Everyone desires top-notch customer service, and I make it my business to find out if everyone in the community is getting such service.
There are many venues from which you can provide us with your concerns, issues and feedback, but there is none more effective than the Interactive Customer Evaluation program, better known as ICE.
I make it known at all community forums, as well as to people I talk with, that ICE is the program they should use to provide the garrison with feedback on our services.
While ICE allows service providers and facility managers to receive feedback on their customer service, it also gives them an opportunity to supply immediate responses to those who submitted comments.
It is also a mechanism that we can use to identify systemic concerns before they become problems.
I personally read all ICE comments and follow the process our service providers go through to address the comments.
The Defense Department requires ICE comments to be replied to within five working days; however, Installation Management Command believes that the reply should be made within three working days.
A challenge we face in responding to ICE submissions is that not everyone provides a telephone number or an e-mail address.
If you provide this information and request a reply, you will receive one.
ICE comments can be submitted online by going to the garrison website at www.stuttgart.army.mil and clicking on the ICE icon.
We also provide hard copy ICE comment cards and drop boxes at various locations within the community.
My number one goal for the garrison’s ICE program is to identify what is being done to address concerns, one way or the other.
We will establish an ICE section in The Citizen newspaper, starting with the ICE BOX below.
Each month, we will highlight some of the top comments submitted by community members, along with the actions taken by service providers to address those comments.
I will also address the ICE comments in more detail on my blog, located on the garrison website, and I will solicit interactive feedback from the community.
It may take a little effort on your part to fill out an ICE comment card, and for the garrison service providers to address them, but if it results in better customer service and a better customer understanding of how the garrison operates, then I believe that is truly a win-win situation.
I encourage everyone to fill out an ICE comment for services that could be improved upon, as well as services that are outstanding.
We learn how to improve our services from constructive criticism, and we learn what services are working from positive compliments.