Warwickshire: You’ve been mystery shopped!
Warwickshire County Council employees may have recently helped a customer who wasn’t all they appeared to be!
In fact, they could have been one of a team of ‘mystery shoppers’ whose mission is to check out how well the council is delivering customer service.
The mystery shoppers carried out their undercover mission in a number of ways. Some visited council services in person, including libraries, register offices, fire stations and Area Risk Teams. Others made ‘mystery calls’ to the county council’s switchboard and to randomly selected members of staff.
The council’s response to letters and emails was also checked out. Staff were put to the test with a wide range of ‘frequently asked questions’ and requests for information.
Councillor Alan Farnell, Leader of Warwickshire County Council, said: “The feedback from our latest ‘Mystery Shopper’ exercise reveals that overall the council is doing well to raise standards of customer service, but we’ll be looking closely at any areas where we can improve.”
It was good news for those who were visited in person by the secret ‘shoppers’, as council staff were given an excellent 94% rating for their knowledge and 98% rating for politeness.
Mystery callers who telephoned the council also had a very good response, with 85% of them successfully speaking to someone who could help with their enquiry first time. 93% of calls made directly to members of staff were answered within five rings, which is the council’s target.
All the ‘mystery shoppers’ who wrote to the council expecting to get literature through the post received it, and a final response from the council took an average of just over 1 ½ days. However, only 70% of all the ‘mystery letters’ were responded to within the council’s target of 5 days.
A ‘mini’ mystery shopper exercise will take place in April to check progress on improvements following this latest feedback.
The Mystery Shopper exercise is part of a range of consultation work carried out by Warwickshire County Council. To find out more and ‘have your say’, follow the link below.