Council Switchboard, Can't Get Through At All

[Janus 28]

4 hours ago, Chap BLADE said:

Where abouts on the Parkway are the lights out ?

When travelling from Park square towards Rotherham  on the parkway,   the section fault ends just before the white painted half circle shaped bridge.  There was maybe 8 or more lights out leading  up to that half circle bridge. 

 

I do not know if the lights are still out or repaired.

 

When I phone the council it is within office hours.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Janus

[apelike 10]

Tried phoning them today about repairs... 45 minutes on hold and then gave up!

Edited October 3, 2019 by apelike

[BigAl1 143]

I rang and it took me over 20 minutes to get through. I complained and the guy said that it was always busy on Mondays so I asked if that is the case why do you not put more staff on to answer the phone. He said he would register a complaint and I said why not report it directly to the manager and he told me that he had done so on more than one occaision with no effect. I asked him therefore what there is to be gained then by raising a complaint

 

In fairness the council are not alone and many companies fail to properly address the issue of peak demands and hope that the average falls to answering 90% of all calls in their target time and doing nothing about the 30 minute wait in peak times and worse still telling you your call is important or we will be with you shortly

[Janus 28]

The council's current system seems ludicrous.  I don't get why there appears to be secrecy regarding the numbers for the various departments.

If there was a listing of phone numbers for almost every department on the council's website, surely this would speed things up condiderably for the public and the council . The  switchboard is a bottle neck.

Keep the switchboard-for callers that either don't have access to the Internet, or those unsure of the department they need. Probably only one person required then. Redeploy the  staff internally.

Unless I am missing something, routing the majority of calls through switch seems like a delaying tactic.

[Top Cats Hat 10]

58 minutes ago, Janus said:

Unless I am missing something, routing the majority of calls through switch seems like a delaying tactic.

Not sure if it is deliberate or not, but like the 101 system it has the ‘unintended’ consequence of reducing workload/crime reports if the situation is so poor that people give up rather than trying again later.

[catmiss 12]

I worked in a housing repairs department with a designated number of full and part time trained staff. Monday mornings were always hectic as people reported non emergency repairs that had occurred over the weekend, followed up on ‘make safe’ repairs carried out over the weekend and, as instructed by weekend call out services, reported urgent repairs. The length of calls was always longer on Monday mornings as people off loaded the weekend frustrations. Fine weather and school holidays saw reduced calls with the reverse seeing higher call volume. Friday pm was also busy as people, mindful of the effect of an issue when everyone was at home over the weekend, rang in. Rather than deterring calls keeping people waiting extended call times as people vented their anger before addressing their issue. Unless you have a ‘standby’ staff, who at times might be twiddling their thumbs, taken from a department also under pressure and requiring constant updating you’ll never be rid of call queues 

[BigAl1 143]

may never be rid of call queues yes but there is plenty that decent management could do to address and minimise the issue if they so wished

[catmiss 12]

I believe the Council have been trying to introduce a contact centre ,where staff will be trained to answer any enquiry, for 5 years. I don’t know what the hold up is but, if adequately resourced, would presumably reduce call waiting and the need to transfer calls

[gamezone07 23]

On 04/10/2019 at 10:06, amnicoll said:

I rang and it took me over 20 minutes to get through. I complained and the guy said that it was always busy on Mondays so I asked if that is the case why do you not put more staff on to answer the phone. He said he would register a complaint and I said why not report it directly to the manager and he told me that he had done so on more than one occaision with no effect. I asked him therefore what there is to be gained then by raising a complaint

 

In fairness the council are not alone and many companies fail to properly address the issue of peak demands and hope that the average falls to answering 90% of all calls in their target time and doing nothing about the 30 minute wait in peak times and worse still telling you your call is important or we will be with you shortly

Someone has written a book about this corporate malfeasance: 'The Silent Company,' no human beings at all to speak to now at many of them.

Edited October 16, 2019 by gamezone07

[Ms Macbeth 73]

On 06/10/2019 at 00:58, catmiss said:

I believe the Council have been trying to introduce a contact centre ,where staff will be trained to answer any enquiry, for 5 years. I don’t know what the hold up is but, if adequately resourced, would presumably reduce call waiting and the need to transfer calls

I worked for SCC for a few years, leaving in 2006.  There was a pretty decent call centre then, as well as staffed enquiry desks in Howden House.  It might not have been perfect, but the level of service was better than currently. 

 

Tried to get through to Environmental services today, gave up after 15 mins on hold.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Ms Macbeth

[BigAl1 143]

yes I seem to remember from work I was doing around that time that they had a good reputation