8 February 2005 Press Release CONFIRMING CONTACT NUMBERS FOR JOBURG'S CALL CENTRE The City of Johannesburg wishes to reaffirm its policy that customers who wish to log queries or complaints regarding their accounts must do so by contacting its call centre Joburg Connect and getting a reference number from the call taker. "It is important that customers understand that when they try to address their complaints outside of having logged a call and received a reference number, the City will not have a record of their complaint and then resolving it will become that much more difficult," says the Director for Marketing and Communications for the Revenue Department Mandy Jean Woods. "We regularly receive complaints from customers who say they have contacted the City numerous times to resolve their query. And on enquiry, it is established that the customer has not received a reference number nor logged their complaint with the call centre." The call centre is divided into two specialist departments, Emergency Connect - 37 55 911 - is a 24-hour Emergency Services call centre where appropriately qualified call centre agents take calls relating to all life threatening emergencies and where dispatchers send out appropriate response vehicles i.e. ambulances, fire engines, rescue vehicles and metro police. "Calls relating to the cutting off of power or water should not be made to this number," says Woods. Care Connect - 37 55 555 - deals primarily with all general enquiries for public service providers such as querying accounts, billing, meter readings, water, electricity, roads, Metrobus, refuse, traffic fines etc. Queries can also be faxed to 37 56 555 or e-mailed to joburgconnect@joburg.org.za. "However we encouage our customers call rather than fax or email. This is because when someone calls, their details and query are captured directly onto the electronic query recording system. With faxes or emails there is always a possibility that they can be lost, or not contain insufficient information required to register a query on the system," says Woods. ENDS Issued by: Mandy Jean Woods Director: Marketing and Communications Department of Revenue, City of Johannesburg Phone: 407 7356 Fax: 403 7738 Cell: 082 553 4211 (Please send sms if urgent) Email: mandyw@joburg.org.za