Social Welfare Ofice - customer service: Gruff, unhelpful attitude.

A few weeks ago I had the misfortune of losing my job and claiming the dole for the first time.

While the turnaround and approval was fairly efficient, I have to say the service from the staff left a lot to be desired.

I realise that the staff have to deal with all sorts of people and may have a lot of negative experiences, however surely the staff should have had training in dealing with people.

The gruff, unhelpful attitude I came up against would depress anyone. You are treated like a convict for simply claiming your entitlements.

When your made redundant for the first time there is no more depressing place than the social welfare office, mainly because of the staff.

Apologies for all those staff who do a good job, but i'm afraid i didn't meet any of you!

I'd be interested in hearing other peoples experiences...

Re: Social Welfare - customer service??

The only person who was rude to me was the receptionist who told me it wasn't her job when I gave her back the key to the toilet and asked could soap be put into the dispenser in the toilet. I had just changed a babys nappy and it was my 3rd visit to this office and no soap in the dispenser on any occasion.

Simple question got a very aggressive response.

Have not had an attitude from other staff but have incompetance on a grand scale, would love to make a complaint. Inspector was to call to house this week to do a means test and cancelled morning of appointment. We briefly discussed some details of my case on the phone and the details she had been given were incorrect. Won't take up any more time with my complaints about SW but if I don't get some satisfaction will be going to Mary Hanafins public clinic with my complaints and to get my case dealt with.

Re: Social Welfare - customer service??

I also had a very bad impression at my first visit to the SW office on Monday.

Firstly, the woman who dealt with me didn't know about the new amounts of benefit from January 2009 - I had to tell her, and then she asked me accusingly - "How did you know that?"

I had the form mostly filled out, but couldn't remember my husbands PPS number offhand, so she looked up his name on the computer - she took someone at random with the same name and started to write down this persons DOB (1958 .. I am 32....), until i corrected her and told her that it wasn't him.

The next question she checked was if I was married or single - obvious I should have thought considering the previous exchange.. and she started to tick single until I told her I was married.

The next question was whether I lived alone or not.. she ticked alone.. until i corrected her. Was she not listening to the previous two questions?? I honestly couldn't help thinking that there were likely many more people there queuing up in the SW office that would be better able for her job.

I was not asked for my ID, p45, R50 or any other documentation whatsoever. I was given no proof that I had actually been in and filled in the forms. I hope they don't loose my application now.

The she "explained the process" while looking past me at whatever was going on behind my back. She kept loosing her thought as she was too busy looking behind me, and didn't make any sense. Eventually she said that was all she could help me with and walked off.

If this was in any other job, she wouldn't have the job for long, I would have thought..

Sorry to all those working in the SW who aren't like this, but to be honest it wasn't a great first impression.

Rant Over.

Re: Social Welfare - customer service??

Can you not appreciate that these people are pretty busy these days folks?

Re: Social Welfare - customer service??

What Offices are you going into?

Re: Social Welfare - customer service??

No matter how busy people are, there is no excuse for rudeness (as previous posters have experienced) or lack of knowledge about your job.
I have worked in a shop for almost 5 years - I have NEVER once been rude to my customers - no matter how long the queues or how busy or stressed I am.
I have taken pride in knowing at least the basics of my job, and if I dont know something I make it my business to find out.
Yes, i know people are busy and stressed, but so are all the people that come in having lost their jobs, and not knowing what to do!!

Re: Social Welfare - customer service??

Just to give a bit of balance, my experience with the staff at the local SW office has been as good as it can be in the circumstances. I am on a 3 day week and went in to claim on a Friday afternoon when I expected it to be busy and stressful. It couldn't have been more different, there was only one person ahead of me and at least 3 hatches open and manned, I was seen within 10 minutes by a very pleasant man who made conversation, used my name and explained the process to me.

I had to go back in a few days later to drop off my ID and again, while the wait was a little longer, I was dealt with efficiently and with respect.

To be honest when I was claiming a year of so ago for full unemployment benefit I found the worst part some of the claimants who were agressive, rude and ignorant, to each other and everyone around them.

Without defending rudeness (which shouldn't but sadly does happen in many areas of life) I wonder if the person who made all the errors in completing the form as experienced by NickleIckle was one of the staff who were drafted in from another Civil Service Dept recently?

Extra staff were transferred to Local Offices, but not all may have worked in Dept of Social & Family Affairs before, might have received very little training and were just thrown into the job.

It can take weeks and sometimes months to be very familiar with the complexity of SW schemes, application forms, computer systems and SW "jargon" - and new staff just aren't getting that time at the moment.