Liberata helps Consumer Direct North East scoop top place in survey

May 07, 2009

Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council and partner Liberata have once again scooped top place in a recent customer satisfaction survey based on the Consumer Direct contract. Consumer Direct is a telephone and online consumer advice service, funded by the government and managed by the Office of Fair Trading. It operates in partnership with Local Authority Trading Standards Service to offer residents in the North East clear, practical and impartial advice on a range of consumer issues and complaints.

There are twelve regional Consumer Direct centres in the UK, with business outsourcing provider Liberata hosting the North East Project. The team at the call centre, which is based in Redcar, handle hundreds of calls and emails a day, aiming to give local residents advice in helping them solve a problem themselves.

In the recent customer satisfaction survey, it found that 89% of callers in the North East said they were satisfied with the service, which was the highest score in the UK.

Liberata Chief Executive Officer, Richard Webster, said: ‘We are really pleased to be working with the council, who are a really pro-active and commercial local authority. This partnership shows how partnerships between public and private sector really can deliver benefits to local people. We are now hoping that more work from Consumer Direct will be awarded to Liberata and Redcar in the near future.

David Sayer, Head of Governance for Consumer Direct North East and Trading Standards Manager for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said: “We know the high quality of the staff in the centre but its great to have it confirmed by this survey. We suspect that as businesses continue to face difficulties in these difficult times, that consumers will also face more problems. It is good to know that if they need us, consumers in the North-East are guaranteed a good service.”