Victoria’s City of Greater Bendigo has launched a new Customer Service Charter that details the City’s commitment to improving its services and the way in which it responds to requests from its customers.
Bendigo CEO, Craig Niemann, said the City provides diverse services, advice and support to a broad range of customers including residents, visitors, businesses, community based organisations and government agencies.
“By developing a customer service charter we are basically setting out a clear statement about how we will respond to our customers,” he said. “The City of Greater Bendigo is no different to any other organisation that deals with people. We recognise the importance of having clear standards and a genuine desire to continuously improve the services we provide.
“The charter is an important document that sets out our commitment to serving our customers and our community.”
Craig Niemann said the Customer Service Charter was developed following extensive consultation with staff about how to improve the way the organisation responds to residents needs.
“For the past three months, we have conducted an internal trial based on the standards of the new charter and I am pleased to announce that we improved response times to customer requests considerably during the trial,” he said. “This was an important trial, because it proved that Council can achieve the standards and timelines that we have set in the customer service charter.
“Staff will make every effort to uphold the standards, however from time to time, circumstances may occur beyond Council’s control. In these instances, we will respond to the customer and keep them updated on the progress of their request.”
Then City of Greater Bendigo Mayor, Councillor David Jones, said the Customer Service Charter is the next step following the adoption of a Customer Service Strategy earlier this year by Council.
“The Customer Service Strategy recommended a range of initiatives, including the new ‘Easy Reference Guide to Council Services’, which was recently produced to help residents access services and facilities.
“This booklet was sent out with this year’s rates notices to more than 48,000 households.”
Both the Customer Service Charter and the Easy Reference Guide to Council Services
can be viewed online at
www.bendigo.vic.gov.au
