Customer charter
Our commitment to you
Confidentiality
Citizens Advice Wigan Borough will provide you with a confidential advice service. This means we will not tell other people (even your family or friends) or other agencies about your visit or your issues unless you give us permission to do so.
Respect
We will treat you fairly and respectfully. This means that we will not judge you or tell you what to do, nor will we treat one person more favourably than another.
Quality
Our trained advisers will give you their full attention. We will always have a team of specialist supervisors available to oversee our work with you and to ensure that the advice you are given is of high quality.
Time
We give everyone as much time as they need and we don’t rush our work. This means that you may have to wait before speaking to one of our advisers. However once it is your turn we will give you all the time you need.
Feedback and Complaints
We encourage feedback on our service. Information about how to make a comment or a complaint is available at reception or from any of our team. We also welcome feedback on positive experiences.
What We Ask Of You
In return, we ask you to:
arrive in time for your appointment
let us know if you are can’t attend your appointment as soon as possible so that we can it to another client
bring any relevant paperwork to your appointment, so that we can help you
be sensitive and respectful of the needs of other clients and our team. If your behaviour is abusive or disruptive we may ask you to leave or withdraw our support to you.
be honest with us - we can’t help you properly without the full facts. (Remember, we are not here to judge you).
We understand that our clients may be facing stressful and challenging times, which could lead to a build up of frustration. Please remember that our staff are here to help you, and have the right to be treated with respect whilst carrying out their job.
We understand your situation could be stressful and you might be frustrated - but our staff have the right to do their jobs without being treated badly. We will not tolerate abusive or aggressive behaviour. We will also tell you if you’re taking up an unfair amount of our time as this could stop us from helping other people. More information on how we handle unacceptable behaviour ↗.
What You Can Expect From Us
Access To Our Services
Our services will be available as advertised. If we do need to change a service we will give as much notice as possible. Changes will be advertised on our website, via our Facebook and Twitter accounts and also in the venue itself.
Gathering Information
During your interview we’ll take notes about you and your enquiry. We’ll ask your permission to store information in our database. It’s up to you how much information you wish to share, however it may affect the level of advice and support we can offer if you choose not to share all relevant information.
Delivering Your Advice
At first we will be focused on making certain that we understand how we can help you. Once we have completed this assessment we will explain your options and next steps. It may be that you will need help from another adviser; this may be straightaway or on a different day. Sometimes we will ask you to sit back in the waiting room until someone is available. Occasionally we may have to ask you to come back or get one of our team to telephone you.
Conflict of Interests
Very occasionally we are asked to help people who are in dispute with each other. We will not help both parties because this creates a conflict of interest. If this situation arises we’ll signpost one of the parties to another source of help.
Paperwork
We may need to see original copies of your documents, for example a tenancy agreement. We will give you back all your original paperwork.
Waiting
We are always trying to reduce our waiting times. When we are busy, waiting times may be longer than 1 hour. We will do our best to give you an idea of how long you may be waiting and keep you informed at all times. You can request that one of our team telephones you instead if you would have to wait for more than an hour.
Customer Satisfaction
We want to make sure that you receive a high quality service from us. We may ask you for feedback. It is important that you tell us about your experience so that we can make sure we are doing things right.
Changing An Arrangement You Have With Us
If you need to change an arrangement we have made with you please call our administration number: 01942 709709.
Please note this number is an administration line and is not for requesting advice. If you need advice, please get in touch with us via email.