by Tanja Rosteck, Solution Explorer Content Strategist
In a recent blog post, I introduced our Continuous Improvement strategy and how we use your feedback to make the Solution Explorer even better.
I’m pleased to report that we just finished our first Continuous Improvement cycle for the Small Claims Solution Explorer. We made some content changes based on your feedback, as well as input from the CRT’s Vice Chair – Small Claims. The changes were loaded into the site on December 29, 2017.
Here’s an overview of what’s changed:
- We heard some frustration about wanting to skip exploring and go straight to making a CRT claim. But exploring your issue can help you discover important information and self-help tools. We improved the on-screen instructions about this.
- We also heard some confusion about where to start if your dispute has more than one issue, or if your issue isn’t listed. We recommend you explore your most important issue first. Remember that you’re free to explore as many issues as you want, at any time. If you decide to make a claim, you can start your application from the issue that you think best fits your dispute. We improved the on-screen instructions about this.
- Employment: This dispute area has been streamlined. Since the Employment Standards Branch has jurisdiction over most employment-related compensation claims, the Solution Explorer now prompts you to make a claim with the ESB first. You can only make a claim with the CRT if the ESB declines jurisdiction for your claim, or if you’re in a profession that’s exempt from the protections of the Employment Standards Act. The reworked content explains this and what your options are.
- Motor Vehicle Accidents: Disputes about how much ICBC should pay for vehicle damage repairs must go to arbitration. The CRT can’t take these types of claims. We added more information about this.
- Housing and residential tenancy issues: We’ve received a lot of claim applications to enforce Residential Tenancy Branch orders. But the CRT isn’t able to enforce those orders, and can’t accept those claims. We added information to the Property, Loans & Debts, and General dispute areas about this. Our statistics tell us those areas are explored most often for housing issues. We’ve improved the instructions on where to get help for those issues and what your options are.
- NEW External Resource link added to the “CRT Decisions” database. You might be curious whether any CRT decisions have been made about disputes like yours!
- New content areas we’ve working on: Shared housing and roommate disputes tops the list of content you wanted added to the Solution Explorer. You also told us you want more guidance on dog-related disputes. We’re already working on developing these content areas.
- Minor wording improvements throughout.
That’s it for this edition of the Solution Explorer Quarterly Update. See you at the end of March 2018, for our next continuous improvement report on the strata Solution Explorer. As always, please keep sending us your comments and suggestions!