City of uMhlathuze handles a myriad of customers
City of uMhlathuze is becoming increasingly busier, as reflected in its call centre, switchboard and customer service desk activities
AS it grows in size and population, the City of uMhlathuze is becoming increasingly busier, as reflected in its call centre, switchboard and customer service desk activities.
The quarterly (October to December 2017) report tabled at last week’s Exco meeting showed the extent of the municipality’s interaction with the public – in essence, the City’s frontline communications and public relations component.
All three entities are ‘first port of call’ access for residents and ratepayers, whose queries and complaints are directed to the appropriate department.
Photo: Dave Savides
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Manned by four staff members who attend to walk-in clients, the customer service desk dealt with the following during the past quarter:
• 64 water connections
• 41 new electrical connections
• 146 tender documents issued
• 193 water fault complaints
• 117 electrical fault complaints
• 60 general queries or reports.
The call centre, which has nine operators working shifts, receives service delivery complaints such as burst water pipes, power outages and potholes.
These are referred to the Department of Infrastructure & Technical Services and are logged via Municipal Issue Tracking System (MITS) for distribution and action by the relative section.
MITS generates a reference number for customers and also sends an SMS to the customer’s ward councillor.
The call centre also registers queries and complaints for logging through the Department of Financial Services, generally to do with account status and unblocking after payment.
It also notifies the public of interruptions to service delivery, such as from load-shedding.
During the quarter, some 3 710 complaints were handled by the call centre.
Complaints are also routed via the City’s 24/7 toll free switchboard, operative between 7.20am and 4pm, which screens calls and transfers them appropriately.
During the three-month period, the switchboard handled 236 608 incoming and 372 595 outgoing calls.
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