Customer service

The mission of the Customer Service Team is to consistently deliver the best service experience to ensure every customer feels they are valued and their satisfaction is paramount to our organisation.

We promise to provide excellent customer service sensitive to your needs and of the highest possible standard. We will achieve our mission by providing timely, courteous and professional service at each and every customer contact.

At the City of Canning our vision is to be a Welcoming and Thriving City.

This vision is supported by our three values:

Respect

• We treat others with respect.
• We are honest and respectfully authentic always.
• We trust and are trustworthy.

Working Together

• We thrive on collaboration and connection to create value for the community.
• Together we go the extra mile and appreciate everyone's effort.
• We freely share our knowledge, our successes, and the lessons we learn from mistakes.
• We learn from the past and focus on the future.

Inclusive

• We ensure everyone is welcome and their contribution is appreciated.
• We genuinely care and appreciate the efforts of all.
• We embrace our differences.

When you contact us, you can expect to be treated with honesty, integrity, fairness and sensitivity. At all times we aim to:

• deal with your enquiry in a polite and helpful manner, acting professionally at all times.
• listen to your views and ensure your opinion is respected.
• take ownership of your enquiry, follow up and keep you informed of progress through to completion.
• act on our commitments in a timely manner.
• be realistic about what we can do and in what timeframes.
• deal with complaints fairly, promptly and professionally.
• show respect for your privacy by treating all personal information confidentially.
• actively seek and use your feedback on our services to continuously improve our customer service.

What you can expect when you:

Telephone

• Our contact centre staff will answer your call promptly and try to resolve your enquiry immediately.
• Your call will be answered within 30 seconds, 90% of the time.
• Where there are unexpected delays, we will inform you and give you the option of leaving a voice message or requesting a call back.
• We will answer your call courteously and professionally, identifying ourselves by name and area of the business.
• Where possible we will manage your enquiry immediately. If this is not possible we will either redirect your call or take a clear message.
• When redirecting your call, we will ensure the staff member to whom the call is being redirected is available and that your details are announced before the call is transferred.
• If you are making a request that requires action, we will give you a reference number to quote should you need to re-contact us.
• If you call a city officer directly and leave a message, we will return your telephone enquiry within three hours.
• Should you have an emergency or after-hours issue, we will provide a locally based 24 after-hours emergency contact centre service.

Visit

• We will attend the counter promptly and greet you with warmth, respect, courtesy and understanding.
• Our appearance will be professional and we will identify ourselves so that you know who you are speaking to.
• We will listen to you and discuss your enquiry in detail.
• We aim to resolve enquiries, service requests, payments and bookings immediately. If the enquiry is of a technical or specialised nature, the appropriate officer best able to respond to your enquiry will be called to assist.
• We promptly advise staff when there is a member of the public in the reception area for an appointment.
• If the relevant officer is unavailable we will make an alternate meeting time with you.

Write

• For general enquiries, we will acknowledge your enquiry within five working days.
• We aim to resolve your enquiry within ten working days. If your enquiry requires in-depth research or follow-up that takes longer than ten working days, we will send you a letter to inform you which department is managing your enquiry and when it is expected to be resolved.
• All Council correspondence will be as prompt as possible, courteous and written in easy to understand language.
• An officer will be allocated to your enquiry and will be responsible for following it through to a satisfactory conclusion.

Email

• We will acknowledge your email within one working day.
• We aim to resolve your enquiry within ten working days. If your enquiry requires in-depth research or follow-up that takes longer than ten working days, we will send you an email to inform you which department is managing your enquiry and when it is expected to be resolved.
• All Council correspondence will be as prompt as possible, courteous and written in easy to understand language.
• An officer will be allocated to your enquiry and will be responsible for following it through to a satisfactory conclusion.

Social media

The City’s Facebook page is monitored by staff between 8.15am and 5pm, Monday - Friday. Any queries will be forwarded to the relevant department for an appropriate response within 24 hours of receiving the request. The City will keep you informed with how your query is progressing.

Online request

• Your request will be assigned to the relevant area as per the request type that you select.
• If you request to be notified, you will receive, as a minimum, notifications upon lodgment and completion of your request.
• If you lodge a general request/enquiry or general information form, we will review your request within two (2) business days and assign to the relevant area.
• We aim to resolve your enquiry within the timeframe allotted to that request type. If your enquiry requires in-depth research or follow-up that takes longer than this timeframe, we will send you an update on your enquiry and when it is expected to be resolved
• All Council correspondence will be as prompt as possible, courteous and written in easy to understand language
• An officer will be allocated to your enquiry and will be responsible for following it through to a satisfactory conclusion.

We value your feedback and welcome your suggestions, comments, compliments and complaints.

Your feedback provides us with valuable information and helps us to review and improve our processes, procedures and allows for continuous customer service improvement.

To let us know how we can better serve your needs, you can reach us via our contact us page.

We also want to be proactive about obtaining your feedback. From time to time, we may contact you to seek your feedback on your interactions with the City of Canning.

We make every effort to be inclusive and accountable for our organisations’ decisions and how they are made. We recognise there are instances when you may disagree or be unhappy with a decision that is made by the City of Canning, and you may ask the City to review its decision or the way the City has provided a service by making a complaint.

Your experience with us is important and your feedback will enable us to provide a better service to the community.

How your complaint will be investigated

Complaints may be lodged in person, by phone, letter or via an online request. When we receive your complaint, it will be recorded in our customer relationship management system. You will receive acknowledgement within five (5) working days of receipt of your complaint, and you will be provided with a customer reference number for any future follow-up enquires.

When we receive your complaint, it will be assessed and forwarded to the appropriate person within the City of Canning for investigation and action. The investigating officer or manager may contact you to discuss your concerns or ask for more information. They will also be responsible for keeping you up to date on the progress of your complaint. Providing us with current contact details such as your telephone number or email address will ensure we provide a response as soon as possible. After investigation, we will formally respond and aim to resolve any concerns, giving clear details.

How long will it take?

The City of Canning will try to attend to your complaint within ten (10) working days. If we cannot resolve your concern within ten (10) working days, you will be kept informed of progress and be provided with: 

• the name of the responsible officer
• the estimated length of time it may take to resolve
• a timeframe for when you can next expect an update.

Principles

The City of Canning (the City) has a commitment to:

• provide quality services to the City’s ratepayers
• prevent the diversion of an unreasonable portion of City’s resources away from its other functions
• protect City employee’s from unreasonable or abusive behaviour
• maintain confidentiality and respect for the principles of natural justice.

The Chief Executive Officer has an overarching duty of care to provide a healthy and safe workplace in accordance with section 19 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 (WA) and a moral obligation to protect staff from personal attacks and vilification.

The City will not tolerate unreasonable conduct against its staff, in particular abusive language; or defamatory comments to its staff; or threats to their personal safety; and may take legal action to protect its employees. The City may, at its discretion, report such behaviour to the Police.

The City endorses Ombudsman Western Australia: Managing Unreasonable Complainant Conduct: Practice Manual and requires City employees to follow the principles and practices set out in the document. 

Assessing Customer Conduct as Unreasonable

When a customer’s conduct clearly goes beyond the norm of situational stress, it may be classified as unreasonable conduct. 

Managing Unreasonable Conduct

Assessment

There is no ‘one for all’ strategy to assess customer conduct as being unreasonable. Each case will be assessed individually so that the case may be dealt with in a fair, effective and efficient way.

The following may be considered as part of the assessment:

• the specific nature of the conduct
• the volume and frequency of contact with the City (including written correspondence, phone calls, and in person visits)
• the language used (whether there is any hostile, abusive or offensive language)
• the immediacy of any risks associated with the conduct
• the negative impact of the conduct on the fairness of allocation and use of the City’s resources
• legislative obligations of the City
• any legal or official advice obtained externally 
• whether the process and strategy are reasonable and proportionate in the specific circumstances.

Limiting Access 

Unreasonable conduct may be managed by placing a reasonable and proportionate limitation on customer access, which may include one or more of the following:

• the subject matter of communications, such as where the City believes that a specific issue has been adequately addressed
• the timing of communications, including time of day, and frequency and/or duration of contact with the City
• access to City property, such as restricting or prohibiting entry to City premises
• the medium in which the customer may contact the City
• any other limitation which is reasonable and appropriate and satisfies legislative requirements.