Too many residents face a poor customer service experience in phone dealings with P.A. City Hall.(Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

phone frustration

Customer service at P.A. City Hall under the spotlight

Jun 19, 2019 | 5:50 PM

An independent report shows Prince Albert City Hall has gone backwards when it comes to customer service over the phone and its misdirected voicemail system. The city has promised action for improvements.

A report by consultant Joe Rybinksi, who conducted a similar audit of the city’s telephone customer service in 2015, showed 47 per cent of the voicemails he reached over a 10-day period did not meet the city’s own standards. He found numerous calls went directly to a computer generated voicemail, phone numbers had been disabled upon being transferred, and other numbers simply didn’t work properly.

“The audit indicated the city had regressed in its telephone etiquette and in compliance to its customer service standards policy,” director of corporate services Ken LeClaire told paNOW.

LeClaire noted a separate public survey had also shown 60 per cent of respondents were dissatisfied with the level of customer service they had received over the phone. Among the feedback was staff member’s poor attitude (being abrupt or lacking empathy), lack of online services, and phone calls not being returned.

However, the public survey of walk-in customers found 73 per cent of respondents were very satisfied with the service they received, noting friendly and knowledgeable staff.

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LeClaire said he takes customer service seriously.

“Absolutely, customer service is imperative. City staff is here to service the needs of our residents and we want to provide them with the highest level of service possible.”

Customer service has been hit and miss …over the years …it needs fixing – _{Ted Zurakowski}

On average, city hall staff fields 6,055 incoming phone calls and 4,570 walk-ins every month.

Delivering improvements

LeClaire delivered his report on the situation to city council earlier this week, noting new staff were hired in recent years but not brought up to speed on the customer service standards. He said customer service training would be arranged in 2020. But at least one councillor wasn’t thrilled with the findings nor the timeline for improvements.

“This is one of our top priorities as a corporation; that’s the face of city hall,” Ward 8 Coun.Ted Zurakowski told LeClaire, while noting that he appreciated the honesty of the report highlighting the sub-standard customer service. “I’d close the doors for two and half days over the next few weeks to get this training done. Customer service has been hit and miss [on the phones] over the years. It needs fixing.”

LeClaire said technicians would be looking at the voicemail system next week and by the end of July he aims to have an updated customer service standards policy and implement standardized speaking notes to assist staff with serving upset or agitated customers.

As an indication of the challenges city hall faces with its phone system, paNOW attempted to contact LeClaire. The phone number given for him on the city’s website was immediately answered by another person’s voicemail. paNOW then called the main city hall number and pressed the extension number given for LeClaire’s department. A voice message responded that the mailbox for that number had not been set up. paNOW contacted LeClaire by email. That worked.

Editor’s note: paNOW has heard from the city who tested the extension line and voice mail referred to in the final paragraph of this article. They found them to be working normally.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow