We are talking here about customer service at
the QVM information office on Queen St. and there appear to be problems.
Shop
1 in F Shed is the go-to place for customers, usually looking for
directions, and of course traders themselves who can have a variety of operational issues needing attention. We have been receiving complaints
over recent months about the service, or more correctly lack of service, from
staff at F1.
Traders
have been complaining that F1 staff do not seem to know how to accept rent
payments, how to record leave arrangements, or how to handle a variety of
“simple” market matters.
We
have one trader who had to wait while the counter staff took lengthy notes
about their issue because they didn't know how to refer to the correct office
staff. One customer was advised to walk around the market looking for a
particular trader because the staff didn't know how to look up traders on the
system. Recently our interim CEO was attempting to assist F1 staff who didn't
know how to accept rent payments.
Hopefully
these are isolated cases. As far as we can tell, they are caused by staff who simply
don't have sufficient knowledge. They are no doubt competent customer service
people but without a little QVM knowledge, or at least a sound backup system, it would appear that the customer service function is struggling and needs attention. At least one trader has written formally to management seeking a solution.
NOTE: Some complaints about F1 concern the issuing of receipts for rent payments and we should make it clear once again that rent receipts are NOT issued at F1. If you need to pay by cheque in person at F1 your receipt is the entry on your bank statement when the cheque is finally cleared. In this instance, F1 is simply acting like a post box and passing the cheques on to the QVM accounts staff. There are a number of alternative ways of paying rent that give immediate receipts but none of them can be carried out at F1.