Become a MYSTERY CUSTOMER

[jspazzer.livejournal.com]

Help the City of Somerville Serve You Better!

Become a MYSTERY CUSTOMER

What is a Mystery Customer?
Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone is seeking volunteers for the “Mystery Customer” program - part of the ACE (Accurate Courteous and Easy) customer service initiative. Mystery Customers conduct real transactions with city departments, evaluate the quality of these transactions and provide the Mayor’s Office with valuable customer service feedback and suggestions for improvement.

The following are just a few examples of transactions that Mystery Customers can evaluate:

· Obtaining a residential parking sticker at Traffic & Parking
· Requesting a dog license at the City Clerk’s Office
· Picking up a yard waste sticker from DPW
· Calling in a request for information or service to 311
· Signing up for a library card

If you are interested in serving as a Mystery Customer, please email efriedman@somervillema.gov so that we can send you information on city services and office locations as well as instructions on how to conduct evaluations.
Evaluations can be submitted using a simple online survey that takes just a few minutes to fill out. The identities of Mystery Customers will never be shared publicly or with the departments/ offices being evaluated.

Why Should *YOU* Be A Mystery Customer?
In addition to helping improve customer service for all Somerville residents, the first 25 Mystery Customers to complete three separate transactions will earn a “Somerville Rocks!” T-shirt, and all participants will be invited to a reception with the Mayor to discuss the results of this program.

Questions? Call 617-625-6600 x2107 or email Eric Friedman at the link above.

Comments

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I saw Mayor Joe himself be a Mystery Customer once. Hilarious.

[ron_newman]

Where can he go in this city and not be recognized?

[ruxxell.livejournal.com]

my house. i have no friggin idea what this guy looks like.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

The telephone? ;)

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You spy on him in his house? That might score you a run-in with the Somerville PD, my friend.

[ron_newman]

I figured this would show up here, but thought resistat or tomchampion would get here first.

(Friendly note to OP - plain text really is better here than formatted text.)

[jspazzer.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to paste it in as plain text or to convert it to plain text after pasting. If you can show me an easy way to do that, I will convert now.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

paste to notepad first, then copy the unformatted stuff from notepad. (I have no idea if this will in fact work, I'm not a Windows user, and these days notepad may try to be too "smart" for its own good.)

[ron_newman]

If you avoid the Rich Text editor (use HTML instead), I believe it will paste in as plain text. At least it does on my Mac.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

When you post, you'll see two tab in the upper right of your editing space. One says "HTML" and the other, "Rich Text". Click on the HTML tab and paste your text. The formatting becomes LJ default.

Your Very Own Secret Identity!

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

More than a few DSLJ members are already providing useful input about their experiences with city services and agencies -- that's one of the reasons I joined this community.

But unless you sign up as an OFFICIAL "Mystery Customer," you can't get the "Somerville Rocks!" t-shirt, so I hope you'll want to take part.

I tried to get them to offer capes or trench coats instead of t-shirts, but the SomerStat folks just don't buy into the secret-identity/superhero concept.

Re: Your Very Own Secret Identity!

[ron_newman]

I'm curious -- if I wanted to be a Mystery Customer and get a residential permit or a dog license, would I have to use some fake name and fake documentation?

Re: Your Very Own Secret Identity!

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Good question! The answer is that we're hoping for real people performing genuine transactions under their own names, then sharing the results with SomerStat staff, who will maintain the anonymity of all participants.

If a fake person performed fake transactions, it would screw up our tracking systems -- and we wouldn't know who to give the t-shirt to.

Re: Your Very Own Secret Identity!

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

this reminds me that I keep meaning to sit down with some friends of mine and design the "Tom Champion Superhero Uniform" complete with kilt. (The team's the Highlanders, right?)

Re: Your Very Own Secret Identity!

[spaz-i-mota.livejournal.com]

I think I'm the perfect person to do a bunch of these since I'm moving into Somerville tomorrow..and already had some run ins re: parking permits. Yippee!!!

Re: Your Very Own Secret Identity!

[fangirl715.livejournal.com]

I need a recycling bin (although I don't know how we'll manage to pick one up, seeing as I don't have a car and work in Boston during the weekdays), and need to dispose of a late lamented iMac...would I be a candidate?

Re: Your Very Own Secret Identity!

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you're a very good candidate on both transactions. I hope you'll go ahead and email Eric Friedman at efriedman@somervillema.gov in order to sign up.

Please let us know how it all turns out.

[lusciousnichols.livejournal.com]

I was wondering how much difference you all think this is going to make in Somerville?

There are so many other problems that are more important than bad customer service in Somerville, like city employees breaking the law. Constantly.

Personally, it irritates the livin' crap out of me that cops turn on their lights to run red lights, not because they're on a call, but because they're in a hurry, or they're headed to Dunkin Donuts. It's an abuse of power. And it's a dangerous practice.

The one that's really upset me since I moved here is the ticket people. Is that what they're called? (the ones that give you all those glorious parking tickets) They are never *once* ticketed for parking their cars in front of the hydrant (for the *entire* work day) on Paulina Street by the ticket office.(They even tease each other on the sidewalk and pretend that they're going to issue each other a ticket for parking there, then laugh at each other, and walk away).
But if a resident parks there for more than 5 minutes they have a dandy orange gift under their windshield wiper if they park in that very spot. Every. Single. Time. I think customer service is the least of Somerville's problems.

Gah, this makes me frustrated, I need to chill out.

On an up note, I'm really happy with the 311 service. I've used it a few times and they've responded promptly. I was very happy with it.

Constant Law Breakers?

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Because they use their own vehicles to get to and from their assignments, Parking Control Officers have permits that allow them to park anywhere in the city on official business. While that may seem unfair to you, it's not a violation of the law.

As for cops running red lights and using their flashers for personal business or other non-emergency situations, if you see this happen you should definitely call (617-625-6600 x7200) or email (aide@police.somerville.ma.us) the office of Chief Anthony Holloway to provide time of day, location and other relevant info -- including cruiser number or plate number if you've got it. I know he takes these matters very seriously.

But I have to ask -- and there's no way to do it without sounding slightly snarky -- how do you know they're just heading to McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts? Do you follow them? Does the whole thing unfold right in front of you? If you see them turn into the Dunkin driveway, how do you know it's not official business? (See story URL below.) http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/2008/02/in-three-busts.html#more

Re: Constant Law Breakers?

[ron_newman]

Parking control officers are allowed to park in front of fire hydrants? Really?

Are SPCO's immune to hydrant laws?

[lusciousnichols.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the prompt reply. Makes me wonder if LJ is hooked up to 311!

I'm a bit confused and perhaps you could clear this up for me. What I hear you saying is that it's perfectly legal for a Parking Control Officer to park in front of a fire hydrant for 8 hours as long as it's while they're on duty. Is that right?

To answer your question of "how do you know the cop is blowing a red light?", while I do not have video tape, a sworn confession, DNA or the surveillance you seem to require, I do have common sense, eyes that work relatively well and 50 *cough* years of experience with human behavior. (Okay, that was me being snarky ;-)

The latest cop-flipping-on-his-overhead-lights-to-run-a-red-light extravaganza we had was about 2 weeks ago. We were in Union Square and just ahead of us was a Somerville Police Car. As we both approached a red light the cop flips on his lights and blows the red light, then turns his lights off. 2 seconds after he blows the light it turns green so we proceeded to follow the police car, not because we were following him, but because we were on our way home and he was in front of us. We watched him turn into the police station and park. I'm sure it was purely coincidence that it was during a shift change. No, wait. He was answering an emergency call at 220 Washington Street right? Yeah, that must be it. (/snarkle ;-) Now I'm no Dr. Lee, but what are the odds of an officer answering an *emergency* call at the police station at shift change?
But you're absolutely right, I have no proof. And it saddens me enormously that I would have to police the police. But I thank you for the phone number, I've put it in my cell phone. :)

From my POV, the SPD do a good job, and I appreciate them very much. They've done a great job dealing with the goings on in my neighborhood and I want to acknowledge that.

The rest of you might point and snicker at me, but I really like the 311 *and* the Tom Champion phone calls. I'm being serious, I'm a fan. Somerville rocks, and I love Davis Square.

Re: Constant Law Breakers?

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

C'mon Ron. Nowhere is it written that PCOs have a statutory special dispensation to park in front of fire hydrants, bus stops, etc. But, as a practical matter, an "official business permit" means that -- almost without exception -- you can park anywhere if you need to, and you won't be ticketed or towed. The same is true of a blue Massachusetts "official" license plate. Do these privileges ever get abused? I'm sure that happens sometimes -- and anyone is free to call in complaints about alleged parking permit abusers.

Note to lusciousnichols: I hope you will call in or email in the police sitings, but I can also think of several reasons why what you saw might have been legit -- even at a shift change (prisoner transport, an emergency order from a superior to report to the station, evidence or warrant pickup, etc.)

As for parking for eight continuous hours at a hydrant, that would clearly violate the spirit in which these permits are issued, so you should call 311 and file a formal complaint, including the license number, time and location.

Since I know all too well how unpleasant it is to live in a fishbowl, it always creeps me out just a little to think that there are folks out there watching and judging our every move -- sometimes with imperfect information and a willingness to jump to conclusions.

In this case, however, since you are actually able to monitor the time the car is in the same location, you would certainly seem to have just cause for complaint. So go for it.

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I have mixed feelings about this. How is this information going to be used? When I worked retail we had a mystery shopper come in and we did fine, and the information was never really used for anything except to make us feel spied on. I still feel gross about it. People complain all the time about how rude and unhelpful the folks at the parking/traffic office are, do we really need a spy to go in and confirm it? Would anyone actually be reprimanded or fired? My impression (from talking to city employees) is that city employees are never fired even if they are incompetant. Wow this is cynical and I don't mean to be rude, but is this really going to lift any city employees spirits or just make them nastier when you come to get something taken care of....

[resistat.livejournal.com]

Bobobb,

Here are a few thoughts:

* Broad anecdotal generalizations may be useful for blowing off steam, but they don't help someone like me (or my office-mate Eric) who works for the City to improve things. For example, if I hear "Traffic & Parking Clerks are rude and unhelpful," that could mean a whole bunch of things. The Mystery Customer program will give participants a bunch of specific, concrete things to look out for and evaluate. Are the lines too long? Do the clerks not say hello and goodbye? Do they fail to give the correct change or sticker? Do they take too long to fill your request? Do they not ask if you need anything else? Do these problems only show up on certain days, or at certain times? Knowing that level of detail helps us pinpoint what is most important to you, and ways to change.

* Firing people is an absolute last resort, and the Mystery Customer questions are not geared towards specific employees. Training, job task rotations, more breaks, hiring additional help at peak times, shifting budget priorities, etc. are all ways we can improve a situation, depending on what the problem is.

* We're looking for good news as well as bad. We could find out (for example) that our Librarians are amazing customer service superstars. We can then figure out what is is that's working so well there, and try to bring that success to other departments.

Hope this addresses some of your concerns!

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

It does! Thanks! Seems less creepy to me now.