As 311 marks its two-year
anniversary, having handled over one million phone calls calls already and
hundreds of thousands of visits to our 311 web portal, we are setting up this
blog so that you will have one more way to give us feedback on our 311 system. County Executive
That meant one number to
call – 311 – for information and to request County government services.
311 is, essentially, the
front office operation for all County departments. We take the information,
create service requests, and send them to the folks who do the work. When you
call 311, you are calling the department. In many cases you are speaking to the
same folks who handled those calls before 311 was established.
The 311 Customer Service Center is designed to make it easier for county
residents to obtain information, make service requests, and track progress on
those requests. The system will also give the County timely information on
County department performance to more effectively target resources to
particular areas and needs.
Before 311 many residents didn’t know what number to
call. When they reached someone it was often the wrong person. Often they
simply reached a voicemail and never talked to a “live” person. There was
little to no ability to track service requests across departments and tracking
even within departments was often unsystematic. The information County
By consolidating County department call centers and
doing away with duplicative systems and licensing fees, 311 saved the County
about $10 million in its first two years.
About two dozen phone numbers have been transferred
to 311, leaving about 11,000 numbers that can still be dialed directly. If you
call 311 and ask to speak to an individual County employee, you are connected.
If we call for an issue that’s handled by the State, by municipalities, MCPS,
or other agencies, we will connect you directly to them.
And, of course, our web portal – at
www.mc311.com -- is available 24/7. Most
service requests, including, most recently added, bulk trash and scrap metal pickup,
can be handled through the portal.
Every few months we survey County 311 users and have
consistently found about a 75 to 80 percent satisfaction rate. That’s fine –
but not good enough. We are making constant improvements.
For example, in mid-August, the 311 Call Center will
expand its hours from 7 AM- 5 PM to 7 AM to 7 PM
to better serve working families.
Let us know how we are doing – and thanks for
visiting this blog.
Patrick Lacefield
Director, Montgomery County
Why don't you have a blog posting during this week's storm?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your posting. We did include on the right side of the Blog page all the County updates during the storm.
ReplyDeleteBTW, 311 took over 12,000 calls (not to mention website visits) during the week of the storm and the immediate aftermath -- despite having to relocate the operation due to power failures that shut down the building in which 311 was located.
I made the call to 311 to report no-show Ride On Bus, the rep took my information and submitted without asking if I want to comment. She said go ahead. I gave my comment that it was not the first time, it happened too often and I spent between 15 to 45 minutes waiting for the late bus in last two months etc... She said she understood then hung up on me. I'm deeply offended by the treatment I received from 311 customer service, it was my first call to 311 and was surprised by this. If you want to improve the satisfaction rate, DON'T ever hang up on them. I was being nice and reasonable, why hung up on me? The call was less than 5 minutes, I tried to figure out why they hung me up.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. and Mrs. Campbell,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to let us know about the unsatisfactory experience you had when you recently called 311 to report a no-show Ride On Bus.
I apologize that you did not receive the excellent customer service we expect our Customer Service Representatives to provide. She was confused on the handling of a video relay call and discontinued the call too early. Her supervisor spoke to her to clarify our process. The service request # 1124171003 that she created has been handled by a Transit Depot supervisor who noted that Route 52 was missed that day due a shortage in personnel. I hope you will give us another chance the next time you need information on a County program or would like to make a request for service.
This is cool. How I report rat in park on the blog?
ReplyDeleteMr. Lacefield, thank you for your public service. 311 is a great service and I hope it continues to improve and thrive. What are the County's plans for a mobile app? Hopefully one similar to the District's (http://ouc.dc.gov/page/dc-311-smartphone-app) will be released soon. Please advise, and thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, we have made it easier for our residents. Just go to mc311.com on your smart phone and it takes you to the mobile version of the 311 web portal automatically -- where you can search general information yourself and even send in service requests. No need to even download (or update) an app.
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