Customer service charter

This document is to help provide you with information and guidance produced by the Great Yarmouth Borough Council team to explain the importance of us delivering a high standard of service to all our customers across our council services.

We are committed to providing high standards of customer service, ensuring an efficient and effective delivery of quality, accessible services.

All customers have the right to know what level of service they can expect from us. We will deliver fair, inclusive services and treat all our customers politely and with respect.

In particular we will:

• Welcome your feedback to deliver our services in a customer focussed and friendly manner
• Listen carefully and make sure we talk to you in a plain and clear manner
• Make sure you are made aware of our decisions and clearly explain the reasons for them
• Be realistic about what we can and cannot do, so you know what to expect from us
• Protect your personal information
• Where you contact us in an emergency, we will respond accordingly

We will answer your call within 5 rings. Should your call be placed in a queue we aim to transfer you to an advisor within 90 seconds.

You will be greeted with a welcome message or personally by a member of staff who will clearly state their first name and service area.

We will answer your enquiry there and then whenever possible - if we are unable to answer your enquiry or transfer you to someone who can, we will take your details and make sure you are contacted within 24 hours.

When returning your calls, our staff will clearly state their first name, their service area and their reason for calling.

We will advise you beforehand if we need to put you on hold in order to deal with your enquiry.

We will end the conversation with you in a courteous and professional manner.

Our Customer Service Advisors within the contact centre can at times be dealing with higher than normal call volumes but we aim to provide a high level of service to all of our customers no matter how or when you choose to contact us.

You can access online services 24/7 at your own convenience or use our Live Chat during working hours

We will respond to your voicemail within 24 hours during normal business hours.

Our voicemail greetings will be up to date, advising you if we will be out of the office for an extended period of time (1 day or longer), informing you when we will return and leaving clear details of who you can contact for urgent enquiries.

Helpful tips

Please leave your full name, contact telephone number and brief summary of the nature of your enquiry.

Please confirm the best time to contact you.

We will provide an initial response to your email within 5 working days.

Some enquiries may take longer to resolve, we will keep you updated during this time.

Helpful tip

The more information you provide the quicker we can respond to your email.

If you contact us by letter we will provide an initial response within 7 working days.

Some enquiries may take longer to resolve, we will keep you updated during this time.

We will greet our customers in our reception areas within 10 minutes of arrival.

Waiting areas will be comfortable and tidy.

All our staff members will wear an identification badge.

Opening hours will be clearly displayed.

Facilities for disabled people will be available in public receptions.

Private interview facilities will be provided when necessary.

Helpful tip

Remember to bring any documentation you may need to help us deal with your enquiry,

Helpful tip

Don't forget you can also visit us to use our public PC to access online services.

We will respond to Customer Service enquiries within five working days.

We will respond to comments and public posts as soon as possible where appropriate.

To help us deliver the best service we can, we ask you to treat us as you would expect to be treated yourself.

Be courteous and respectful to our staff.

Provide any information we need as soon as possible to help us deal with your enquiry.

Remember to tell us if your circumstances change as this may affect the services we provide to you.

Top Tip Reminders

Remember you can access our services online 24/7 via our website: www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk

We also have our Live Chat service during working hours

If you are leaving us a message please clearly state your full name, contact details and a brief summary of your enquiry.

Make sure you have all your documentation you might need to help us to deal with your enquiry.

We will reply to all complaints within ten working days - if we need longer, we will tell you why.

We will also let you know who is dealing with your complaint and when we will reply.

We will acknowledge your complaint within 24 hours.

Please refer to our Corporate complaints and compliments policy.

We will supply information requested in freedom of information requests within 20 working days, except in exceptional circumstances.

In such circumstances, we will contact you to let you know why it is going to take longer than 20 days to collate the information requested, or if there are reasons why it is not appropriate to release all the information requested.

We will explain why we are not releasing the information, if that is the case, and explain the appeal process.

You can find more information about freedom of information requests in our Freedom of Information Policy.

Please see our Contact us page.