Unreasonable behaviour

We offer a wide range of services across numerous contact channels, including face to face, phone, email, and webchat.  As an organisation we always aim to deal with all our residents and customers in an appropriate, respectful and open way.

Unreasonable Customer Behaviour Policy

The Unreasonable Customer Behaviour Policy (pdf, 140 KB) has been developed so that people who are in communication with us and the staff who handle these interactions understand what to do if people start to behave unreasonably.

On occasions staff come into contact with customers who absorb a disproportionate amount of resources when dealing with their enquiry, or consistently act in an abusive or aggressive manner. This is despite in some instances there being nothing further that can reasonably be done to assist them or rectify a real or perceived problem. In these situations, the decision may be made to classify the customer as an unreasonable customer.

Managing unreasonable customers can be difficult and time consuming. While staff are expected to respond professionally and to be sensitive and empathetic to the needs of all; unreasonable customers can, by their approach or behaviour, cause staff to have additional workload, or feel threatened or abused. Therefore, staff will need to be supported and guided in how best to respond in these situations.

We understand that people sometimes feel frustrated about matters but we will not tolerate behaviour which we deem to be unacceptable, threatening, abusive or unreasonably persistent towards staff or imposes such a burden on the council that it is an unreasonable drain on our resources.