Our 2004 customer satisfaction survey told us that 80% of customers preferred to contact the Council by telephone, yet only 64% of them were happy with the level of services they received when they phoned us.
We looked at how we could improve the level of service provided via telephone and opened a Contact Centre in January 2005. By the end of March 2006, the number of calls answered per month is 24,000 and continues to rise.
Over 90% of calls are answered the first time the customer rings.
Ten services are delivered through the Contact Centre including all council house repairs, roads and lighting faults and debit/credit card payments, as well as waste management, internal property repairs and general switchboard calls. Customer satisfaction surveys show that well over 90% of callers are satisfied or very satisfied with the service.
The Contact Centre provides a full service from 8am to 9pm, Monday to Friday. Plans for the Contact Centre for 2006/07 include consideration of further extending the opening hours in line with customer demand and continued expansion of the range of services that are delivered.