Dubai Municipality - Customer Service Complaints Team of the Year

Company: Dubai Municipality - Dubai- UAE
Company Division/Group:Dubai Municipality - Customers & Partners Relations Department
Company Description: Dubai Municipality (DM) is one of the largest governmental institutions in the United Arab Emirates. Itis considered as one of Dubai’s leading growth and development institutions in terms of its smart projects and services. Over the years, Dubai Municipality has excelled in managing 6 vital sectors. This has helped to make Dubai one of the most advanced and sustainable global cities.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Complaints Team of the Year - All Other Industries

Nomination Title: A complaint is a gift

We are a positive and specialized 5 members of complaints team working in the Dubai Municipality Contact Center. We firmly believe happiness of customers concerned with achieving our vision to develop a happy and sustainable city is highly important. We have worked on creating and applying a specialized management system to manage complaints ISO10002:2018. We committed to sustaining and constantly improving this system and ensuring full understanding and application of the Complaint Management Policy across administrative and operational levels. Furthermore, we are focusing on complaints by taking responsibility to deep investigation to solve issues fairly, gaining customers trust and sustaining their happiness. Additionally, we with core business teams facilitating grievance resolution by engaging committee. Moreover, we are as complaints officers delegated to communicate with customers from beginning till customers evaluate whole cycle. We are ensuring to review departments solutions and coordinating with other supportive dept. such as, IT and Legal before forwarding to the customers. Furthermore, we are using Dubai Government’s Unified Customer Complaints System that has information security, where all steps, resolutions & details documented and shared with specific users. We are trying to involve leaders during solving process to take decisions and approving improvement initiatives.

We are ISO certified and proud to be one of the Dubai government departments who worked on developing Unified Complaints System. Additionally, we are welcoming government department’s visits to share experiences, and won more than five awards. For example, we won Stevie Award for complaints 2014 – 2015

We are using Fishbone in analyzing KPI and recognize improvement opportunities, involving and discussing managers. Also detailed reports and meetings done with managements and we contacted with departments to take corrective and preventive actions. In 2020 total number of solved complaints, 521 and 99% solved within 7 working days. The biggest challenge was departments delaying in providing services. Such as, pest control and sewage withdrawal in some areas in Dubai which caused receiving frequent complaints 2019 & 2020. We analyzed these types of complaints and involved management to approve major improvement and we tracked decrease in complaints. The number of complaints in delaying sewage service 2019 was 21 then became 2 in 2020. The number of complaints in food registering 2019 was 21 became 3 in 2020. We have escalation process, happiness meter, toll free, whatsapp, chatbot, happiness hall and we firm supporting team to resolve potential complaints. These tools are effective which helped us to hear customer voice comfortably by providing them multi channels and turned their complaints into request. In 2020 we achieved overall 91.5% in happiness, we received and solved 1.2% escalation requests. Moreover, we are recognizing customers for cooperating and being role model in solving complaints.

We resolved complaints within 7 working days, and in 2019 the total number of late responses from departments were on 19 complaints, then in 2020 it reduced to 5 complaints. With transparency we achieved around 99% in responding on complaints within 7 working days and most of it were in favor of the customers. However, Dubai government target is 75%, that’s why we were able to achieved 92.1% in complainer happiness, which is above than Dubai government target 80%. This helped us indirectly towards achieving positive result in customer happiness on contact center that is one of the main channel to receive complaints. In 2020 we received 83% of complaints by contact center and we achieved happiness by 90% on the contact center channel, and these results proved that we gained our customers trust and enhanced our image. Furthermore. The Dubai government target in grieved complaints is 10% and our result in 2020 was 1%, which was a positive result that proves our review process on departments’ responses is effective.

For customers we documented all corrective and preventive actions in the system with dates, which helped us to track department’s progress. Our complaints officers signed on confidential disclosure agreement of the complainers’ details and information, and we make sure our customers feel free to complain. During Covid19 we took our customers feedbacks using ININ system. Moreover, we are sending emails to all complains coordinators about our guidelines and updates to create awareness.

By complaints process we were able to spot the weak points in services, and service owners were able to enhance it. For example, we received complaints on internal and outsourcing security or labors, whom working in our public parks and markets. Therefore, we coordinated with the concerned department to take actions like deep Investigation, then fine the security based the contract terms. And the departments coordinated with the outsourcing company to change the provided resources, and make sure to train new candidates on our standards, also we trained our human resources on customer service standards, and signing commitment letter and who unfollow rules must goes through HR process, rules & regulations. Furthermore, we focused on high importance complaints that have an impact on human health and safety or environment or reputation of the department. We are supporting our customer in solving their complaints that do not fall within the powers or responsibilities of the Dubai municipality or needs external party. Here are methods of resolving complaints with external party: Facilitating, advising, and arbitrating.