Following this year’s successful British Wills and Probate Awards, we are thrilled as we had the opportunity to speak with Just Clear, the fantastic winner of the Customer Service Champion Award, a category proudly sponsored by Exizent.
Just Clear provides professional, award-winning probate estate clearance with teams all over the UK, offering a kind and understanding level of professionalism for relatives and executors, as well as probate solicitors and court of protection professionals.
Join us in discovering engaging stories and experiences of those who have achieved customer service excellence in our latest blog post.
Read the full blog on Exizent’s website here.
- What did it mean for Just Clear to win the Customer Service Champion award?
Given that all the nominations were from the legal industry, we felt that as a non-legal entry, our confidence for winning was faltering on the awards evening. The announcement of Just Clear as a winner was a wonderful feeling to be greeted with, made even more special by being in the prestigious Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel in Manchester.
Winning the award is a testament to our colleagues, peers and clients that our commitment towards customer care is recognised by the sector. It certainly has raised the spirits internally and has added to our commitment to keep raising our standards.
- What factors made Just Clear stand out from the competition that led to winning this award?
The key factor to Just Clear winning this award boils down to the people in Just Clear’s eco-system. They understand our aspiration to keep the customer at the front of our communication and our interactions. Giving them clear information and advice; coupled with space to make their own decisions; and very importantly a big smile.
Beyond customer care is our transparency on how we recycle and upcycle goods for reuse. We align our mission for ‘zero to landfill’ with our customers who are also very mindful of the fragile world we live in, and want to take this forward as a collective responsibility.
The Judges commended us for our ability to provide support to bereaved families and probate professionals alike at a time of untold stress and difficulty. We believe this coupled with our examples of customer service was what made our entry stand out.
- Can you tell us a bit about your service?
Just Clear was founded in 2012 by Brendan O’Shea. The purpose was to create a planet conscious clearance company with strong social and environmental impacts. In its humble beginnings, Brendan himself manned a single van, getting to know people in the industry and carve out an offering that both the customers and the sector needed. Today, Just Clear is the UK’s largest and most trusted clearance company with over 3,500 5-star reviews on Trustpilot and counting! The company has gained national recognition for its low carbon and ‘zero to landfill’ mission including coverage from The Times, Forbes and even a mention from Sir David Attenborough. Just Clear aims to champion itself as an eco-warrior, taking an ethical stance to reuse and upcycle, while responsibly ensuring recycling and disposal.
Additionally, we offer a holistic service to probate professionals and lay executors ensuring we can offer the maximum level of service with any property. In addition to clearing the property in a sustainable way, our offering means we are a one-stop shop for any client. This means we take care of all the details from changing locks to collecting sentimental family items. As part of our offering, we organise and provide independent property valuations from reputable estate agents and auctioneers in a view to assisting with the sale of the property. We also have the expertise to identify and subsequently sell chattels to ensure maximum value for our clients and by extension the estate. There have been multiple cases where our ability to identify and sell chattels (otherwise unknown to the client) have facilitated the cost of the entire clearance and even left the client with surplus funds.
- What kind of feedback do you usually receive from the solicitors who are using your service?
Thanks to our unique offering and service focussed approach, solicitors and probate professionals alike have been delighted with our service. We are proud to have built a significant level of trust to the point where solicitors simply post keys to us and trust us to clear the property, maximise value from chattels and eventually assist with the sale of the property by organising valuations and visits. The feedback we receive embodies gratitude and a great deal of trust. It is for this reason that solicitors are recommending us to their colleagues and wider network. The best feedback for us is when our services are used repeatedly by clients. We are proud of the fact that solicitors make up a large proportion of our returning customer base.
- Can you give us an example of how you embedded a culture of customer service excellence?
Given the variety of clearances and tasks we undertake nationwide, we constantly face obstacles which are often at extremely sensitive moments of people’s lives. It is within those moments that we go above and beyond to exceed the client’s expectations. In a recent case in London, which involved a four bedroom house together with six garages that had been completely hoarded, we were contacted to clear the property by a member of the family who had come to inherit the estate. Given the tragic and unexpected circumstances of the death, the matter was extremely sensitive. Despite the family member living in Ireland and the property itself being significantly further away, we took the stress of dealing with the property in its entirety. With our empathetic approach, we were able to complete this mammoth clearance well within the projected deadline. Furthermore, whilst clearing the property, we came across items that would no doubt hold sentimental value, such as family photographs and despite not being asked, we gathered these together to pass on to the family. We also uncovered numerous other valuable items such as a large collection of royal mint coins and stamps, together with an extensive camera collection and a collection of early computers. We took it upon ourselves to place the items into safe storage and thereafter outsource experts and consultants to inspect the items and further have them valued and eventually the value realised and given to the family member. We were able to uncover in excess of £80,000 which was met with immense gratitude from the family. Having sifted through the items we provided the family with much needed comfort and closure. This is one of the many ways in which we embody exceptional customer service on a daily basis.
The insights shared during this interview shed valuable light on the importance of delivering exceptional service and going above and beyond to assure customer satisfaction.
Sponsoring this award category was special as championing customer service excellence is extremely important for us at Exizent as we are driven by our purpose of improving the bereavement experience for everyone involved.
Therefore, we commend Just Clear for their dedication to ensuring excellent customer service for professionals handling estate administrations, including probate solicitors.
Read the full blog on Exizent’s website here.
This article was submitted to be published by Exizent as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Wills and Probate. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Wills and Probate.
