The Service Provider Break Up Guide
Relationships with your service providers can be a lot like romantic relationships. Trust is built up, and you feel comfortable with each other over time.
With Valentine’s Day ads everywhere, it is a good reminder to consider what relationships are serving you well, with your current service providers. Just like your personal relationships, it can be a hard choice deciding it is time to end a relationship with a service provider.
We've all heard the cliche cheesy breakup lines in movies and possibly experienced some of them in real life ourselves. Some of these can relate to service provider relationships as well.
We need to talk (How best to communicate your intentions)
With relationships, no one likes to be dumped by text or email however with providers letting them know your intentions in writing is important. By all means call if you feel comfortable but always follow up with something simple in writing by email. This will confirm any dates with the provider and give you something in writing confirming the final dates for any services. Good providers will confirm the ending of your agreement by return email. If you haven't received this, followup with the provider to get a confirmation or if they won't provide one send an email with a "read receipt" so you know it's been received at their end.
Stacey says "You’re dumped" (Using a third party to communicate)
Ever have this happen to you in High School? You're "going out" with someone and they send their friend to tell you that you've been dumped? If you feel uncomfortable telling a provider, can you ask some else to deliver that news for you? Generally it's not a good idea. Providers will likely seek to communicate with you directly to confirm your intentions anyway. There is also the issue of privacy that will decide what can and can't be discussed with a third party. If you are feeling really anxious about talking to a provider you can ask someone to approach them on your behalf and ask them to collect any paperwork needed for your signature and ask them to drop it back to the provider. They may ask you to confirm in writing that you authorise a person to speak on your behalf.
We need to see other people (Engaging with a new provider)
Do you need to tell a provider that you're moving to a new one? This depends on the type of provider, what the relationship is like and whether there are any case notes that need to be transferred. If the relationship is OK and it's simply a case of them not meeting your needs then it's usually a good idea. Good providers will want to make life easier for you and offer to transfer any records directly to the next providers for you. However, you're under no obligation to tell them anything other than you've decided not to use their services anymore. You can always ask for documents and case notes to be sent to you and then pass them onto the new provider yourself.
Let's not drag this out (Checking for notice period and other reconciliation policies)
Make sure that you're aware of any notice periods that might be part of your service agreement before you commit with another provider. It may have been a while since you signed their service agreement and there could be a notice period clause that you weren't aware of or simply have forgotten about. If the provider does have a notice period and you wish to move to a new provider straight away it is worth having a conversation with them. Most providers will usually be fine with using their discretion and waive any notice periods they have.
It's not you, it's me. (Giving feedback)
Should you give feedback? Only if you're comfortable in doing so. Many will also appreciate this. While a provider may not be meeting your needs, most will be genuine in their efforts to provide good service and will welcome feedback in order to improve. As a general rule, if you feel that you want to offload your frustrations, give that feedback directly to a provider only. If you feel that you want to use a public forum such as Google or Facebook it's a good idea to stick to factual statements only.
Thank U Next .... (Changing providers multiple times)
As Ariane Grande sings in "Thank U Next"
"I know they say I move on too fast
But this one gon' last"
In many disciplines there are plenty of providers and plenty of choice. Sometimes if there are issues with their service it can be tempting to change providers multiple times until you find the right one and before you know it you've gone to 3,4,5, sometimes 6 different providers in a short space of time.
While NDIS is all about choice and control and one of the great things about that is that you're free to engage pretty much with any provider there a lot to be said for the benefits of being with one provider for a longer period of time. If you have frustrations with your provider it's a good idea to try to resolve them before engaging a new one. Sometimes even the most frustrating situations can be caused by miscommunication and a good open and honest discussion can clear things up and remove the need to change providers..... sometimes.
