Calderbrook Housing Group / BB-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Calderbrook Housing Group: documents · 2026-02-09 15:15
Helen Marsden reported five high-priority tickets in a month, with arrears, repairs and complaints figures wrong. Use has shrunk to about three people, her director questions the renewal, and she needs a direction within about a month.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Helen Marsden reported five high-priority tickets in a month, with arrears, repairs and complaints figures wrong. Use has shrunk to about three people, her director questions the renewal, and she needs a direction within about a month.
What happened: Helen opened by saying the arrears figure is still wrong and the complaints count in section seven now fails to reconcile too. Elena Novak restated the agenda, then committed to named owners and a written note the same day.
Customer view: use is concentrated in Helen and a couple of analysts, which Elena logged as a risk. Helen believes housing officers and the repairs team would return quickly if the data were right.
Commercial: the renewal is in September and her director has asked whether it should happen at all. Helen needs a direction in about a month, and Elena will brief the account owner, whom the evidence does not name.
Watch: Elena said Growth credits cover availability, not freshness, pending a read of the executed order form. Helen wants the root cause stated plainly as on BB-Demo's side or hers.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Renewal doubt, unreliable figures
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
negative
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Elena Novak to send the written note the same day, with tickets, dates and a named owner against each action.
- Elena Novak to ask engineering for a plain written root cause and the period the refresh was incomplete.
- Elena Novak to read the order form, answer plainly on credits, and tell the account owner Helen needs a renewal direction within about a month.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Helen's director has asked whether the renewal should happen at all, and an in-house build is being considered.
- Active use is concentrated in about three people, so one absence would leave nobody asking the brain anything.
- A third wrong figure, the complaints count, adds to five open high-priority tickets and repeated hand-offs between BB-Demo staff.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Helen believes housing officers and the repairs team would return quickly once the data is right.
- A written usage picture of what the brain was used for while it worked can anchor the value case for the renewal.
Transcript
Elena Novak NoneGood afternoon, Helen. Can you hear me clearly? I can see you have joined.
Helen Marsden NoneAfternoon, Elena. Yes, I can hear you. And I can see you. I did read your agenda, thank you. Can I say one thing first, before we start?- Elena Novak NoneOf course. Please go ahead.
- Helen Marsden NoneThe discrepancy I'm chasing is still the arrears figure in section four of the board pack. Now the complaints count in section seven doesn't reconcile either. And I've raised five high-priority tickets in a month. Five. I'm not sure what a check-in is meant to achieve when I'm spending my days writing tickets.
- Elena Novak NoneI understand, and thank you for saying it plainly. To confirm, I will restate the agenda I emailed, and then we can decide together whether it fits what you need. There were three items. First, the open tickets and who owns each one. Second, usage across your team. Third, what happens next, and I will send everything in writing afterwards. Would you like to change the order?
- Helen Marsden NoneNo, that order's fine. Tickets first. But I want to be clear that I've had a few different names on this account, and each time I start from the beginning. I'm not blaming you personally. It's just tiring.
- Elena Novak NoneThat is fair, and I will not pretend it has not been the case. As agreed in the notes I received, I am your contact for this call, and I will make sure that the written actions reach you today, with a named owner against each one. You will not need to repeat yourself to me.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you. Then let me tell you where the five are. Three are about the arrears figure, the same fault described three different ways because I was asked to resubmit. One is the repairs count, which has been low for weeks. And one is about the complaints figure, which is new. Can you show me the source for any of them?
- Elena Novak NoneI would like to be careful here. I am not an engineer, so I will not give you an explanation that I cannot evidence. What I can tell you is what I have in front of me: five open tickets, all marked high priority, from your team in the last month, and the record shows no resolution yet on any of them. I will ask engineering for a written root cause on the stale figures, with the source of each number, and I will make sure that it reaches you.
- Helen Marsden NoneI've been told that before, that it would be written up. What I got was a status that said resolved and a number that was still wrong.
- Elena Novak NoneThen to confirm, I will not ask for any ticket to be closed until you have checked the figure against your housing system yourself. Closure should be your decision, not ours.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat would at least be a change.
- Elena Novak NoneMay I ask, Helen, which of the five is the most urgent for you? So that I can put it first in the written actions.
- Helen Marsden NoneArrears. Without question. It's the number the board looks at first, and the one I've already presented once with a caveat. If I could have only one fixed, that's the one.
- Elena Novak NoneUnderstood. Arrears first. And the other four afterwards, in the order you prefer. Please tell me the order, and I will write it down as you say it.
- Helen Marsden NoneRepairs count second, then complaints. The other two are duplicates of the arrears one, so they can be merged.
- Elena Novak NoneThank you. I will ask the support team to merge the duplicates into the arrears ticket, so that you have one thread, and I will confirm in writing when that is done.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. Now, since you've got usage on your agenda, let me pre-empt it. I know fewer of my people are using the brain. I can see it myself. They've gone back to spreadsheets, because they don't trust the figures. It isn't about training or about the interface.
- Elena Novak NoneThank you, that is useful, because the numbers alone would not tell me the reason. What I see is that the number of active users is down by roughly a quarter on the previous quarter. You have forty licensed users, and the active number in a typical month is only a handful of them. I would like to be precise: I do not see this as a training issue. It follows the loss of trust, as you say.
- Helen Marsden NoneExactly. And who's left? It's me and a couple of analysts, basically. The others have drifted away. If one of the three of us was off, there'd be nobody asking it anything.
- Elena Novak NoneThat is an important point, and I will note it as a risk, because the use is concentrated in very few people. It is one more reason to repair the data first, so that others have a reason to come back.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'd go further. If the data's right, I could get the housing officers and the repairs team back in quite quickly. They liked it when it worked. They were asking it questions about repeat repairs and arrears by area. It was the first time they'd had it all in one place.
- Elena Novak NoneThat is good to hear, and I will keep it in mind for the plan. So, to confirm: the sequence is the data repaired, your figures checked by you, and only then a push to bring those teams back. I will not suggest a user campaign before the figures are right.
- Helen Marsden NonePlease don't. I'd have to apologise to my own people.
- Elena Novak NoneUnderstood.
- Helen Marsden NoneNext, and this is the one I've been putting off. Are we owed anything? We've paid on time, every invoice. And we've had a service that gave us wrong numbers for weeks. I'd like to know where I stand before my finance director asks me.
- Elena Novak NoneThat is a reasonable question and I will answer it carefully. On the Growth tier, service credits cover availability, meaning that the brain was up and answering. They do not cover data freshness. But the executed order form is what decides, and I would like to read yours line by line before I give you a final position, rather than rely on my memory of the standard terms.
- Helen Marsden NoneSo it was available but wrong, and that means nothing in contractual terms.
- Elena Novak NoneI would not say it means nothing. I would say that the credit mechanism does not measure it, and that is a different thing from saying that the problem is not real. I will raise it with our finance team, and with the account owner, as a matter of fairness, and I will tell you what they say.
- Helen Marsden NoneWhen?
- Elena Novak NoneI will not name a date for the finance team's work without asking them first. That would be a promise that is not mine to give. I will ask today, and I will tell you their answer on timing in the written note.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's honest, at least. Though I'll say it's frustrating to hear it in so many words.
- Elena Novak NoneI understand that. I would rather be frustrating now than inaccurate later.
- Helen Marsden NoneLet me tell you where my head is, because you should know. The renewal is in September. My director has asked me whether it should happen at all. Not because of me. There's a view above me that this kind of reporting could be built on a platform of our own, in-house, and I've been asked to say what the brain is worth at forty-four thousand a year. That's £44,000, and right now I can't defend it.
- Elena Novak NoneThank you for telling me so directly. I will be equally direct. I cannot answer the question of value while the figures are wrong, and I would not wish you to take a value case to your director on numbers that you do not trust. What I can do is two things. First, make sure that the data is repaired and verified by you. Second, prepare, afterwards, a written picture of what the brain was used for while it was working: what your team asked, who asked, and what it replaced.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's a sensible order. But the renewal conversation won't wait for everything to be perfect. I need something in a month or so, at least a direction.
- Elena Novak NoneUnderstood. I will tell the account owner that you need a direction within about a month. The commercial conversation sits with the account owner, as agreed, and I will make sure that they know the position before they speak to you.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'd want that conversation to start from the facts. Which means the tickets, the dates, and the number of weeks the data was stale. Not from a standard renewal template.
- Elena Novak NoneI will include in the written note the list of tickets, with the dates they were raised, and I will ask engineering for the period in which the refresh was incomplete, so that it is documented. That should be the starting point, not a template.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you. And one more thing, practical. My analyst keeps a log of when the figures stopped moving. Do you want it?
- Elena Novak NoneYes, please. It would be very useful for engineering. Could he send it directly into the ticket, so that it is attached to the right place?
- Helen Marsden NoneHe will, today. He's a methodical person. You'll be pleased with it.
- Elena Novak NoneThen let me summarise, and please correct me. First, the arrears ticket is the priority, and the two duplicates are merged into it. Second, repairs count and then complaints follow, in that order. Third, no ticket is closed until you have checked the figure yourself. Fourth, I request a written root cause from engineering, with the sources of the figures. Fifth, I read your order form and give you a plain answer on credits, and I ask our finance team about timing without promising a date for them. Sixth, I tell the account owner that you need a direction on the renewal within about a month. Seventh, your analyst sends his log into the ticket.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's everything. You've got it. I'd add that I want the root cause note to say whether it was something on your side or ours, in plain words.
- Elena Novak NoneI will make sure that I request exactly that: a plain statement of the cause and where it sat. If engineering cannot yet say, I will ask them to say so, and not to leave it vague.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. Because I'm tired, Elena, of explaining to my team why something we bought to save time is costing it. They don't blame the brain, they blame me. And I've never claimed this was an easy product to land. I just want it to be right.
- Elena Novak NoneI understand, and I do not take that lightly. You brought this in to give the board one reliable picture, and that purpose has not changed. My task is to help restore it, and to make sure that you are told the truth at each step.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's all I can ask. Right. I have another meeting at half past three, so I should go.
- Elena Novak NoneOf course. The written note will be with you today, as agreed. If anything in it is not what we discussed, please tell me and I will correct it at once.
- Helen Marsden NoneI will. Thank you, Elena. Thanks for not dressing it up.
- Elena Novak NoneThank you, Helen. Kind regards, and goodbye for now.
- Helen Marsden NoneBye for now.
Callsmade from