Thurrock Council and me (Thurrock District Council)

Name: redfox26

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Product:	Thurrock District Council
Date:	22.03.08 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Provide a good service, help people who need them.

Disadvantages: Sometimes Rude

Well where do i start, as you can guess i am reviewing my local council. The main office in Grays...... Our council does have sub officies in every area but every thing goes through Grays

Now i am not going to pretent that i know loads about politics or every project that there are currently into. But i am a council tenant and give them my (well my partners) hard earned cash every month.

Thurrock is a place in Essex just of off junction 30/31 of the M25.
And area's in thurrock inclued places like Aveley, South Ockendon, West Thurrock, Purfleet, Grays, Stanford le hope, Orsett, Corringham and a few more place. (anyway back to the review......).

First i will review the website.

Thurrock councils web site is quite easy to navigate, when you click on to there homepage, you have the council logo on the top left hand corner, and in the middle near centre of the page is the address for the main office (which i will add towards the end).

Down the left hand side you have 2 headings "Your Council" which will have a link and tell you who your councillors are to your thurrock area. a list of A-Z of everything you could find on the site and stratergies and priorities etc. etc.
Under the second heading you have the bit about "Your Life" this is where you will find out about, Home & Health, Money, Tax & Benifits Rights & Responsibilities and much more.

Also on the site you will find job vacancies for positions working within the council, maps, avents in thurrock, 360 degree virtual tour, limiting your landsite and so on.

I have to say that i am quite impressed with the thurrock council web site, as i do find what i need on there, wheather it be about my childrens school (unless it is a server weather warning then they go through bbc essex radio), forms i need that i can download and information on recycling is avaliable. And like i said much more.

Okay, so thats the nice bit over. Now this is where things start to go wrong, and i can only apologise if any of you work for the council, but i do have a few complaints about the service they offer.

First thing that i am going to talk about is when you need to call the office to give them information, make a complaint, or dicuss your accounts with them.

Most of the people are genuinely nice but some of the people, think that they are a cut above the rest of use.

I am going to start with the rent office department.

On a few occations i have paid my rent late, due to my partner being self employed and a contractor, he sometimes has to wait for his cheque depending on the company he is dealing with. not months late but a few days to about 2 weeks.
When i call to inform them of this i may catch a nice ladie how puts a note on the system and talks through everything with me on what to do and tells me to call back in a day or two with an update or the same information.... But on other occations quite a few times i am greeted by a grumpy old moo! that does not even want to listen to me, tells me that there was no note left on the system, and in a so not friendly manor that it i dont pay up in full i will be served with a notice. So what i have to do is keep calling untill i get the same person i spoke to originaly.

I do understand that people have bad days, but there is no need to take it out on the customers, and i know my local council have a Zero tolerance policy, but they should also remember some customers don't like rudeness.

This brings me to to my second thing Communication (or lack of it).
Now to me it seems that thurrock council is lacking this alot, when i ring up to talk about something and and i speak to one person, the next time i ring the next person i talk to has no idea of what i am talking about, the departments do not really communicate, and a local visit proved that.

whilst i went to hand in my son's aplication for school, i went into the office as i needed to get a copy of my council tax bill, with my tax being paid up for the year i shredded my copy.

Now we move on to visiting the offices.

when you go in you have to go to the front desk and take a ticket (like at the deli) and wait your turn, but it's not that simple if you need to talk to more than one department or hand forms in (how to explain this...)

Ok so you need a ticket, no i now need 2, one for the council tax desk and one for the documentation desk. so i am waiting my turn with my tickets for what seems like an age. The system that is simular to the one in argo's, tells you what desk to go to and your number.

Right my council tax ticket is called. I go to the desk and I am asked ....

Man on desk " What can i do for you?"
me " can i have a copy of my council tax bill please"
Man on desk " do you have a copy of your council tax bill with
you ?"
me " No, that what i came here for"
man on desk " in that case i can't help you"

Okay, so you are thinking that is bonkers (i did too). But you can't have a copy of your bill with out your council tax number, which is on the bill.

Needing it in a hurry the man told me he could post one to my address, but it would take 7 days. (OMG! MY OTHER TICKET NUMBER IS BEING CALLED) ignoring the call for my other ticket number (whats the point if i dont have the paper work), i dicided to offer all the identification i had on me, driving license, thurrock council rent card, bank cards and anything else in my purse with my name and address on. But again no i couldn't have a copy due to data protection. (i do respest the fact that they are protecting my information, but all the photo id i had)

This is where the man showed utter kindness, as he could see from all the explaining that that i had done, the form was only for my son's school admission, and had to go over to the next desk then upstairs (not even leave the building) he left a copy of the print out on the table, while he went to get something. which i took.

Right i have the papers, but have missed my ticket number. So back out to the front desk i go and get another.

While i am waiting my son plays in the play area they have, it's not to big, but has crayons and tv in plus i can see him well as it is just a sectioned of abit of the waiting area. Now he has had time to draw me a few picture's my number is called, and all i can say is that this time it is much easier, i hand in my form tell them what department and they give me a reciept and thats it job done i can go home after nearly 2 hours.

i am not over impressed with the service that they have when visiting, as if you need to go to several departments, as the office is situated in Gray's (which is the main office) it could take literally all day to sort out everything you need. And if you have kids, or are an elderly person this can be hard. you should be able to go to one desk and sort out everything.

What would also help keep to customers calmer i think, would have some of the staff at the empty desks pretend to work in stead of talking / laughing in groups ..... ok i do understand that they can't help people waiting for the other desks but i can, wind people up.

I think i best move on to something else as i am starting to rant abit....

Council Tax.

Yes, we all pay it. And it does provide some services. i will go through a few.

Fire Brigade.

I have up most respect for these men and women in this service.
I live in a house that backs onto a large park, and cars, bin's, motor cycle and more stuff, are set alight on a regualar basis. and without hesitation or delay they are there. Even if they have to put up with abuse from the local vandal pack as i call them.

Police.

OK, they are not that great at turning up. My garage has been broken into twice. and i have never seen a police officer. Even though i called them when the people were in my garage (non urgent crime) so i had to sort it myself.
I would like to add that i have never been the victim of a serious crime (which i am greatful of).

Again i respect the police force, and think they do a good job, but they should be given more powers and less paper work.

Ok the two above services these are not actually the council, but i pay the council for there services. The next service is also in with my council tax which is......

Waste and Refuse.

My problem is not with the recycling bin men, as they do a great job and pick up my blue box's (what the council give people for recycling stuff) and the extra white bin liners full of card, glass and any other recycling stuff i have. They always turn up on time and take my stuff which keeps me happy.

But the Normal house hold refuse me, some time (well mostly) miss my house, as i live a little set back from my neighbours. I have called the main council that have tryed sorting this problem. But i am affraid to say they are just plain lazy and can't be bothered to walk that far.

Okay, so i have covered phoning the council, going into the council, council tax. now i will talk about my cheap rent.

Just in you are wondering. i pay £105 a week rent. which i consider very good this includes the house i live in, my garage and water rates. Which i can not grumble about. As i know that private renting in the area is a lot more. I also pay £1200 a year for my council tax, which also i find to be not to bad.


My Overall Opinion.

Even though i have had a bit of a moan about them, thurrock council is not bad at all. Most of the staff are ok. And they do try there hardest to keep my area clean but the local kids keep them very busy, with smashing glass bottles all over the place, rubbish and graffiti. And the staff in the main office do have to put up with alot of calls and people, most are genuine people needing help, and not just fraudsters.

If you do wish to claim benifit's (which i have had to do in the past) from thurrock council this can take as little as 4 week to months, but if you do qualify they will back date it for you.

Also something else i just thought of, is the need for the council to pop mini round abouts, all over the place. This hobby is also taken up by other councils, but they don't really acheive much just cost money. I say put the money to better use, give it to a service that needs it like the hospitals, or fire service and police.

I give Thurrock Council 4 stars as they put up with alot
The -1 was for un-needed rudeness

Thurrock Council Information

http://www.thurrock.gov.uk/

Thurrock Council,Civic Offices,
New Road,
Grays,
Essex,
RM17 6SL

telephone: (01375) 652652

any questions do ask.

thanks for reading, sorry about the moan off.

Summary: Good service, Just sometimes up it's own bum.