Brisbane customer service staff awarded

From a customer who lost a bag of cheezels on a bus to another who flushed their dentures, Brisbane’s award-winning contact centre staff reveal all.

They’re the calming voice on the other end of the line and while you may never see their faces, they’re always there for you answering more than 1.3 million calls for assistance in the past year.

From assisting people affected by severe flooding to dealing with calls about dentures being flushed down the toilet, Brisbane City Council’s award-winning contact centre has been helping residents for a quarter of a century.

The Contact Centre was launched in 1996 and has evolved into a one-stop-shop for residents, which regularly fields queries about waste collection, rates, parking and more.

Figures show the Contact Centre had 1.3 million contacts with residents throughout 2020-21 across more than 4200 topics and on average manages 2585 customer contacts a day.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said there are the occasional calls though that leave staff stumped.

“Some of the more interesting contacts over the past 25 years include a customer who wanted to know whether the local sewage plant had a lost and found office after they had accidentally flushed their dentures,” he said.

“Another customer who had received a noise complaint about their pet duck put the animal on the phone so that the Contact Centre consultant could ascertain for themselves whether the quacking noise was excessive.

“Other customers have called to sort out a household dispute over the correct spelling of the word ‘chihuahua’.”

Other memorable Contact Centre calls have included:

• When asked what breed their dog was, the customer advised “Malteser.”
• A customer called and advised that “I left my bag of Cheezels on the bus, I demand you get the driver to deliver them to me because I really want to eat them”
• A gentleman with a missing cat was asked to describe his cat’s appearance and he replied “lovely cat, bit cheeky and loves his food”
• A customer with a fear of frogs called and requested for Council to come out to her property and remove a green frog in a backyard bucket.
• A customer called to find out what channel the weather network was on.

Cr Schrinner praised contact centre staff for winning yet another customer service award recently, saying the support they provided was second to none.

“It’s great that this service has been recognised again at the recent Australian Business Awards, where it was the winner of both the Service Excellence and Process Improvement categories,” he said.

“While these awards are recognition for our Contact Centre, the excellent feedback we receive regularly from residents is proof that Brisbane really appreciates having a local 24-hour service to call.”

Cr Schrinner said the contact centre had also been available to Brisbane residents and businesses throughout the COIVD-19 pandemic, providing callers with timely access to the information they need.

“Over the past two years, our staff has provided an uninterrupted service to Brisbane residents and businesses through COVID-19, with the Business Hotline (133 BNE) providing a priority 24-hour hotline for business customers,” he said.

“Our dedicated staff have created a nationally recognised standard of customer service and the team is celebrating its 25th birthday milestone by adding more national customer service awards to its belt.”