Our customer promise
Our customer promise is a clear commitment about what you can expect when you interact with us. It sets the standard for the experience we’re creating and the future we’re working towards.
This promise is shaped by what our community has told us matters most. It reflects the things that make a real difference – empathy, resolution, impact, integrity, and respect for people’s time and effort:
We listen with empathy, act with care, and deliver with commitment.
Customer service standards
Our customer service standards reflect our customer promise and guide how we listen with empathy, act with care, and deliver with commitment.
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Empathy
- Listen to understand your needs
- Communicate clearly and simply
- Treat you with empathy, professionalism, and respect
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Resolution
- Be clear about what we can and cannot do
- Respond within our published timeframes and let you know if delays occur
- Provide clear, accurate information without jargon
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Time and effort
- Acknowledge your enquiry within 2 business days and let you know who is handling it
- Return your phone calls within 2 business days
- Make it easy for you to get the help you need
- Keep you informed so you always know what’s happening
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Impact
- Focus on solutions that create positive outcomes for the community
- Improve our services based on your feedback
- Deliver services that are fair, effective, and forward-thinking
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Integrity
- Our decisions will be fair, consistent, and based on clear policies or requirements
- Explain our decisions and outline your options
- Take ownership of your request and follow it through
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Customer Experience Strategy
Our Customer Experience Strategy is guided by five strategic enablers that shape how we bring our standards and promise to life. Together, they provide a clear path forward, grounded in research, analysis, and meaningful feedback from our community, staff, and Councillors.
Culture and capability
Grow a customer-centred culture that strengthens accountability, builds capability, and drives continuous improvement across our people, systems and processes.
Digital enablement
Strengthen digital enablement by supporting staff and customers to adopt new tools, improving system integration, and applying customer‑centred design to all digital services. This includes continually enhancing our digital channels and the content customers rely on.
Operational excellence
Deliver consistent, efficient and reliable services by strengthening the processes, systems and governance that underpin the customer experience. This enabler ensures services are inclusive, accessible and equitable, meeting the needs of our diverse community.
Data and insights
Strengthen how we collect, analyse and use customer data to improve service delivery, measure customer experience performance, and inform evidence‑based decisions across the organisation.
Service design
Strengthen service design by embedding a customer‑centred, end‑to‑end approach to planning and delivering services, ensuring every interaction is simple, consistent, easy to navigate, and delivers better outcomes and value for our community.
Strategy documents
Contact us
We have several options for you to get in touch including phone, email or in person at our Customer Service centres. You can find the way that best suits you on our Contact us page.
How to give us feedback, a compliment or lodge a complaint
You can provide feedback, send a compliment or lodge a complaint through our contact us form. All complaints are received and managed in accordance with our Complaints Handling Policy(PDF, 322KB), and the Managing Complex Customer Behaviour Policy(PDF, 207KB) outlines how we deal with complex customer behaviour.
Collecting personal information
Darebin City Council is committed to protecting your right to privacy as part of its commitment towards accountability, integrity and compliance with privacy legislation. Council only collects your personal information for the purpose of delivering Council services or if required by law. We have applied formal processes and safeguards to ensure that your personal information is protected at all times.
Read our Privacy Policy for more details