Praising the council? No I'm not going mad! (Leicester City Council)

Member Name: marnie_moo

Product:	Leicester City Council
Date:	27/02/09 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Contacting them directly was very informative

Disadvantages: Not very good at releasing information at a wider scale

Now everyone the world over complains about their local council- how slow they get things done, some of the almost ridiculous things they put money into, any and every complaint under the sun.

Of course I don't agree with all the council's decisions either, but all I can tell you is my personal experience of them.

I had to contact them regarding a new scheme they are putting into place called residents parking. This scheme makes parking spaces in certain areas only available to residents only who buy a license for about £20 for a whole year, which I think is very reasonable. I wanted to find out what areas would be covered by this and when but couldn't find any information in the newspapers or on the internet.

I rung the council up on a general information number and was promptly redirected to the correct number- very politely and without being put on hold. The next man I spoke to again was very polite and said although he didn't know the answer offhand he would get back to me and took my number. I was expecting to maybe get a reply through a few days later expecting the council's usual lateness is getting things done. However the man rung me back within half an hour with exactly the information I was after and more. I was very impressed, it seemed he'd stopped his own work to find something trivial out just for me, and that's customer service unlike I would have expected.

So no matter what people have to say about Leicester or the council in general all I can say is you contact them directly they will go above and beyond that extra mile to help you, and that is worth 5 stars in my book.

Summary: Customer service like you wouldn't believe especially in a company that's not getting paid for it