{"id":35202,"date":"2022-12-03T07:30:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T07:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month"},"modified":"2022-12-03T07:30:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T07:30:54","slug":"city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month","title":{"rendered":"City of Windhoek flooded with 20 000 calls a month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>A TOTAL of 23 call agents at the City of Windhoek receive between 500 and 1 000 calls a day from residents around the capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe handle all queries ranging from pipe bursts, to sewer blockages, electricity failures, and general account queries,\u201d says Linda Shininge, the section head of the city’s contact centre and quality assurance.<\/p>\n

At the centre, phones are constantly ringing and agents have their hands full to attend to all calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity of Windhoek, how can I help you?\u201d one agent answers a call. After a while, the agent tells the customer: \u201cMa’am, your account has been blocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shininge says this type of conversation is repeated several times a day.<\/p>\n

She says the centre receives between 16 000 and 20 000 calls a month, and sometimes the agents struggle to catch their breath.<\/p>\n

They work in shifts of seven agents at a time.<\/p>\n

The most calls received regard balance enquiries, call transfers, and follow-up calls.<\/p>\n

The fewest calls are about power outages.<\/p>\n

The call centre was set up after a council meeting in June 2017 when it was decided that customer services would be centralised.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe receive all complaints via calls and email, and try to make sure we have zero emails at the end of the day, with all queries answered or at least referred to the right departments,\u201d Shininge says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets heavy. Some days you can’t even take a tea break. Some people want their sewage to be fixed within hours, which is impossible,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In June, the city received more than 16 000 calls and managed to answer 15 120 of them.<\/p>\n

Despite this, she says service delivery has improved.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then if you reported a water link it would take up to six days for someone to get back to you, but today it takes a day or an hour,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

VERBAL ABUSE<\/p>\n

Shininge says although she has not personally been abused verbally by callers, many agents have.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople call staff members all sorts of names, insulting them. Some even threaten staff members, saying they will come and deal with them if whatever they are asking is not done,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Call centre agent Rosa Kekuamang says: \u201cIt’s impossible to receive the service immediately, because it needs to be verified and arrangements should be made. It’s not like firefighters where they attend as soon as possible. Sometimes they call and people are already in the field at a different location.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a caller who insulted all the call centre agents, and we referred her to debt management. She even called yesterday again, insulting the agent who assisted her, and asked for her services to be reconnected urgently.\u201d<\/p>\n

The public can reach the City of Windhoek’s call centre at 061 290 3777, or at [email protected]<\/p>\n

\u201cWe handle all queries ranging from pipe bursts, to sewer blockages, electricity failures, and general account queries,\u201d says Linda Shininge, the section head of the city’s contact centre and quality assurance.<\/p>\n

At the centre, phones are constantly ringing and agents have their hands full to attend to all calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity of Windhoek, how can I help you?\u201d one agent answers a call. After a while, the agent tells the customer: \u201cMa’am, your account has been blocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shininge says this type of conversation is repeated several times a day.<\/p>\n

She says the centre receives between 16 000 and 20 000 calls a month, and sometimes the agents struggle to catch their breath.<\/p>\n

They work in shifts of seven agents at a time.<\/p>\n

The most calls received regard balance enquiries, call transfers, and follow-up calls.<\/p>\n

The fewest calls are about power outages.<\/p>\n

The call centre was set up after a council meeting in June 2017 when it was decided that customer services would be centralised.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe receive all complaints via calls and email, and try to make sure we have zero emails at the end of the day, with all queries answered or at least referred to the right departments,\u201d Shininge says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets heavy. Some days you can’t even take a tea break. Some people want their sewage to be fixed within hours, which is impossible,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In June, the city received more than 16 000 calls and managed to answer 15 120 of them.<\/p>\n

Despite this, she says service delivery has improved.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then if you reported a water link it would take up to six days for someone to get back to you, but today it takes a day or an hour,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

VERBAL ABUSE<\/p>\n

Shininge says although she has not personally been abused verbally by callers, many agents have.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople call staff members all sorts of names, insulting them. Some even threaten staff members, saying they will come and deal with them if whatever they are asking is not done,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Call centre agent Rosa Kekuamang says: \u201cIt’s impossible to receive the service immediately, because it needs to be verified and arrangements should be made. It’s not like firefighters where they attend as soon as possible. Sometimes they call and people are already in the field at a different location.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a caller who insulted all the call centre agents, and we referred her to debt management. She even called yesterday again, insulting the agent who assisted her, and asked for her services to be reconnected urgently.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. A TOTAL of 23 call agents at the City of Windhoek receive between 500 and 1 000 calls a day from residents around the capital. \u201cWe handle all queries ranging from pipe bursts, to sewer blockages, electricity failures, and general account queries,\u201d says Linda Shininge, the section head of the city’s contact […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":35201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-35202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nCity of Windhoek flooded with 20 000 calls a month - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"City of Windhoek flooded with 20 000 calls a month\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Namibia. A TOTAL of 23 call agents at the City of Windhoek receive between 500 and 1 000 calls a day from residents around the capital. \u201cWe handle all queries ranging from pipe bursts, to sewer blockages, electricity failures, and general account queries,\u201d says Linda Shininge, the section head of the city’s contact […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-03T07:30:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"City of Windhoek flooded with 20 000 calls a month\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-03T07:30:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month\"},\"wordCount\":895,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670040658.29.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/city-of-windhoek-flooded-with-20-000-calls-a-month\",\"name\":\"City of Windhoek flooded with 20 000 calls a month - 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