More than a month after ex-Mayor Louise Crawford defended the City of Port Phillip's new customer service system in an interview with Tom Elliot on 3AW (10 October), residents are still frustrated with the new system. In the interview, Cr Crawford highlighted the expected benefits of the new $23 million customer service system, which was needed to replace multiple legacy systems and manual processes, and aimed to improve the customer experience and deliver cost efficiencies. It seems the new system was launched before adequate testing, and has experienced major operational problems and some customer information has not been migrated from the old legacy systems. Residents told us they cannot access the Planning Applications Register and are having problems obtaining parking permits. In acknowledgement of these problems, the City of Port Phillip have advised there will be a 60-day grace period for renewing parking permits. 

Anna from Albert Park emailed us to ask “Has anyone else tried to renew their residential parking permit on this website? It was a truly Monty Pythonesque/Mr Bean customer experience! Website so bad it was laughable. I'm not tech savvy but I can navigate your average website. Finally, in irritation and frustration I called Assist and got onto Parking Permit Help Desk! - very helpful and sympathetic to my plight, and that of many others. They organised the permit renewal and sent it to me. It seems Council is paying staff to help us bypass the new system - absurd. I am horrified at  ratepayers’ money spent on this terrible system - will somebody be held accountable? ”

Pam in Albert Park mentioned on Nextdoor on 18 November “Applying for parking permits in Port Philip. Is anyone else struggling with the changes introduced by Port Philip council for renewing car permits? There were very poor communications beforehand on the new online system which itself is cumbersome - I couldn’t seem to get through the process on my iPhone 11. This has been introduced at a time when 2 Town Halls are being renovated and the queues to do the renewal in person are long. Each customer takes between 10-20 minutes”.

Michael from Elwood said “Last week I visited the town hall office to also renew my parking permits. What an absolute stuff up from the serving staff member. I had brought in all the previous year’s paperwork. I was told sorry it’s a new system. Two return trips home and maybe 45 minutes in front of the counter. What a dismal effort from Port Phillip Council. I would rather visit my dentist 10 times than endure that process again!”

Source - Interview with Tom Elliot (3AW) https://www.3aw.com.au/mayor-defends-efficiency-of-new-multi-million-dollar-customer-service-system/?fbclid=IwAR26LXLZIM1U7DgNzzhh4i0Lv_BhjXegWHIgLsuHfNpg_yxl3kkGb36Mg1Y