build warranty, details of which should have been provided to you by your solicitor upon legal completion.
To make life as easy and convenient as possible, you can report problems at any time of day or night – 7 days a week, using our Occupant Portal. This can be accessed by use of the FREE App ‘Managing Your New Home’. You have direct access to the Portal and a wealth of other useful information. Alternatively, if you are a laptop or desktop pc user, no need to load the App – just go straight to the portal at: www.defects.uk.com/derestreet
You will find that often, when you report a new problem, you will receive a call from one of our property coordinators just to check that we have fully understood the issue and to ensure we have all the information we require followed by any visit agreed to be necessary.
EMERGENCIES
In the unlikely event you experience an emergency you must follow our emergency procedure. It is important that you ONLY use this for genuine emergencies as described below.
In the event of an emergency YOU ARE COVERED for two years by the Dere Street Homes customer care service during the hours of 8:30 – 17:00 and out of hours during the hours of 17:00 – 8:29, including 24hr cover on weekends & bank holidays.
Please follow these instructions…
Reporting an emergency
8:30 – 17:00 01444 711 424
Reporting an out of hours emergency
17:00 – 8:29 0331 6300 531
Weekends and bank holidays are covered 24 hours
An emergency is defined as: – “A sudden and unforeseen incident immediately creating a risk to the health of the occupant(s) and/or damage to the property rendering it uninhabitable, insecure or dangerous.” There may be occasions when you consider a situation to be an emergency but to ensure we can provide a prompt and reliable service to those genuinely in need of our assistance we must apply the following guidelines. Please DO NOT call to report an emergency unless your problem fits at least one of the following criteria:
Drainage and Plumbing
Problems will be deemed to be an emergency when: –
The toilet is the only toilet in the property and cannot be flushed manually using a bucket of water;
The toilet is leaking even when not in use and the leak is gushing and non-containable;
The bath, shower, basin or pipe-work is leaking even when not in use and the leak is gushing and non-containable;
External drain(s) is blocked and backing-up (if it is deemed that the cause of the blockage was due to inappropriate use by the occupant, the occupant may be liable to be charged for the call-out costs).
Heating and Boilers
Problems will be deemed to be an emergency when: –
The boiler fails to operate between 1st October and 31st March;
If the boiler is older than 12 months and has not been serviced, the call will not be deemed an emergency (the occupant is responsible for maintaining boiler service intervals);
If the occupant still has hot water and heating this will not be deemed an emergency;
If there is the possibility of a gas leak the occupant must leave the property and call their gas supplier and/ or TRANSCO immediately;
If there is the possibility of an airlock in the radiators the occupant will be advised that should an engineer be deployed, they will be covered in the event that the airlock is due to a faulty radiator valve, otherwise if the radiators merely needed bleeding, the occupant may be charged for the call out costs.
Electrical
Problems will be deemed to be an emergency when: –
There is no electrical supply and the consumer unit RCD switch fails to restore the supply;
If there is no supply to the immediate neighbourhood this will not be deemed an emergency as it would appear to be a utility company problem.
Security
Problems will be deemed to be an emergency when: –
An exterior door is damaged compromising the security of your home;
A double-glazed unit is damaged compromising the security of your home;
The interconnecting door between an integral garage and your home and the garage door itself are damaged compromising the security of your home;
A damaged door or double-glazed unit in a detached garage or outbuilding is not deemed to be an emergency;
Damage to an interior door that does not compromise the security of your home is not deemed to be an emergency.