The City of Calgary has introduced call back for 311 users, looking to make requests during periods of long phone call wait times.
The new service will be available on 311, and the City of Calgary’s 10-digit number for city services, 1-403-268-2489.
In a release, the city said that they were the first jurisdiction in western Canada to offer this sort of call back service for 311 requests.
“This technology allows for 311 to strengthen our commitment and focus on providing enhanced customer service to our citizens,” said Clarke Bellamy, Manager of 311, Customer Service and Communications for the City of Calgary.
“We anticipate this new feature will provide additional options to callers that prefer not to wait on hold.”
Call volume for 311 has been historically seasonal in Calgary, and has been declining overall for the past five years as more Calgarians opt to make 311 requests through the dedicated app, and through various online methods.
The top requested service for both 2023 and 2022 was for information about property taxes, followed by waste services cart management.
Ward 12 Councillor Evan Spencer said that even though that volume was decreasing, there were still spikes in call volume occurring that made it difficult for Calgarians to make 311 requests.
“Whether it’s a snowstorm or tax season, there’s just times where luck of the draw if you call 311, you can end up still with a fairly long wait time. Thankfully, it’s happening less and less,” he said.
“The inclusion of this new callback does mute some of the impact on somebody’s day, particularly if you’re at work and trying to get things accomplished. The ability to call and get a call back allows you to continue to be productive and mute its impact on your calendar.”
He welcomed the modernization of the 311 system, saying that it brings it in line with other call centres.
Work is still needed on improving responses after calls are completed, Spencer said.
“One of the biggest points of contention that council is hearing from the community is that when they put in a service request, oftentimes the request gets closed, whether it’s on the app, or they get an email back from 311, that says their service request has been closed with little indication about what action was actually taken,” he said.
“Bridging that communication gap would be a massive reputational benefit to the city, especially if you call two, three, or four times on something that is important to you, and maybe there’s a very simple answer for why something can’t happen, or the work has been slated, and it just has a two week or a month long average service time. You sit in those two weeks, frustrated not knowing the simple detail.”
He said that a re-introduction of the city’s open data on the 311 call centre through the citizen portal would be a good first step.
