To Whom It May Concern,
I am unfortunate enough to have been recently made unemployed and I have had to make a claim for Jobseekers Allowance for the first time in 22 years. I cannot believe the standards of service that I have witnessed at the above branch of Jobcentre Plus in *********.
When I was 16 and last made a claim (for just a few weeks thank God), the experience then was bad enough in itself and I expected that times must have changed and standards improved. How wrong I was!
I entered the main entrance (after being kept waiting outside with everyone else 10 minutes after the advertised branch opening hours) and had to endure a throng of people desperate to get in and all of them demanding service from the two persons on the front desk, one of which was a ‘Securitas’ Security Officer who was very much in your face!
As I queued to enquire about whom I needed to see with regard to making a new claim, a young girl was screaming at the Manager about unpaid benefits and demanding action. Rather than take the young lady to one side, or even a private area, the two of them continued to argue and go round in circles in front of everybody else. The issue was not resolved as far as I am aware.
When I was finally seen, I was directed to a phone booth and then spoke to someone over the line for about 30 minutes about making a new claim for Jobseekers Allowance. Personal questions were asked of me, including my bank account details, and the ‘booths’ are far from private making me feel very uncomfortable about discussing such matters. An appointment was made with an advisor for the following week and I was told what to bring with me.
On this second appointment, I had to queue-up again to ask where I needed to go to see this advisor and was directed to the first floor. You enter a room with no apparent reception point and are then accosted by another Securitas officer (this time a short Asian woman in her late 40’s or early 50’s) who demands to know what you want and then tells you need reception? When I asked, she just gestured towards a table in front of her with no indication that this was a reception point. Other people that entered after myself were shown even less courtesy, with one young man - who had no idea what to do either – being ‘Hey you’ ed by the same woman as he wandered about the room looking for assistance.
The advisor that I finally spoke to (A middle aged chap called *** if I recall) was actually very pleasant and explained the processes accordingly in a professional manner. He told me the procedure for signing-on and gave me the relevant paperwork, even though he said I was probably not entitled to any benefit as I was dismissed from my previous employment and may have to wait 26 weeks!! How do people survive in this case?? I was totally gob-smacked and as I am in the process of appealing against my dismissal, let’s hope to god that I don’t have to rely on HM Government to support me for a while. Why have I paid taxes and National Insurance for all these years? It is totally beyond me.
When I went to sign-on today for the first time, the process was as farcical as before! You are ushered to the far side of the ground floor, and once again you have no idea or direction as to what you should do. Once again, there is no sign-posted Reception area and I followed someone else’s lead as to what I had to do next. The Asian Securitas woman from my last visit appeared again, and she obviously thinks that she is the receptionist for the entire building and, as before, was extremely rude to anyone that approached her for assistance. She has no customer service skills whatsoever and has no idea how to deal with complaints or queries from people. In fact it would appear that she goes out of her way to annoy anybody that dares to be in the same room as her. She made a bee-line for one kid who was waiting and kept telling him to move out the way as he was ‘blocking reception’. He wasn’t, and he was getting understandably irate over her constant remarks.
The queue to actually see someone was horrendous too with only three advisors working to clear the back-log of people waiting to be seen. There were at least 5 other ‘booths’ that could have been utilised to speed this process up. When one of my fellow jobseekers complained that he had been waiting for over an hour to be seen, he was just directed to reception by the Asian woman. When he asked to speak to a Manager, the Asian woman and one of the advisors proceeded to have a spat in front of everyone as to what the procedure was. This just served to keep people waiting even longer, and the gentleman who made the initial complaint was then late in attending his training course. Not good enough. You are supposed to helping people get back into work or training, not hindering them!
The service standards that I have witnessed are abysmal. I fully appreciate that there will be times when emotions run high and hostility is a potential problem, but your staff need some proper training in how to deal with your customers and not antagonise them. The processes and procedures involved in making a claim also need serious attention.
I sincerely hope that this complaint is dealt with correctly and passed on to the relevant Management at this branch, and I would also appreciate a reply to this email. To actually get an email address to write to was a chore in itself, as I don’t want a complaint form to fill in that could be conveniently lost.
