I consider dealing with any Government department a painful exercise. Throw in a call centre and you usually have a recipe for disaster. After filing my passport application with a regional Home Affairs office, I was exceedingly apprehensive about dealing with its call centre. However, I chose to follow up several times in order to closely monitor the progress of my application.
I was pleasantly surprised. The call centre is available from 8am to 7.30pm on weekdays and is also open from 8am to 5pm on Saturdays – very convenient for someone like me who is always swamped and running around like a headless chicken. Although there was the customary voice prompt at the beginning of the call(s) I was never “on hold” for more than a minute and each of the customer services representatives I spoke to proved knowledgeable and helpful.
Service from the team at Home Affairs was consistent – a quality desperately lacking in most other Government call centres I’ve dealt with. In short, I can honestly say I no longer dread phoning Home Affairs with any queries in future. Let’s hope my good service wasn’t just the luck of the draw.
SCOREBOARD
Time taken to answer a call: 60 sec
First impression: 3/5
Ability to answer query: 4/5
Courtesy of agent: 3,5/5
Overall score [not an average]: 4/5
I was pleasantly surprised. The call centre is available from 8am to 7.30pm on weekdays and is also open from 8am to 5pm on Saturdays – very convenient for someone like me who is always swamped and running around like a headless chicken. Although there was the customary voice prompt at the beginning of the call(s) I was never “on hold” for more than a minute and each of the customer services representatives I spoke to proved knowledgeable and helpful.
Service from the team at Home Affairs was consistent – a quality desperately lacking in most other Government call centres I’ve dealt with. In short, I can honestly say I no longer dread phoning Home Affairs with any queries in future. Let’s hope my good service wasn’t just the luck of the draw.
SCOREBOARD
Time taken to answer a call: 60 sec
First impression: 3/5
Ability to answer query: 4/5
Courtesy of agent: 3,5/5
Overall score [not an average]: 4/5