Parking Services praised for customer aid
October 17, 2008 by BRITTANY BINOWSKI
Filed under News
University Parking Services received two awards this month for customer service, but students say improvements are still necessary.
Parking Services was chosen out of 636 nominations from all public agencies in the state for the Georgia Governor’s award for Customer Service for Team Excellence on Oct. 8.
It was selected by a “panel of industry and government leaders” and became the first parking enterprise in the state to receive the governor’s award, said Don Walter, manager of Parking Services.
It also was awarded the Board of Regents Chancellor’s Gold Medal for Customer Service on Tuesday out of 120 agencies entered within the 36 Georgia colleges and universities. The University’s Parking Services was chosen as a result of their “Campaign Plan” which “designed and implemented a customer service improvement initiative that resulted in significant positive impact on customers,” Walter wrote in an article he is drafting.
The plan contained 150 goals to improve customer services. Parking Services has completed 130 of the goals, which include improved parking facilities, quicker entry into parking decks, and online feedback.
“UGA Parking Services has gained national attention and was featured in two national magazines this summer,” he said. “We have turned the corner on customer service, but still have a ways to go to become the best parking enterprise in higher education.”
Cindy Schnably, a graduate student who parks in the North Campus parking deck, said she appreciates the advancements Parking Services is making.
“Anything that Parking Services is doing to help students and faculty park and navigate easier is definitely a step in the right direction,” Schnably said. “I have never had a complaint except for the high cost of passes … Every day when I leave the deck, there is always someone who waves and says ‘have a nice day.’”
David Mitchell, a junior from Peachtree City, said he has not “experienced the best side of Parking Services because of my incidents with them … I think the biggest area that could probably use some change is their ticketing policy and what they do with the money that you pay to the University.”
But Walter said members of Parking Services deserve the award recognition.
“It’s a new era for Parking Services and to bring up things from the past is unfair.”
