Courtesy and helpfulness
We will:
- be polite, positive, helpful and treat you with respect and
fairness.
- ensure our staff are highly trained and proactive.
- listen carefully in order to understand and respond to your
needs.
- tell you our name and wear a name badge.
- give you an explanation of our actions.
- do everything we can to resolve your query to your
satisfaction
In addition:
- If we are unable to resolve your enquiry, we will forward it to
the appropriate person.
- Where appropriate, we will keep a progress record on your
enquiry and any advice we gave showing what has been done, by whom
and when.
- We also expect customers to maintain certain standards and we
will not tolerate abuse of staff.
Effective two way communication
We will:
- agree the nature of your enquiry with you and discuss when you
can expect us to resolve it (if possible).
- keep you informed on the progress and final outcome of your
enquiry, what happened last, what will happen next and when it will
happen.
Putting things right
We will do our best to identify and address the cause of
customer dissatisfaction to prevent further incidents.
When we visit you
we will:
- explain who we are and show you an authorised identification
card
- explain the purpose of our visit
When you visit us
we will:
- ensure that you can access our offices
- ensure our reception areas will be clean and welcoming and
provide information about council services
- ensure our reception staff see you promptly
- make sure you see someone appropriate to deal with your enquiry
or arrange an appointment for you, if necessary
- provide an interpreter, or other support, if needed, (this may
need us to make an appointment)
- explain any delays of over 10 minutes to your arranged
appointment
- ensure the person dealing with your enquiry gives their name
and wears a name badge.
- make other arrangements with you, if you cannot visit one of
our offices
When you telephone us
we will:
- aim to answer your call within 20 seconds (5 rings)
- for those customers who have impaired hearing, a minicom
service is available on 01733 452421
- provide our name to allow you to follow up with another call if
necessary
- thank you for your call
- aim to direct you to the person you ask to speak to, or to
someone else who can deal with your enquiry
- if the person you need to speak to is not available, we will
try to help, take a message or arrange for someone to ring you
back
- if you leave a voicemail or answerphone message, we will aim to
call you back within 1 working day
When you write to us (including fax and e-mail)
we will:
- aim to acknowledge your e-mail within one working day of
receipt
- aim to reply to your correspondence within 10 working days of
receipt, and if we cannot achieve this write and let you know when
a full reply will be sent
- ensure our reply identifies the person who is dealing with your
enquiry so that you know who to contact if you need to