By David Ball Staff Writer
Ken Zang has worked at the City of Jacksonville City Link call center for four years and has fielded thousands of complaints, requests and other calls.
But when asked of his most memorable call, one quickly came to mind.
“I remember somebody reported a pack of five aggressive Chihuahuas running around the neighborhood,” said Zang, who forwarded the report to city animal control.
“The control officer took photos and issued a citation,” Zang added. “I haven’t heard anything since.”
Problem solved – an example of the countless issues Zang and his 20 or so colleagues encounter as they field some 2,400 calls a day to 630-CITY. The call center has doubled in size since beginning seven years ago and now almost all calls to City Hall are directed through the center.
City Link Customer Service Manager Monica Rubi helped city leaders establish the call center while at a similar job at Merrill Lynch, and she was tapped six months later to head the growing department.
Rubi says the call center is simply the fastest and most effective way to get a city issue resolved. And even though the volume of calls can be staggering, and the callers themselves may not be in the best of moods, Rubi said the job is not as drab and thankless as some may think.
In fact, for an office at City Hall, the call center is more about pickles than politics. Jars of the brined cucumbers greet visitors at the entrance, as cardboard pickles hang from the ceiling and pickle posters line the walls.
“It’s part of a customer service training program,” said Rubi, who then chronicled the story of a sandwich shop owner who learned the hard way not to skimp on the small stuff – i.e. condiments.
Employees even select their own “Pickler of the Month” who demonstrates the ideals of attitude, consistency, teamwork and service. “It’s pretty typical for the call-center industry,” said Rubi.
The emphasis on personalization extends to the employees’ desks, with each row of cubicles given a name like “Epping Forest,” “Smiling River Trail,” or “Quality Corner.”
Employees are encouraged to “bling” their workspace with whatever decorations fit their personalities. Hanging above them are cards with funny quotes from callers. One contains concerns from a resident who feared a garbage can overdue for collection could attract flies and “magnets.”
“We wanted to know whether it was a plastic or metal garbage can, because the magnets probably wouldn’t be attracted to the plastic one,” Rubi said, displaying some typical call center humor.
Funny or not, most calls have something to do with garbage collection. According to City Link statistics, the call center fielded more than 12,000 “requests” for appliance pick-up since Oct. 1, 2006.
Missed garbage was the No. 2 “complaint” at nearly 8,000 calls, topped only by complaints of nuisance properties at more than 10,000 calls. Calls for animal control were also high, at more than 6,000 calls.
The top “inquiry” was for direction to other governmental agencies at 9,000 calls, followed by information on garbage collection days and directions to the Tax Collector’s Office.
“We get a lot of calls about garbage pick-up,” said customer service representative Jeanetta Brown, who enters such requests into a computer data base that sends the information to the corresponding city department or agency for follow-up.
“I put in a request for a recycle bin pick-up at 7:30 (a.m.), and two hours later, (the resident) called back to thank me,” said Brown. “We get that a lot.”
Even with issues far outside their resources, the service reps try to provide some answers.
“The other day a man called asking for the number to the courthouses in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi,” said Brown. “He wanted me to get on the Internet and look it up. I just told him to get on the phone and dial 4-1-1, and he was happy with that.”
Rubi said the customer service reps earn a starting wage of $10.56 an hour and undergo four to six weeks of training. To ensure her employees are handling callers correctly, she occasionally calls 630-CITY herself. She said some City Council members have also called in.
Brown said she rarely encounters very angry callers, but it does happen.
“I don’t mind if they yell, I mean, they must be frustrated,” said Brown. “I know how to tone them down. I’ve never had anyone curse me out.”
Rubi said her staff’s motto of “how you perceive customers is how you will treat them,” has been affective and is hopefully creating a positive reputation for city employees.
“I don’t know what the reputation of city employees was before,” said Rubi, “but the longer we’ve been around, the less people we have calling angry.”
The call center at is open from 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Provided by Monica Rubi
These charts show the top reasons many residents call City Hall. The figures are from Oct. 1, 2006 through Monday.