FAQ – I’m an existing HITS customer

If you are a registered HITS customer, you can make a booking by telephone, by email or via our secure customer portal.

For a telephone booking, please call our main booking line on 01442 867212 (choose Option 1).

For a booking via email, please send your request to our main email address: interpreting@communityactiondacorum.org.uk.

To place a booking via our online portal, please access your account according to the instructions provided at the time of your initial registration.

Go to https://hits.interpreterintelligence.com/app/login/signUp

Select “customer” from the drop-down menu, provide the other requested information and submit. Our Accounts Team will respond with an account name and one-time password within 24 hours. You will now be able to create your own online account and be able to make bookings online, as well as monitor the progress of your jobs.

As soon as your account has been registered, you will receive a comprehensive Customer Portal Guide by email. If you should need any further support, please contact HITSfinance@communityactiondacorum.org.uk or call 01442 867215.

Please go to https://hits.interpreterintelligence.com/app/login/ and click on the password recovery link (“recover it here”) on the right-hand side of the welcome page. The HITS Accounts Team will send you a new one-time password. Please note we cannot respond to password requests made via telephone.

No. You are free to choose the booking method you find the most convenient. Or to use any mixture of methods depending upon your preference.

As a minimum, you will be required to provide the following information:

• Your own name and contact details
• Organisation Name
• Authorisation Code (if any)
• Purchase Order Number (if any)
• Language Required
• Date Required
• Time Required
• Type of Service (face-to-face, video or telephone)
• Location of Appointment (if for face-to-face booking)
• Duration of Appointment
• Nature of Appointment (Subject Matter)
• Name of Service User
• Name and Contact Details of Professional Using Interpreter
• Gender of Interpreter Required (if requested)

If booking by telephone, the very friendly and highly knowledgeable HITS Booking Team will take you through the entire process and prompt you for the required information. If booking via the online portal, you will be guided through the process by a series of clearly marked obligatory fields and drop-down menus.

Within a few seconds of the job being created, you will receive an email giving you a unique job number (which you should quote in all future contact about the booking) and setting out the key particulars of your booking. Please check that the information is correct in the email. If any information should prove incorrect, please contact HITS immediately (quoting the job number). Similarly, if you should need to alter any of these particulars at any time, please notify us immediately.

No. You will receive a second (confirmation) email in due course. This email may appear very similar to the first email but will now provide the name of your confirmed interpreter.

If you have requested a video interpreter, the Type of Service will appear as “Third Party Video (Scheduled)”. When you receive the subsequent confirmation email, this will include the contact details of the booked interpreter (including their email address). You should then forward the link for your video session to the interpreter in order they can join the session at the appointed time.

HITS will usually contact the named professional contact at the appointed time in order to set up a conference call involving the interpreter and (if required) member of the public. However, there could be occasions on which you may prefer to contact HITS directly when you are ready for the call to be connected. In circumstances where start times are fluid (e.g. hospital clinics), this would be the recommended method. In such circumstances, the interpreter will be ready from the appointed start time and continue to be available for the duration of the booking.

You will be asked to confirm your preferred scenario at the time of your booking. If no preference is indicated, it will be assumed that you would like HITS to contact you at the appointed time.

For two-way calls, upon request HITS may be able to provide the telephone number of the interpreter directly to the service provider.

The simple answer: as much as possible! However, HITS regularly has to provide interpreters at very short notice for urgent and emergency situations (A & E admissions, crisis team visits, etc) and is able to provide interpreters via telephone or video almost immediately if required. We will always try to fit in with your own requirements.

You should always meet with your interpreter in the vicinity of the property and then enter together. The interpreter will not enter the property on their own. If you are late, the interpreter will wait for you to arrive but will not approach or enter the property.

The interpreter should be in attendance 15 minutes before the scheduled start time for a face-to-face assignment. If they are not in attendance at the scheduled start time, please contact HITS immediately on 01442 867212. We will contact the interpreter, either to ascertain their progress to the assignment or in the case of a video or telephone session to find an immediate replacement.

Whether a compliment or a complaint, we are always happy to receive customer feedback. Please send your feedback to: HITSfeedback@communityactiondacorum.org.uk or contact either the HITS Head of Service on 01442 867213 or HITS Head of Booking on 01442 867216.

If your feedback relates to matters of finance (including supplier payments and the issuing of invoices) please contact the HITS Head of Finance on 01442 867215 or at HITSfinance@communityactiondacorum.org.uk.

No problem. Get in touch with us. Our highly knowledgeable team will be happy to help you to find the appropriate service. In the meantime, feel free to consult our own Languages of the World leaflet here.

THE HITS senior management team has more than 50 years of collective experience in interpreting and translation. If you wish to talk at length and in confidence with an authoritative professional, please contact our Head of Service on 01442 867213 (HITSmanager@communityactiondacorum.org.uk) or Head of Booking on 01442 867216 (fatima@communityactiondacorum.org.uk).

You may find the answer elsewhere on this site. If not, just get in touch. It’ll be great to hear from you.