AVOID DISPUTES

Swerve heating and plumbing disputes by optimising remote video guidance –says Ciarán Harkin,

Managing Director at Dispute Assist.

Disputes between businesses and customers are rife across the heating and plumbing sectors, but there is a modern way that professionals can steer their customer service offering in the right direction to minimise instances of disputes, or even avoid them completely.

By optimising remote video guidance in their operations, heating and plumbing businesses can ensure a job moves along efficiently throughout the lifecycle of a project. This technology can also help a business to gather evidence in case disputes with customers emerge further down the line.

Remote video guidance

Through remote video guidance, a customer or a professional can capture the footage depending on what is required. It can play a key part in the lifecycle of a project, starting right at the initial fieldwork stage. When compiling quotes or planning out a project, remote video guidance can be used to capture scans of a property or site to provide clear visuals. The professional can get a clear idea of what is required, and the customer can check that it meets their requirements too before works begin. Obtaining these scans or footage is as easy as using the camera function on a smartphone, and what is obtained can also be used to document what the site initially looked like for future reference.

After the project begins, heating and plumbing professionals can use remote video guidance to keep thorough records of the job as it rolls on. Utilising this software for quality control may mean adjustments can be made before they turn into major issues, making a business more efficient in terms of time and money.

If a customer requires an issue to be troubleshot, remote video can play a crucial role too. It can be used to assist with issues maintenance and emergency solutions, and it can assist if in-person inspections are needed too. Utilising video guidance technology can help to scope out the heating or plumbing issue beforehand, saving on the amount of time an engineer spends at a site or property. And if the engineer requires support from another professional, they can use this technology to train them in new products or techniques. Providing remote video guidance to customers may contribute to enhanced customer service overall, as prospective clients may see this offering as a business’ commitment to providing quality workmanship. Professionals can nip issues in the bud before they escalate by quickly viewing issues remotely, rather than leaving customers in the lurch waiting for the issue to be resolved.

Dispute resolution

Businesses can use remote video guidance to document each stage of the job, so they have evidence of what a site looked like before, during and after the work was completed. So as an objective record, content gathered by remote video guidance can prove helpful if dispute resolution services have to step in.

Instead of venturing down the lengthy, expensive and often stressful court route, many home improvement businesses are turning to the full spectrum of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods to help settle disputes with customers. Whether it be disappointment over workmanship or an issue with the finished project, ADR methods can help both parties reach a fair resolution.

Mediation and conciliation, at the softer end of ADR, aims for the parties in dispute to reach a resolution on their own through a facilitated conversation, with or without questions asked by an expert conciliator. Other ADR methods include arbitration and expert determination, both of which are legally-binding and see a case reviewed by an expert.

If a business has documented each stage of a project through remote video guidance, this could be used as evidence in the dispute resolution process. It can also help to protect a business when faced

■ Dispute Assist is the dispute resolution arm of QASSS, a resolution services provider to the home improvement and renewable energy markets. QASSS supports financial services, national retailers, trade associations, installation companies and manufacturers via a range of resolution services. Dispute Assist’s services include mediation and conciliation, independent inspections, remedial works, arbitration and expert determination.

The scope of disputes

Data from Dispute Assist, a resolution services provider to the home improvement sector, found that heating and ventilation was the worst-performing sector when it came to cases involving contractual issues, with 36% of cases received in relation to the issue. Just over half of the contractual issues were related to servicing and maintenance. Notably, heating and ventilation was the third worst-performing sector when it came to product issues at 16%, and it was the implications for heating and ventilation businesses’ time and money, with repairs being required in 77% of cases.

What is clear from this data is that disputes can be a frequent occurrence across the heating market, and this is only a snippet of the scope of disputes across the home improvement market. Heating and plumbing professionals looking to reduce disputes, or stop them from occurring altogether, may find remote video guidance is just the solution they were looking for to get on with their jobs.