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City of Cape Town
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City of Cape Town Website: http://www.capetown.gov.za/ The City of Cape Town (CoCT) is a large public administration that administers the affairs of the city of Cape Town. Contrary to what is usually expected from companies in South Africa, and especially government departments, this one really makes a difference. This is a shining example of good service and certainly sets the example for private industry. With most companies, and even more so government, one expects to make numerous phone calls trying to track down who is dealing with your issues, then struggle to hold of them, a week later only to find that person is no longer there, and often you just give up in frustration (unless you are me that is....). What if you were to e-mail an issue to your local government department and before you can follow up in the obligatory one week period, they phone you to tell you that they are dealing with it and will get back to you? A few days later you receive a cheque in the mail as a refund, and then even receive a phone call to check if you received the refund. I would never have believed that this would actually happen in practice, but it did. I had a pre-paid electricity meter removed from my house (apparently I was one of the only subscribers to ever request this! But I always seem to run out of power at inconvenient times because I never get around to buying electricity during business hours). The CoCT undertook to credit me for the unused credit on the meter after removal, once the accounts had been balanced. After the account had been balanced during March I took the query up via e-mail and Ms Solomons received and dealt with the query. Without me having to query progress on the issue, she kept me informed with regards to progress, and also managed to resolve the issue in a very short time. I wonder whether the CoCT realises that her speedy service probably saved them more money than the refund itself? A few telephone calls from me, with the time required for staff to track down who was dealing with the issue, and the time wasted by myself, would have quickly added up. Another plus (and something I still struggle to get my own personnel to do) is that when she could not reach me on my telephone, she left her progress report on my voicemail. Why waste time calling back again, after you have anyway paid for the telephone call? Ms Solomons' attitude and professional conduct would be an asset to any organisation, and I certainly hope my e-mail praising her efforts reaches her employer. I have spent much time working with private companies as well as government departments and interestingly enough this example also highlights the turn around within government with regards to quality of service. Government used to be known for slow bureaucratic service (or lack of service). Many people have not yet noticed it, but my experiences have shown that on the whole government service has dramatically improved over the last few years and their accountability to the people and their tax payers has certainly made a very big difference. I similarly complimented our Receiver of Revenue (IRS) a while ago in that they were prepared to go the extra mile to assist the tax payer with advice, and even insisted I need not come in to them as they would post the necessary documents to me!! The difference is probably due to government's attitude now to be transparent, cost effective and accountable to the people, and this is where they start to leave private companies behind. Government's service really has improved, and with some of the breakthroughs with regards to their WEB enabled services due soon, this is only set to improve.
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