Customer Service Charter

The City of Stirling is committed, through our corporate values, to support and enhance a community that our residents, businesses and visitors can be proud to be part of.

Our values

Approachable
Responsible
Transparent
Innovative.

Our commitment to you

To be a dynamic organisation that delivers effective services, maintains a strong customer focus and supports our diverse community.

During all interactions, we will:

Provide a professional standard of customer experience by being respectful
Be helpful, courteous and inclusive
Be consistent, efficient and responsive
Be open, honest and accountable
Listen to and understand the importance of your enquiry
Communicate effectively and keep you informed of progress
Provide accurate, meaningful up-to-date information and advice
Identify ourselves verbally or by wearing a name badge.

We are also committed to

Ensuring information, resources and services are accessible and inclusive
Ensuring relevant case notes of interactions with our customers are recorded to ensure we are accountable and transparent.
Using customer feedback, suggestions and improvement data to improve our services
Respecting and protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information
Ensuring our employees work together effectively to resolve your enquiry, avoiding referrals to other departments within the City
Engaging our community and seeking feedback on projects, plans and proposals that affect them
Providing explanations for our decisions and how community feedback influenced the decision.

How you can help

We appreciate your assistance by asking that you:

Provide accurate information to enable us to assist you
Allow us to ask questions where necessary
Respect the rights of other customers
Understand that some requests are outside of the City’s responsibilities
Inform us of any changes to your contact details or residential address
Treat our employees with courtesy and respect - our safety and well-being of our employees is our priority and our employees may end a conversation if they feel unsafe or where it involves abusive language or aggressive behaviour.

Our contact standards

By phone

Our Customer Contact Centre will aim to resolve enquiries immediately. If this isn’t possible, you will be transferred to the relevant officer who will assist you. If the officer is unavailable at the time of your call, you will receive a return call by 5.00pm the next business day.

Please note, direct phone numbers and email addresses of City officers are not available via the Customer Contact Centre.

If you experience difficulty speaking or hearing, assistance to contact the city is available via the National Relay Service 1800 555 660.

If you are making a request for a service that requires action, we will advise you of the expected time frame to action your request. You will be provided with a case number to quote should you need to re-contact us.

In person

We will greet you with warmth, respect, courtesy and understanding. We aim to resolve face-to-face enquiries at the initial point of contact. When this is not possible, we will phone or write to you with a response within seven business days.

Email

Please submit enquiries and feedback via the Customer Enquiries and Feedback Form.

Written and online enquiries

Letters, online enquiries and complaints will be responded to within seven business days. When it’s not possible to resolve your enquiry or complaint within seven business days, we will keep you informed of progress and advise when you can expect to receive a full response.

Please note, these standards do not apply to unsolicited mail, sales or promotional material.

Providing feedback

Your feedback is important to us and assists with the continuous improvement of our services. We are committed to ensuring complaints are handled efficiently, fairly and confidentially.

To ensure we have as much detail as possible to assist in handling your complaint, please submit feedback via the enquiry form on our website, or in writing.

Alternatively, we can capture feedback on your behalf on the phone or in person.

Please note, our social media accounts are managed within the hours of 8.30am - 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, all enquiries out of hours, with be responded to on a first come, first served basis.

Dispute resolution for businesses

The City of Stirling is committed to providing an open, transparent and easily accessible dispute resolution process for its business customers
Disputes will be managed in a fair, objective, unbiased and timely manner. Business customers will be kept informed of progress, including any delays
City employees responsible for dispute management will be empowered to make decisions in order to manage and resolve disputes promptly and effectively
A business in dispute with the City will be informed if discretion exists in a policy or planning scheme provision, or if legislative processes govern the decision. A clear explanation of any policies relating to the dispute will be provided by the City to the business
Businesses have the right to request mediation if a resolution is not achieved. Referral by the City to the Small Business Development Corporation Alternative Dispute Resolution Service or another agreed mediation service provider may be requested.

For more information, please refer to business support to learn how the City can assist businesses by supporting free and low-cost services.

More information and contact

For more information, please phone our Customer Contact Centre.